Liverpool FC Forum

[alxy]

Need to keep him now more than ever since Toure's gone. Personally I have always liked Agger. Would love to see him play out his end of days here

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

I think at 29 Danny wants first team footy alxy, he sat out practically the whole of last season on the bench and he probably feels that he's wasting the best years of his career.
The fact that Kolo may be leaving doesn't really change that much, it may move him one place up the pecking order but it won't make him a fixture in the starting XI.
I think the club would be happy to keep a quality player like Danny in the squad but it's Danny himself who is not happy and wants out.

[maguskwt]

Dont understand myself why agger doesnt play more often than skrtl and why skrtle is seemingly ahead of agger in the pecking order, , espe ially considering the type of football br plays at the back. These are the two decisions i dont understand from BR. First, he bought a keeper who is comfortable as feck with the ball at his feet and refuses to reconcile with one best suited for the way we play. Second, he doesnt use a cb who is best suited for the way we play ahead of one who makes careless mistakes. 

[Stu the Red]

Dont understand myself why agger doesnt play more often than skrtl and why skrtle is seemingly ahead of agger in the pecking order, , espe ially considering the type of football br plays at the back. These are the two decisions i dont understand from BR. First, he bought a keeper who is comfortable as feck with the ball at his feet and refuses to reconcile with one best suited for the way we play. Second, he doesnt use a cb who is best suited for the way we play ahead of one who makes careless mistakes. 

Good post, Absolutely nail on head.

Add that to the fact that Agger and Reina in terms of quality are far and away ahead of Mignolet and Skrtel as well and really is baffling. Its clearly down to wages and age as in terms of quality of player and ability to play in the system, Reina and Agger are perfect.

It really annoys me the club and Rodgers have taken his approach and are allowing two of our best players to leave for around £10,000,000 in total, yet we spunk £10,000,000 on players like Origi or £21,000,000 on players like Illori, Alberto and Aspas.

It seems like the club are intent on not signing anyone over the age of 24 (Lambert excluded). But the reality is, you could end up signing a player who goes on as long as McAllister and is of a similar level at a similar age, signing a 29 year old isn't always a bad thing. (I wouldn't do it on football manager, but real life is a different story).

[C-R]

Rodgers: "I saw some stories about Agger leaving but we've had no enquires. He's still getting treatment on his knee."

[only me]

Dont understand myself why agger doesnt play more often than skrtl and why skrtle is seemingly ahead of agger in the pecking order, , espe ially considering the type of football br plays at the back. These are the two decisions i dont understand from BR. First, he bought a keeper who is comfortable as feck with the ball at his feet and refuses to reconcile with one best suited for the way we play. Second, he doesnt use a cb who is best suited for the way we play ahead of one who makes careless mistakes. 

Good post, Absolutely nail on head.

Add that to the fact that Agger and Reina in terms of quality are far and away ahead of Mignolet and Skrtel as well and really is baffling. Its clearly down to wages and age as in terms of quality of player and ability to play in the system, Reina and Agger are perfect.

It really annoys me the club and Rodgers have taken his approach and are allowing two of our best players to leave for around £10,000,000 in total, yet we spunk £10,000,000 on players like Origi or £21,000,000 on players like Illori, Alberto and Aspas.

It seems like the club are intent on not signing anyone over the age of 24 (Lambert excluded). But the reality is, you could end up signing a player who goes on as long as McAllister and is of a similar level at a similar age, signing a 29 year old isn't always a bad thing. (I wouldn't do it on football manager, but real life is a different story).

I think the answer is pretty simple ,Agger is made of glass ,he just can't keep himself healthy and in a demanding role where physical contact is a must he is just not able to avoid injuries.
Their is no question Daniel is far better then Skertel but what can you do when he is constant visitor at the physios office? Now that Lovern joined we are likely to see Sakho and Dejan and the starting pair.

[Stu the Red]

Dont understand myself why agger doesnt play more often than skrtl and why skrtle is seemingly ahead of agger in the pecking order, , espe ially considering the type of football br plays at the back. These are the two decisions i dont understand from BR. First, he bought a keeper who is comfortable as feck with the ball at his feet and refuses to reconcile with one best suited for the way we play. Second, he doesnt use a cb who is best suited for the way we play ahead of one who makes careless mistakes. 

Good post, Absolutely nail on head.

Add that to the fact that Agger and Reina in terms of quality are far and away ahead of Mignolet and Skrtel as well and really is baffling. Its clearly down to wages and age as in terms of quality of player and ability to play in the system, Reina and Agger are perfect.

It really annoys me the club and Rodgers have taken his approach and are allowing two of our best players to leave for around £10,000,000 in total, yet we spunk £10,000,000 on players like Origi or £21,000,000 on players like Illori, Alberto and Aspas.

