Been very frustrated by Skrtel in the last 2 games. Against spurs he was atrocious, yesterday against wolves everything he did resulted in us being under pressure, from his clumsy tackling to his indecisiveness. We can't rely on this guy if we are serious about Champion League football. Need to give Coates some game time while Carra is still there so that he can guide the young lad. Skrtel must be sold in Jan and we must buy a replacement, he's not improving at all. Keen to hear others opinions. Also starting to worry about Kennys team selections, really hope he's not starting to believe his own hype. Either way in Kenny I trust.
Carra's directly cost us 4 goals this season as well and made a 'briiliant' backpass to a Wolves player yesterday that should have been his 5th. I'd rather drop him first.
I didn't really notice Skrtel as being a liability yesterday to be honest. Fair enough in the Spurs game at RB he was out of his zone.
At Spurs they were just running riot (No pun intended) and Skrtel couldn't cope. Yesterday he got a yellow but he wasn't a liability per say. Jamie Carragher can't be dropped at the moment, not enough cover, Coates hasn't settled well enough yet, I agree we might need to buy some reinforcements in January, previously I thought if Johnson had been fit Kelly could cover CB aswell but its not been the case..
We really miss Agger when he isn't playing. His ability on the ball is brilliant and brings it out to midfield and practically adds another body to the midfield at times. Now we are stuck with the two hoofers.
If you think Coates is ready for the PL then watch the Carling Cup highlights. He made some horrific mistakes which would cost us goals against more clinical opposition. Skrtel makes some rough challenges but would never knock it square across his own box.
Although I do get a little nervous when he has the ball, Skrtel will have to do for now until Agger is back and fit. Hopefully Coates wont take long to get used to English football as he has the potential to be a top defender.
ok so here is the thing. skertl is completely one footed and his passing at the best of times is not good. SO.... stick him at LCB and he's instantly struggling and slows the whole game down and allows guys to close down. carragher needs to go, end of story. he's really exposed to any sort of pace and to be frank his distribution is no better
I swear I'm the only person who doesn't think Skrtel is a bad player. I mean the OPs suggestion that Skrtel is a "HUGE" liability is a tad OTT.
I have been saying this for a few years, he should be sold as the earliest oppurtunity, he looks menacing but gets bullied far too often for my liking and im never confidant when i see him on the teamsheet. tbf the whole defence looks ****, agger is quality when he isnt injured but thats the point he´s always injured so we dont have a settled defence. carra is getting passed it, skrtel is soft, agger is injury prone, coates is inexperienced in our league...the unfab four if you will. I´d certainly look to sell skrtel and sign chris samba as a replacement and i would also consider selling agger if his injuries dont let up,.....how long will we keep saying this ? only thing stopping me from outright selling agger (i know im not playing FM) is theres not many genuine ball playing centre halves around, espeacially with experiance in the prem.
forgot to say aswell everytime skrtel goes in for a challenge i wince and hold my breath, especially when he´s already on a yellow...he makes tackles he has no right attempting...liability.
The thing with Agger is that he has a recurring problem with his legs (Knees or something?). His current injury is a couple of broken ribs, I hope this isn't anything to do with his usual problems as it seems to be a one off different type of injury. Unless he just has really brittle bones, in which case he should try a calcium only diet of dairylea and milk, and rub his bones with Sensodyne Repair & protect.
**** rubbing his open wounds with horse placenta ! they should be rubbing some wendslydale in there !
ok, so heres the thing. i've said preciseyl why skertl is shaky at lcb. IF you drop carragher and play skertl at rcb with a decent partner then he becomes competant. AS ALWAYS.... judge him not by 6th in the table but by whats needed to win the league, there he is barely competant but is j.evans any better? nope. skertl should only play rcb... if that meand he and carragher are competing for the position fine.
Good points all round but I agree with the post above that we need a commanding center half that's also a goal threat, samba ticks all of the above for me.
We should look abroad too. Hummels Subotic Ranocchia Albiol Sakho Cahill I'd love to see Hummels in a red shirt.
What are the chances that BVB will sell both Hummels and Subotic. It's strange, Dortmund are doing poorly this season but it has mostly been stupid mistakes or freak goals.
we miss hyppia... who played lcb.... agger's just too injury prone BUT its through carragher the goals have come this year and the past two years we've seen skertl play worse and worse when partnered with him. they don't partner at all
We miss big Sami soooooooooo much and have never replaced him properly. I was surprised we only bought one centre half this summer tbh (and a young one at that with no experience of English football). The Agger situation is just so frustrating knowing how much better we look when he plays but it just can't carry on that we go into a season with him as a first choice player unfortunately. Skrtel again would be fine as third/fourth choice centre back if we had two others who played regularly in front of him but Carra's brilliance is fading (and that's no surprise really) and coupled with Aggers injuries it leaves us looking vulnerable in here yet again. On the positive side Enrique is looking good so far and Kelly when fit should just keep the right back spot IMO with Johnson as a quality back-up for either full back position with Aurelio, Flanagan and Robinson as well.
