Roy Hodgson has outlined what Crystal Palace must do to try and help restore Christian Benteke's confidence after another afternoon of frustration for the striker.
The Belgian international came off the bench in the 1-1 draw with Wolves at Selhurst Park and missed a great chance to make the game safe, shooting tamely into Rui Patricio's hands after making space for himself in the box.
He also struggled to make an impact against the ten-man visitors as Palace conceded a late equaliser in a game they should have had wrapped up after Romain Saiss was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Benteke was by no means the only player guilty of missing a good chance, with Jeffrey Schlupp also missing a gilt-edged chance to seal the win before Diogo Jota's late goal for Wolves.
But for Benteke, it continued a barren run in front of goal, which stretches back to April when he scored in a 3-2 win against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
That was his only goal for Palace last season, and only his fourth goal in the past two seasons, with Benteke scoring just four goals in his last 57 appearances for the Eagles in all competitions.
Once again, he looked short of confidence as he failed to take his opportunity against Wolves, and Palace boss Roy Hodgson spoke of how the Eagles can help him to try and get that back in front of goal.
"We give him all the encouragement we possibly can and we continue to work in training to keep trying to get him into those areas, with the moves we want him to make," Hodgson said in his post-match press conference .
"We give him lots of opportunities to practice that as a centre forward he needs to practice - attacking crosses, shooting, runs in and around the final third.
"And we try hard not to lay blame on him to any great extent, more than the blame that unfortunately will come his way from people who do watch the game, who will be saying 'why doesn't he score those goals?'
"There’s not so much more we can do, other than keep working and make certain that we don't do anything to bring his confidence down by talking negatively about him."