It seems like the club are intent on not signing anyone over the age of 24 (Lambert excluded). But the reality is, you could end up signing a player who goes on as long as McAllister and is of a similar level at a similar age, signing a 29 year old isn't always a bad thing. (I wouldn't do it on football manager, but real life is a different story).

I think the answer is pretty simple ,Agger is made of glass ,he just can't keep himself healthy and in a demanding role where physical contact is a must he is just not able to avoid injuries.
Their is no question Daniel is far better then Skertel but what can you do when he is constant visitor at the physios office? Now that Lovern joined we are likely to see Sakho and Dejan and the starting pair.

I've always accepted with Agger he's injury prone and agree he can't (unfortunately) be relied upon, however he's still a good player when fit, so therefore it makes zero sense to sell him as we would never have gotten his true value. I hope you're right about it being Sahko and Lovren, my gut is telling me though that Johnsh*te will play left back and Skrtel will partner Lovren, which is basically accomadating the two players which made our defence so poor last sesaon.

[kazza]

Dont understand myself why agger doesnt play more often than skrtl and why skrtle is seemingly ahead of agger in the pecking order, , espe ially considering the type of football br plays at the back. These are the two decisions i dont understand from BR. First, he bought a keeper who is comfortable as feck with the ball at his feet and refuses to reconcile with one best suited for the way we play. Second, he doesnt use a cb who is best suited for the way we play ahead of one who makes careless mistakes. 

But the reality is, you could end up signing a player who goes on as long as McAllister and is of a similar level at a similar age, signing a 29 year old isn't always a bad thing.

McAllister was a special case that hardly ever comes along. It would be great to unearth another player like him but the odds are stacked against you as too many things have to click; fitness, skill, a body that does not want to get fat, previous injuries, a winner and most importantly the right temperment. You cannot base a strategy on that. We probably have one in Gerrard but without being in the dressing room amd hearing what he says on the pitch it would be hard to draw that conclusion.

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

Here's how I see our CB situation -

Lovren - looks set to be a regular
Skrtel - fighting it out with Sakho to partner Lovren
Sakho - fighting it out with Skrtel to partner Lovren
Agger - in the mix but probably 4th in line, by all accounts very unhappy and wants a move
Toure - according to the media on his way to Trabzonspor for £1.8m
Ilorri - potentially the best of the lot but still a bit young for a prem CB, gone on loan to Bordeaux
Coates - frozen out somewhat but a good pre season has reminded everyone of his talent

With Toure and Ilorri gone that leaves us with Lovren, Sakho, Skrtel, Agger and Coates, if Agger goes as well that leaves us with just 4 CB's and we have to play league games, league cup games, F.A cup games and CL games and that's without factoring in injuries or loss of form.
The best scenario for us is if Agger stays as a squad player but at 29 I can't see a player of his quality being happy just playing in the 2 domestic cup competitions.
We do have a lot of CB's at the club but if Agger follows Toure and Ilorri out the door we might be a little bit thin on the ground, 4 CB's isn't an awful lot when you are faced with the prospect of playing potentially 70+ games over 9 months and especially when your 4th CB is the relatively inexperienced Coates.

[only me]

[/quote]I've always accepted with Agger he's injury prone and agree he can't (unfortunately) be relied upon, however he's still a good player when fit, so therefore it makes zero sense to sell him as we would never have gotten his true value. I hope you're right about it being Sahko and Lovren, my gut is telling me though that Johnsh*te will play left back and Skrtel will partner Lovren, which is basically accomadating the two players which made our defence so poor last sesaon.[/quote]

If Johnson plays any part this year ,god forbid a starter role ,then BR has a lot to explain for. I still hope good sense would lead to Lovern-Sakho pairing and Johnson relegated to water boy role.

[kazza]

Here's how I see our CB situation -

Lovren - looks set to be a regular
Skrtel - fighting it out with Sakho to partner Lovren
Sakho - fighting it out with Skrtel to partner Lovren
Agger - in the mix but probably 4th in line, by all accounts very unhappy and wants a move
Toure - according to the media on his way to Trabzonspor for £1.8m
Ilorri - potentially the best of the lot but still a bit young for a prem CB, gone on loan to Bordeaux
Coates - frozen out somewhat but a good pre season has reminded everyone of his talent

With Toure and Ilorri gone that leaves us with Lovren, Sakho, Skrtel, Agger and Coates, if Agger goes as well that leaves us with just 4 CB's and we have to play league games, league cup games, F.A cup games and CL games and that's without factoring in injuries or loss of form.
The best scenario for us is if Agger stays as a squad player but at 29 I can't see a player of his quality being happy just playing in the 2 domestic cup competitions.
We do have a lot of CB's at the club but if Agger follows Toure and Ilorri out the door we might be a little bit thin on the ground, 4 CB's isn't an awful lot when you are faced with the prospect of playing potentially 70+ games over 9 months and especially when your 4th CB is the relatively inexperienced Coates.

