As with yourself I'm not saying he won't become a great defender (barring injury I think he'll be top class) but he's got a lot of developing to do to make it in the Prem. I think it was a mistake to bring him in over Agger for the run in but hindsight is a wonderful thing and in fairness I was really looking forward to him recovering from his injury and coming back to bolster the squad. I still like the lad but if anyone is suggesting he was anything other than a bag of nerves in the last few games was watching a different player to me. As for Lovren he's looked excellent this year. Never any guarantees that players make the step up succesfully but he's certainly the kind of defender I'd like to see come in over the summer.
I agree he was a worry at the end of the season and you could just sense that he was nervous and an accident waiting to happen. If we bring in a center back it just takes the pressure of him and gives him the time to develop.
So here's the thing. top ten cbs in the prem... lovern might well be on the list but so is skertl... so we must ask... is this the right thing long term and if so who will compete on it 9utd?)
PSG chose Alex over Sakho because of Thiago Silva - who said he felt more comfortable playing next to Alex than Sakho. When you have the world's best centre back having that influence, Sakho wasn't going to have a chance. I feel a lot of people are criticising Sakho purely because he LOOKS awkward which I think is unfair.
Skrtel was far worse in the last few games - he and Johnson were pretty much single handedly responsible for the Crystal Palace debacle.
rememebr that alex was now replaced by luiz...in theroy. so PSGs master plan is changing. it could be the case that they wanted to keep sahko like he said last august but he wanted to move. I think we are over analyzing the thing. again, i predict a big world cup for the guy... as much as that pathetic french team can have a great world cup and some knockers will be calling him a beat in august once more. I not really sold on the guy as skertl has really stepped up in aggression and attacking the ball defensively.
"Looking awkward" is not smth you can dismiss as a superficial trait as if it were pimples. In football it usually comes with underlying symptoms which are cause for concern like accelerating too fast or too slow overstepping the mark braking too late or too early not protecting the ball well turning late or early rushing out of position getting caught on the back foot etc. Agger and Skrtel should be our CB partnership, period.
isnt there some weird stat somewhere that shows Skrtls has a good season once every 4 or something, so as he was ok just gone may be time to get rid, or suffer 3 yrs of ****e lol.
With the options available there's no question that Skrtel and Agger are our best PARTNERSHIP. I think, individually we need to scout targets who would seamlessly fit in to our defensive unit, and that includes DM, LB, and RB. Despite Skrtel's decent season, I do think we should be looking to improve. And same goes for Agger, not because of his ability but his unreliability. For me, it's not an over night job. It's going to take a few transfers windows and the right sort of nourishment. Out of our back 6, right now the only players I see being the right fit long term are Mignolet and Sahko. Major overhaul needed.
The problem is that the defence is not a unit. It's a combination of players out of position i.e. Flanno, a centre back who can't communicate at the moment (Sakho), a liability in Skrtel and then there's Johnson ...
He got POTY in 2011-12, was **** in 2012-13 before playing well again last year. He was **** for about four years prior to that though.
who knows... i think his attitude was most important i think.... not sure but he was just playing differently in style. last year or the prior year he was sweeping up behind and someone else had to go attack it. this year he's been dominating everyone in the air and playing much higher up. it reminded me of hyppia in his last year where he found that going and attacking it allowed carragher to mop up behind him... not that with his physique there was much. his zero pace was no issue. just maybe actually we need more sweeping up behind him. i firmly believe that when both full backs are 30 yards up the pitch and the cbs are required to play split that what we really need is rapid transition from johnson, henderson etc. skertl rarely got beat by someone. his ogs were all last ditch yeah?
oh and basically if skertl can adapt.. and fair play he did... surely a younger guy can too... which is why bashing sahko right now is premature. both injuries and competition meant he had little real time to get in there. lovern and sahko can i'm sure learn too. is skertl faster/slower, shorter/taller, better/worse passer, more/less agressive. what the case for making this chage at a 10+ mil net cost
