Liverpool FC Forum

[maypaxvobiscum]

Really do think its time Skrtel was sent packing. I'd take whatever I can get in January for him as his times up.

That today was completely unforgivable. He's cost us any chance we had of winning the league this season with completely inept defending.

Could've sworn I saw him make at least two/three massive tackles/interventions when city looked odds on to score. Maybe I need to watch the game again.

He does his share of tackling etc but I reckon the biggest issue me and Stu has is that he has a very bad habit of tugging jerseys and fouling players. Luckily for him and us, it often goes unnoticed by the officials.

[Stu the Red]

Really do think its time Skrtel was sent packing. I'd take whatever I can get in January for him as his times up.

That today was completely unforgivable. He's cost us any chance we had of winning the league this season with completely inept defending.

Could've sworn I saw him make at least two/three massive tackles/interventions when city looked odds on to score. Maybe I need to watch the game again.

Yeah, and two of those were caused by his poor positioning in the first place.

He's cost us yet another game with two absolutely basic errors. We all know Kompany's great in the air, so why try and rip the shirt of his back rather than attempting to win a ball which was a blatant 50/50 ball.

For the second goal if he doesn't come across the pitch and runs back in a straight line, which any decent centre half would have done, that through ball was never on and the City player with the ball was being forced wide.

Its fine margins that win games and the amount of goals he costs us is ridiculous. He makes so many individual and glaring error's its beyond believe. Very average player who has the odd good game.

[woof woof !]

Mate, do you think none of their players were at it ? Everyone is tugging at shirts not just Skrtel.

The commentators certainly had a field day highlighting Skrtels shirt pulling yesterday

Maybe he does it more than most or maybe he just needs to get more clever at it. 

[kazza]

Mate, do you think none of their players were at it ? Everyone is tugging at shirts not just Skrtel.

The commentators certainly had a field day highlighting Skrtels shirt pulling yesterday

Maybe he does it more than most or maybe he just needs to get more clever at it. 

I bet you they call him for a penalty in the next couple of games as since the last couple of matches especially, the commentators have done nothing but talk about it. I bet you the refs have probably been briefed to now stamp it out. As it seems to go it will probably be a harsh decision as well. We lost yesterday but I thought that barring a couple of moments except for Johnson the team played well, after all we were playing against 300 million + pounds worth of players at their ground and I thought we looked better . If we had a little more belief we would have stuffed them and I think they were lucky to get the win. I would say most thought we would lose. Everyone is talking about how well we played and not because we gave a "brave effort" but because we looked good.

Bring on the Chelsea Bus!

[ethanr]

Skrtel is just inconsistent. One moment he's making a great tackle, the next we're praying he's not going to give away a pen. One moment his bossing the back line, the next he's putting the ball in his own net.  When he plays well, he's one of the better CB's in the league. Unfortunately he makes more mistakes than any other CB in the league, and it's going to cost us.

If we want to be challenging for the top 4, we can't have a liability like that. It's one thing if you have 10 great games and 1 where you make some huge mistake, but that's not how it is for him. It seems every other game he plays really well, then does something that could easily drop us points. It's time we let him sit on the bench and bring Agger in.

It's actually funny that people think we're so set at CB considering we have so little clean sheets. Sakho was poor yesterday with is passing, and wasn't as good defensively as he usually is, but that's his first bad game in a while. I think he's are only for sure starter right now, and I would actually like to see another CB brought in during the summer window that is more consistent than both Skrtel and Agger.

[Stu the Red]

Mate, do you think none of their players were at it ? Everyone is tugging at shirts not just Skrtel.

The commentators certainly had a field day highlighting Skrtels shirt pulling yesterday

Maybe he does it more than most or maybe he just needs to get more clever at it. 

My main issue with him is his complete lack of awareness and defensive positioning. He's brain dead.

He costs us far to many goals and always has done. He's had years at the club and from day one, anyone with half a brain could tell you he was never good enough. He's average in the air and positionally he's boardering on championship class.

[red till i die!!]

Mate, do you think none of their players were at it ? Everyone is tugging at shirts not just Skrtel.

The commentators certainly had a field day highlighting Skrtels shirt pulling yesterday

Maybe he does it more than most or maybe he just needs to get more clever at it. 

My main issue with him is his complete lack of awareness and defensive positioning. He's brain dead.

He costs us far to many goals and always has done. He's had years at the club and from day one, anyone with half a brain could tell you he was never good enough. He's average in the air and positionally he's boardering on championship class.

really 
he's not perfect but to say he's championship standard couldnt be further from the truth. he hasnt conceeded any penalties and has only one yellow card for the season. has made far more important blocks and interceptions than anyone else in the side. his passing accuracy is above the 90% range, he has won 65% of his duels and 69% of the aerial one's.
he's no where near as bad as your making out 

[Alex G.]

He can´t jump, never saw a worse defender on  headers. Pathetic.

[Stu the Red]

Mate, do you think none of their players were at it ? Everyone is tugging at shirts not just Skrtel.

The commentators certainly had a field day highlighting Skrtels shirt pulling yesterday

Maybe he does it more than most or maybe he just needs to get more clever at it. 

My main issue with him is his complete lack of awareness and defensive positioning. He's brain dead.

