Martin Skrtel

[Keyser Soze]

BTW Dan last season both of Sothampton's backs were better than Skrtel.
I'd certainly take Stones over Skrtel now also.
Thats just in the PL btw.

[McDermotX]

Never mind better sides with average better defensive records and goals scored full stop in that time.
The article is really nothing more than an editorial/forum post which doesn't really tell us anything beyond what random posters would also contribute, and more pointedly relies on the premise of defensive frailties being an isolated facet of the back line, and not a general weakness of the team overall - offering twitter comments as evidence is fantastic as well.
It's a nowhere near as simple as that, but offering up realistic alternatives would be a start.

[danperkins]

BTW Dan last season both of Sothampton's backs were better than Skrtel.
I'd certainly take Stones over Skrtel now also.
Thats just in the PL btw.

Oh right, so how many times did you watch Southampton season mate?

[DannyMan2006]

Skrtel is useless. And I'll tell you why.

Because he is abysmal in possession of the ball. And I mean really abysmal. In fact its painful. I could go on all night tbh.

I could just about get by on the above. If he was an absolute monster of a defender. If he made opposition attackers cry at the mere mention of his name and if I saw them wincing game after game from thunderous Martin Skrtel challenges. But let's be honest here. He's a pussy cat.

Take away the tattoos and shaved head. If he was running around with a floppy fringe and specatacles we'd see him for what he is. Having said all that, him & Sakho are probably our best partnership.

Just wow.

[Keyser Soze]

Oh right, so how many times did you watch Southampton season mate?

As many times as they were on Sky plus highlights etc

By your logic unless you watch someone for every game all 90mins you don't know how good they are You mentioned yourself earlier Williams i assume you watch his every game right?

Dude you like Skrtel, fair play - i say he's been part of a failing defence for years. instead of giving him a new contract we should have been ushering him out of the door.

He makes too many mistakes, he gets bullied, he has little to no recovery pace, communication poor (as seen today when he didn't give Clyne a shout that there was no danger and we conceded a corner), how about the infuriating shirt grabs at every tussle? i'm not going in to the ball playing centre back thing.

Is he the worst at the club, oh of course theres always Lovren to take that award, for the type of game Rodgers wants to play neither Skrtel, Lovren or Mignolet are good enough.

[DannyMan2006]

Skrtel isn't dreadful but he's not good enough for a title winning side.

I know everyone on here knows that isn't acceptable at this club. We could argue all day about bigger issues. But I think we can all agree that he's one.

[danperkins]

As many times as they were on Sky plus highlights etc

By your logic unless you watch someone for every game all 90mins you don't know how good they are You mentioned yourself earlier Williams i assume you watch his every game right?

Dude you like Skrtel, fair play - i say he's been part of a failing defence for years. instead of giving him a new contract we should have been ushering him out of the door.

He makes too many mistakes, he gets bullied, he has little to no recovery pace, communication poor (as seen today when he didn't give Clyne a shout that there was no danger and we conceded a corner), how about the infuriating shirt grabs at every tussle? i'm not going in to the ball playing centre back thing.

Is he the worst at the club, oh of course theres always Lovren to take that award, for the type of game Rodgers wants to play neither Skrtel, Lovren or Mignolet are good enough.

So basically **** all. People only say Fonte was good now because they realised they were wrong about Lovren being the leader of the defence there. Southampton had Wanyama and Schneiderlin protecting their back line but it's a bit optimistic to suggest they were better than Skrtel.

I said Williams was a decent CB, you suggested Both Southampton CBs were some of the best in the league. Williams is a decent CB. Skrtel is not slow at all, he grabs shirts Luke every single CB in every single league in the world. As Danny said earlier you try to change a no nonsense CB into a ball playing CB and **** happens. And as regards communication they be been playing together for a bit 4 games or so.

I don't think Skrtel is amazing or anything... I just like to bring the criticism down to a realistic and truthful level. Like I said.. There was no centre back better than him last season apart from Terry and Cahill. That's not too shabby.

[baitman]

Dan, if skrtel could defend as well as you then we'd win the world cup

[DannyMan2006]

So basically **** all. People only say Fonte was good now because they realised they were wrong about Lovren being the leader of the defence there. Southampton had Wanyama and Schneiderlin protecting their back line but it's a bit optimistic to suggest they were better than Skrtel.

