Has anyone else noticed Martin Skrtel hasn't been the defender we've known him as the past couple of seasons these last few games? His marking on corners is just God awful, I just don't understand it. Why can't he just watch the ball instead of mugging his man and grabbing his jersey? Every time Liverpool concede a corner I am now terrified because of Skrtel's defending praying the referee doesn't call a penalty or worse, Skrtel's man scoring because he wasn't watching the ball.
he is the one most likely to give a pen away, but they are all bad at defending set pieces in my opinion. need to get on the phone and get clarkey back, trouble is he has had a taste for managment now, will he want to go back to coaching, he will sort the defence out hopefully.
Shirt pulling goes on in all penalty boxes. Skrtel fills me with more confidence than Agger from set pieces, so I'd rather him in the team all day compared to Danny because, dirty or not, he more often than not stops the danger.
Yeah I agree, it does go on in all penalty boxes, but to me Skrtel stands out as the one player who does it the most. I guess if the referees continue to not call these fouls than it is okay, but I think from the City match, Skrtel will have trouble using the shirt pulling technique with players like Kompany who are as strong as him or stronger.
You seriously think he's been performing differently for the last few games compared to the last few years? I've got a reputation on here for moaning about his grabbing etc because I've been banging on about it for at least two years! Commentators and pundits have recently started to pick up on it, that is the only difference. Shirt pulling etc is one thing, as as rightly been pointed out, all players do it. What sets Skrtel apart is him using more than one hand, he grabs the man rather than shirt (ie; he hugs them = rugby approach) and he rarely looks at the ball whilst doing it. A defenders should be ball then man, Skrtel puts 100% concentration on his opponent!
Can't disagree, Agger is our worst CB at marking! Plus, I have not complaints about Skrtel's in-play style. It is only the stuff I highlighted above. I actually love his no nonsense approach (ignoring set-pieces)
Skrtel and Agger are crap at defending set pieces. Nothing new, always have been. Add to that our normal full backs Johnson and Enrique cants defend set pieces either its easy to see why we have had problems from them. Sakho coming in has helped but we need a strong partner for him and/or a full back or midfielder who can contribute in our own penalty area
I think Skrtel is our best CB at the minute but Sakho should be our Kompany; the lead defender for set-pieces with the rest of the defence built around him. Leave Skrtel alongside him so long as we get him to look at the ball. I also think we should go for zonal marking too but that's not going to happen under Brod!
As a defensive unit we are better suited to zonal marking. Skrtel pays no attention to the ball and just wrestles with his man, Danny god love him pays no attention to the ball or his man. He gets done by the simplest of movements. Sakho, while good in the air tends to be a bit rash and toure can be ponderous. When we played Zonal it is easier for the player, if the ball is coming into your area attack it, clear it, simple. Its easy to criticise the system , as the "expert pundits" do, but this is simply because they have no player to blame. The system is much more unit based, than relying on individual against individual. I am very suprised Rogers doesn't favour this approach.
The only player that plays in the back line (FB's and CB's) that suits man marking is Kolo Toure IMO. I think zonal would be perfect for Sakho. Skrtel and Agger have played in a zonal system for us before.
I don't think Sakho is ready to lead the line. Granted he's been playing top level football for a while now despite his age, but I've never seen a 23 year old defender lead a defensive unit.
I'm struggling to see why we haven't adopted zonal again. Considering the messing about with players and formation done at the back surely changing to zonal shouldn't be too much of a push. especially as most of the defence has played the system before.
Maybe that's it dude, I just haven't realized it because not much attention was brought to it by the commentators or there were no replays shown of him close up mugging his man so I never really noticed it. And I agree 100% I just don't get why he doesn't pay attention to the damn ball -_-
Skrtel=liability,if top 4 is a reality he has to be replaced and Rogers must spend to strengthen the defence.Kolo Toure is past it and Agger is suspect. Open the piggy bank .
oh sucked in by the press! martin skertl's NEVER done anything else! so how many pens has he given... none.... the pundits are basically hacks cos this is the defending everyone does.... watch the CL!
We spent over £20mil on central defenders in the summer so I cant us spending any more, I would have thought that there would be a better chance of some leaving than coming in.
