Martin Skrtel

[RichC]

Has sentiment ever had a real place? Even in 1989 we were described as a club more concerned with sucess than sentiment.

The reasoning by some on here is he's been a good servant etc and should be kept as 4th choice for me thats mostly bourne from sentiment than what he actually offers the side these days.

[Lee]

The reasoning by some on here is he's been a good servant etc and should be kept as 4th choice for me thats mostly bourne from sentiment than what he actually offers the side these days.

He's not good enough anymore and we're not a charity.

[baitman]

Then there is Gerrard, who is held in a high esteem, rightly so, but I get the feeling he gets to choose now where he plays, that is in the middle as a CM. Under Rafa he'd never player there, because it's not doing the team any good. At this stage I feel Gerrard is actually holding the team back!

without wanting to go off topic too much...
there was a time when gerrard was injured and the rest of the team had to get on with it. i remember yossi [and others?] doing a great job without stevie.
with stevie, everyone passed to him, and it was then easier for opposition teams to double up on him. if gerrard is kept quite it cut/s our bollocks off. without him there was a variety and variation to our play, so the opposition defences were unsure who to pick up. once stevie came back from injury everyone just took the easy route and passed to stevie again. is he like the big kid at school who shouts if you dont always pass the ball to him? i know he has the ability, and more drive than most of his team mates, but it makes our play much too one dimensional and predictable.

[The_weatherman]

without wanting to go off topic too much...
there was a time when gerrard was injured and the rest of the team had to get on with it. i remember yossi [and others?] doing a great job without stevie.
with stevie, everyone passed to him, and it was then easier for opposition teams to double up on him. if gerrard is kept quite it cut/s our bollocks off. without him there was a variety and variation to our play, so the opposition defences were unsure who to pick up. once stevie came back from injury everyone just took the easy route and passed to stevie again. is he like the big kid at school who shouts if you dont always pass the ball to him? i know he has the ability, and more drive than most of his team mates, but it makes our play much too one dimensional and predictable.

Agree to an extent, my main gripe with Gerrard is that he is not a good central midfielder. He is playing too deep to influence the game, he can't run at the goal from the halfway line. He needs to be closer and receive the ball closer to goal IMO.

[FrankB34]

LFC's player of the season. Terrific mentality and leadership. Seems to play worse alongside Carragher for some strange reason. Big improvement the last 18 months. At 27, he can improve. I expect to see Martin continue to improve. Agger has to remain fit. The lad is golden

[Muddled]

LFC's player of the season. Terrific mentality and leadership. Seems to play worse alongside Carragher for some strange reason. Big improvement the last 18 months. At 27, he can improve. I expect to see Martin continue to improve. Agger has to remain fit. The lad is golden

+1.

I think Exiled_Red nailed it first - it's when Skrtel goes to the left of a centre back pairing that the errors seem to creep back in. I think it speaks more of the understanding and balance between Skrtel and Agger than it does of Carragher's decline though to be fair.

I've seen Carragher being ripped on here and he does have to take the blame for invidividual mistakes that have cost us goals, but he's not *that* bad, he's just getting on - he certainly doesn't bring out the worst of Skrtel. I would say it's curious as to why Carragher - who obviously played left-back for a while - can't switch to that side to continue Skrtel's excellent form, mind.

[JohnDoe]

This season, Carragher has been *that* bad. It reminds me of Martin Keown's last couple of years at Arsenal.

[Shaggy]

Stephen McCarthy @SteMc74
Goals conceded per game with Agger: 0.84, without Agger: 1.36. Goals conceded p/g with Carra 1.21, without 0.8

[Muddled]

This season, Carragher has been *that* bad. It reminds me of Martin Keown's last couple of years at Arsenal.

I know he's been at fault, but he has not been a walking liability.

I just think we blame Skrtel's errors on Carragher, when it's more to do with Skrtel's own positioning. Carragher has made his own mistakes, but he certainly hasn't made Skrtel do them ... other than not being able to play on the left side of the back two.

[meffin]

It really is unbelievable just how much Agger drags that shower of ****e's performances up

[Gibbo]

I dont know if its a case of Carras performances pulling him down or Aggers pulling him up.

Its strange seeing the two sides of Skrtel though.

[Muddled]

Skrtel should have come up for the first goal, he was waaay off the defensive line.

As for the second, well, he's atleast five yards offside.

Interesting to see Skrtel restored to the right though and Carragher to the left.

[gentingfrmhell]

get a solid DM to protect the defense and we will not even have this discussion.

[BootRoom]

Skrtel was the only CB that competed with the Newcastle forwards, while the other CB just dropped off and let the attacker bring the ball down or lay it off unimpeded. It's a complete joke.

[Havors]

He is our player of the season. He still needs to improve on his heading from crossing and set pieces though