I said Williams was a decent CB, you suggested Both Southampton CBs were some of the best in the league. Williams is a decent CB. Skrtel is not slow at all, he grabs shirts Luke every single CB in every single league in the world. As Danny said earlier you try to change a no nonsense CB into a ball playing CB and **** happens. And as regards communication they be been playing together for a bit 4 games or so.

I don't think Skrtel is amazing or anything... I just like to bring the criticism down to a realistic and truthful level. Like I said.. There was no centre back better than him last season apart from Terry and Cahill. That's not too shabby.

Skrtel was fine last year because he didn't have to play the ball under pressure at the back. He just had to sit there, head the ball and smash into people. All things he can do quite well when he's confident.

Problems start for Martin as soon as he's being asked to be in possession. A back 4 is the way forwards. Martin isn't good enough for a back 4. But sadly, at our club we've bigger problems than that.

[Muddled]

Question for you guys... Name a few better CBs than Skrtel last season?

What do people expect Franco Baresi? We have a very functional CB in Skrtel that was one of the best CBs in the league last year.

Apart from Terry /Cahil,Mostly Terry to be fair.. Not one person could name a better CB in the league last year. Is that not an important thing for people? He is not the problem, but until we get our midfield sorted out we will concede goals.

Premier League central defenders better than Skrtel last season:

John Terry
Gary Cahill
Laurent Koscielny
Phil Jagielka
Jose Fonte

Other Premier League central defenders statistically better than Skrtel last season:

Ashley Williams
Jason Shackell
Wes Morgan
Joleon Lescott
Per Mertesacker

Oh right, so how many times did you watch Southampton season mate?

So name a better defender than Skrtel last season that you watched on a regular basis?

So basically **** all. People only say Fonte was good now because they realised they were wrong about Lovren being the leader of the defence there. Southampton had Wanyama and Schneiderlin protecting their back line but it's a bit optimistic to suggest they were better than Skrtel.

I said Williams was a decent CB, you suggested Both Southampton CBs were some of the best in the league. Williams is a decent CB. Skrtel is not slow at all, he grabs shirts Luke every single CB in every single league in the world. As Danny said earlier you try to change a no nonsense CB into a ball playing CB and **** happens. And as regards communication they be been playing together for a bit 4 games or so.

I don't think Skrtel is amazing or anything... I just like to bring the criticism down to a realistic and truthful level. Like I said.. There was no centre back better than him last season apart from Terry and Cahill. That's not too shabby.

So name a better defender than Skrtel last season that you watched on a regular basis and doesn't have Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Matic or another defensive midfielder in front of them?

[Lee]

Skrtel is ****.

Deal with it you horrific wum cunt.

Even on your holiday with a Harry Potter wand up your arse you still can't resist being a terrible ***** alright.

Great read chaps. Really enjoyed it.

[RichC]

Taken from thisisanfield.com

Mignolet, Lovren and Skrtel’s ineptitude

So much has been made of Dejan Lovren’s place in the team and Martin Skrtel’s patchy form, and they once again showed why they are one of Liverpool’s most unconvincing centre-back pairings of the Premier League era.

Lovren may not actually have been at fault for any of United’s goals, but he showed no authority at any point, and always felt like an accident waiting to happen.

Skrtel bizarrely has many admirers still, but his defending for Anthony Martial’s goal was nothing short of atrocious.

He is 30 years of age now and should be the undisputed leader of Liverpool’s defence. Instead, he is as error-prone as anyone. The back-line will never be good with him in it.

We all complain about Lovren and he is terrible but Skrtel is honestly just as bad.

— The Anfield Chat (@TheAnfieldChat) September 12, 2015

There was a always a feeling that Rodgers’ stubbornness in continuing to play Lovren and Skrtel would prove to be his downfall, and that is looking more and more likely by the week.

Simon Mignolet also deserves plenty of blame, with his nonsensical roll-out almost gifting United an early lead, and his general kicking, passing and aerial presence flattering to deceive throughout.

As a defensive trio, Mignolet, Lovren and Skrtel are fast becoming one of the least dependable in the Premier League.

[G]

Tweeted that opinion myself during the game yesterday, those 3 more than any will be his undoing.

[Shaggy]

The Holy Trinity

Utter ****e.

Mignolet improved last season but like Skrtel he just can't be relied upon. We've bought so much **** it's untrue.

[RichC]

All of them have their own issues but together is a cluster **** of a central defensive unit.

A keeper that can't kick and two CBs that can't do the basics right.