Problem is we only have one right sided defender in Skrtel and Toure and Toure is set to leave, The rest (minus  Ilorri) seem to favour the left side. I think Agger will be a good replacement for Lovren as they seem similar in style, with Lovren being stronger and faster so in my opinion should be a starter. As you say whether Agger will be happy with that role I'm not so sure. It is a team sport and he will have plenty of chances to play so if that tatoo on his hands means anything he will stay and do a job, We should hang onto Coates as he is young and seems to be improving but still a little raw but he is 6'6 and I like big defenders. If we kept  Agger and Coates we would have five good defenders and I think we will be set. I think this year more than in a while we look solid from a squad point of view. For the first time in our history we have 20 million+ players warming the bench and that can only be a good thing. We need to keep Agger for our defence as he will keep us stronger and will have plenty of chances to play. Sending Ilorri to Bordeaux is curious but he is certainly gaining experience although not prem experience. He will have played in Portugal, Spain and now France so technically he will develop. Maybe the manager is waiting for him to develop physically as he does seem a little slight for the prem, and maybe loaning him out to a prem side may do more harm that good. I'd probably keep Toure as well as we would not find an equal replacement in terms of maturity and experience for the 1.8 million we would get for him.

[aCe']

For me, Lovren and Sakho are by far the best 2 CBs we have at the club. Agger is probably the 3 best player we have in the position but his injury record and failure to consistently play at a high level (which is down to a number of things) probably means that he'll never be someone we can rely on to fill the starting CB spot for a season. It would be a sad day if he leaves, but I think its the right thing for both Agger and the club at this stage. Skrtel seems to have improved in a number of categories last season (leadership, recovery, attacking the ball, and even positioning when defending higher up) but again, his lack of awareness when we are pushed back and the fact that he will always be prone to making that amateurish mistake make him a bit of a gamble over the course of a season. I'm not sure if BR plans on starting him or Sakho for the season but I would certainly hope that we eventually settle on Lovren-Sakho as our CB partnership.

With regards to the other CBs we have, I think Llori going out on loan is a good idea. He needs the minutes and he wont be getting them here this season.
Toure is well past it and he adds nothing that we dont already have.
Coates still seems like a 'prospect' rather than an established CB and with him being 24 in a couple of months, he needs to get more minutes for us to determine whether he will make the cut or not. Keeping him as 3rd/4th choice would be the best option.


I think we should be okay with 4 CBs and Kelly being able to fill in when/if things get desperate. Certainly doesnt seem like a problem position for us anymore especially if we manage to bring in better fullbacks than what we had last season.

[Stu the Red]

Kazza if you're a centre half mate it doesn't matter what side you play on, anyone who says otherwise is talking turkeys. You usually just play next to the full back you have the better understanding with.

Having played there semi professionally I can tell you it didn't bother me in the slightest what side I played, so if you're going to tell me premier league players can't adapt to playing 5 yards further over the pitch then they shouldn't be playing at that level.

[Penguins]

I just think it's sad that Skrtel never gets any recognition as the very good cb he really is. Sure, he has weaknesses, but so do all defenders.
I thought he was a warrior for us last season and still the most consistent cb we had.
But he is just ***** according to most...

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest- ... -accolades

[kazza]

Kazza if you're a centre half mate it doesn't matter what side you play on, anyone who says otherwise is talking turkeys. You usually just play next to the full back you have the better understanding with.

Having played there semi professionally I can tell you it didn't bother me in the slightest what side I played, so if you're going to tell me premier league players can't adapt to playing 5 yards further over the pitch then they shouldn't be playing at that level.

Well then I am talking turkeys    I have also been around the game a bit but I'm not going to get into that as it is irrelevant. They can certainly do a job Stu but not at their best as the space they have to cover is on their strong side. Maybe you are different (and there are some comfortable on both sides) but most would rather play on their strong side. I think it is easier for a right footed defender to play left as there are more of them and they have had to adapt to get a game. Left footed defenders are more specialist and almost always play left so do not have the experience playing on the right (generally).

Has Agger ever played on the right side? I dont think so. I have not followed Sakho's career enough to be sure but I would bet that it applies to him as well. I am talking  in general as I am sure there are exceptions but as  a rule I am confident in my opinion. Prem defenders are talented enough and coached enough to make it work and adapt In agree  but if given the choice they would rather be on their strong side, it just feels more natural.