Only comfortable playing in a deep line Loses concentration Only passes back and to Lovren Doesn't cover his full back or partner Poor positionally Easily bullied We continually blame the system but refuse to accept that the one constant in our defence throughout the past years of defensive mediocrity is part of the problem. His errors are not as visible - poor positioning, marking is harder to pick up than say Sakho misplacing a pass, or Toure scoring an own goal. This is how Skrtel gets by.
It's entirely down to the manager yeah. It's his team now and he has no excuses left (and for the first time yesterday he was actually honest about it). If he can't turn things round he can have no complaints.
Its funny. I was the lone ranger in criticising Skrtel prior to last season when almost everyone else was praising him but I found myself defending Skrtel last season when he was being made a scape goat. This season, he's escaping focus despite being back to his old self because we have other issues that are taking the attention away.
Doesn't cover the full backs? You're kidding right? He's spent the last two years covering Johnson. Only plays well in a deeper back line? Bit like 90% of centre backs in the Prem then. That includes some of the very best. Poor positionally....well in this system he is, just like Lovren and Sakho too. In a proper system he's proved his positioning is fine.
100% agree with this. I do find it amazing when I see people suggesting Skrtel doesn't cover the FB's, its the bit I like about Skrtel; no nonsense covering where he slides taking ball and all to clear the danger #brutality
Billy and Gerrez are right imo it's a partnership at center back we lack if we can get a pair that work together then all the problems are gone, Individually Skrtel is a decent player and so is Lovren they just don't work together, they are too similar. (As long as Jonson is dropped)
Toure needs to be playing until Sakho is back - i'd take the odd massive mistake now and then from him to the half dozen small ones Skrtel and Lovren do that cost us so many goals.
The back 3 triangle (Migs, Skrtel and Lovren) simply do not communicate at all. You watch them, all of them get in each others way, its mayhem. Migs is a right pussy and Lovren and Skrtel obviously have a language barrier issue. All 3 of them have talent to a degree, but together (and without a dedicated defensive coach) they are the perfect **** storm and all of their weaknesses become greater than the sum of their parts. There are only a few solutions 1) Get them all to speak fluent ****ing English, including Sakho - I'm sure his English is mush 2) Get a dedicated defencive coach, we were solid when Clarke was in the set up 3) Drop/replace the weakest link.
It's one of his best assets (possibly one of his only ). I've never seen anyone claim he's a great player, he's not. What he has shown however is that he can play at Prem level in the right system but Rodgers system expects too much of the centre backs. We all know a great centre back doesn't need to be a silky footballer, what he needs is to be part of a solid unit. Skrtel has played as part of a solid unit before and done it well. What he doesn't need is to play with a full back next to him in Glen feckin Johnson, a keeper behind him who couldn't command a Scout troop and a midfield in front of him that makes the Titanic look watertight There are tons of better centre backs than Skrtel but at the moment we aint got one. He is no more (or less) guilty than anyone else but as of now he's the only one who played yesterday who I could see in a solid defence in the future.
Agree about Toure being in there. He's not our best CB but he's our only vocal one who will organise us. We've looked better when he's played IMO Agree again, Toure would help with this but ideally you want you keeper to be vocal too, he can see everything! Even Vincent Kompany would look poor in our setup
He's certainly a better communicator than either Lovren or Skrtel so I'd agree drop one of the two and have Toure in.
2nd that, i would have Toure and Lovren personally. skrtl sold in jan window, while he still has bit of value
This is going to be another issue, if Rodgers bends and decides certain players are not good enough then how much is available and will he have to sell to buy.
Ffs ... skrtel is not the problem. Lothar Matheus or Paul Mc Grath in their prime would struggle with these tactics. The 2 full backs in the other half leaving our 2 cbs alone with only Stevie for cover. Once stevie is by passed its 2/3/4 against 2 as the fbs and others scramble to get back.
this is the thing, think it was billy that said about it looks like the Suarez money has gone to the stand refurb, as where else has money gone if we only spent £25 mill net in the summer? so either its a case of teams not knowing type thing about how much is available in jan window, or if there is **** all available, who is going to be shown the door, if we have to sell to buy, unless we do something in jan, fecking shambles of a season written all over it. i hope skrt,Lucas,johnson(unlikely!!!!!!)and Borini, maybe ballo as well,are the ones i would have picked. still want them gone if we do have funds mind, but those would be my choice if its a sell to buy type thing.
We spent over £100m in the summer. I don't recall us gaining much income bar the Suarez money so having a £25m net spend would suggest we used the Suarez money on transfers this summer.
fair enough sort of makes sense, where is the supposed extra tv money income gone then? i thought that was a lot more than £25 mill, so has that gone on the stand refurb instead? also cl money?