He costs us far to many goals and always has done. He's had years at the club and from day one, anyone with half a brain could tell you he was never good enough. He's average in the air and positionally he's boardering on championship class.

really 
he's not perfect but to say he's championship standard couldnt be further from the truth. he hasnt conceeded any penalties and has only one yellow card for the season. has made far more important blocks and interceptions than anyone else in the side. his passing accuracy is above the 90% range, he has won 65% of his duels and 69% of the aerial one's.
he's no where near as bad as your making out 

Read it again, I said the lad "positionally" meaning his defensive positioning, is championship standard. He's a mid table standard centre half.

He's nowhere near good enough and the stats you've quoted mean absolutely nothing and in no way represent any sort of arguement.

He's a liability from set pieces, always has been, doesn't win anything like enough balls in these situations and his positional play and reading of the game is absolutely shocking. We will never go away to teams in the top half of the league and come away with clean sheets regularly while he's in the side and most of the goals we concede are directly down to his poor decision making and the gaping holes he leaves every time he's on the pitch. People were blaming Kelly the other day against Cardiff, for the goal, when if you watch the game back it was actually Skrtel's man.

He's had his time and proven time and time again he's simply not good enough. If I had the time I'd find the videos online and show you why he's an average player, but I don't. That second goal against city the other day was absolutely disgraceful defending from open play and to be quite honest as soon as he done what he done it was obvious we were going to concede.

[Stu the Red]

Yet another poor performance where he contributed heavily to another goal we've conceded.

He leaves far to much space between him and his centre back partner, always has, always will. The lads an average player at best and should be nowhere near a Liverpool shirt.

He makes the odd decent recovery challenge and people rave over him. In reality, we've struggled defensively ever since he came to the club and became a regular.

[7_Kewell]

been saying it for years, he's not good enough for a regular starting place.  Can't head the ball, poor positioning and has a regular dizzy spell of kicking the ball into his own net or passing to the opposition.

[Stu the Red]

been saying it for years, he's not good enough for a regular starting place.  Can't head the ball, poor positioning and has a regular dizzy spell of kicking the ball into his own net or passing to the opposition.

He's got a major mistake in him every match.

The thing that gets me is his positional play and reading of the game, its extremely amateurish. He's usually majorly involved in just about every goal we concede because of a lack of these attributes. He often leaves huge gaping holes and tries to react to his own errors rather than anticipate it and being prepared, it often hampers his ability, or lack of, to do anything.

He costs us usually a goal a game on average through out a whole season. Its very rare I look at our goals conceded and think, there was nothing Skrtel could have done. He often hangs his defensive partners out to dry with poor decisions, positional play and slow reactions.

The sooner he's out of the side, the better.

We'll never qualify for the champions league with him as a regular.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

I think he's having to cover the flanks as the ineptitude that exists there in Johnson and those thrown out of their comfort zone at LB is
having a profound effect on our ability to clear any danger. Like I said any CB would struggle having to continually move around the box
covering for fullbacks with rank inexperience and in some severe cases  lethargy in general.

[7_Kewell]

I think he's having to cover the flanks as the ineptitude that exists there in Johnson and those thrown out of their comfort zone at LB is
having a profound effect on our ability to clear any danger. Like I said any CB would struggle having to continually move around the box
covering for fullbacks with rank inexperience and in some severe cases  lethargy in general.

there is some truth in that, but his inability to head the ball and defend crosses is shocking. The TV pundits have picked up on the fact he wrestles strikers and pulls their shirts during set play....he does it because he can't defend. I could go out there and drag players down by their shirt tails...it requires no footballing skill or ability.

Top defenders don't do it. They battle for a header and clear the ball. Not risk a penalty each time the opposition get a corner.

[RED BEERGOGGLES]

I think he's having to cover the flanks as the ineptitude that exists there in Johnson and those thrown out of their comfort zone at LB is
having a profound effect on our ability to clear any danger. Like I said any CB would struggle having to continually move around the box
covering for fullbacks with rank inexperience and in some severe cases  lethargy in general.

there is some truth in that, but his inability to head the ball and defend crosses is shocking. The TV pundits have picked up on the fact he wrestles strikers and pulls their shirts during set play....he does it because he can't defend. I could go out there and drag players down by their shirt tails...it requires no footballing skill or ability.

Top defenders don't do it. They battle for a header and clear the ball. Not risk a penalty each time the opposition get a corner.

Our collective Achilles heel will always reappear without an established back four ,I am a strong advocate for a defence that are familiar
with each others weaknesses and indeed strengths in order to provide a stability hitherto lacking in our performances of late.

I just think two strong CB's is essential to balance out the weaknesses in each others game ,the call for a tall CB who will command his
area has in my mind  always been top priority ,Take Coates for instance who has had little opportunity to show his game to Rodgers ,and
yet a player we consider to possess  glaring deficiencies in the air is opted for regularly ,and on the back of supposedly weak performances. 

We constantly dither at paying top prices for top defenders who are at that time in peak form ,and coveted by most of the quality teams.
It will never get any better until we sign a real leader who players are scared witless about contesting for the ball,until then we will put
one foot forward ,one foot ..........