Brendan Rodgers: I've never had a striker like Christian Benteke at Liverpool - he gives us a 'different dimension'

Belgian offers a mix of physicality and quality

Coutinho was clearly offside for Benteke's goal (Getty Images)

Brendan Rodgers has hailed Christian Benteke after his match-winning performance against Bournemouth on Monday night.

The Belgian, bought for £32.5million from Aston Villa in the summer, scored his first goal for Liverpool in front of the Kop - although it shouldn't have counted as Philippe Coutinho was in an offside position.

Benteke, 24, prodded home at the far post after a brilliant ball in from Jordan Henderson.

But it wasn't his goal that Rodgers was most impressed with, but his quality on and off the ball that has given the Reds a "different dimension".

"There was one moment when the ball came into the box – which is one of the reasons we looked to bring him in – and because of his strength and power, he tried to make contact with it. It dropped and we had a chance with Coutinho to then shoot," Rodgers told the club website.

"In my time here, that’s never really happened and the ball’s come in and maybe been cleared out, but because of his physicality and contact, he keeps the ball alive in a dangerous area of the field.

"That will really help and once the players get used to seeing and working with that, it’ll offer us more opportunities to score goals.

"It gives us a different dimension to our game, whilst looking to retain that philosophy to move the ball and get fluency. That will come and grow over the coming months."