Martin Skrtel

[Tee]

Only City have kept more clean sheets than us this season, Maybe its not as bad as people think

Shows how poor the league is this year IMO.

[Mattshark]

Shows how poor the league is this year IMO.

It also suggests that people have been more than a little over the top in criticism of our defending as a team.

[Maxiedge]

We had a terrible league campaign last year, yet still had joint 3rd best defensive record. This to me suggests the problem is not with the personnel. We sacrificed our defensive solidity to score more goals this year and that has cost us at the back. We need to find the right balance between defence and attack and I don’t think buying new CB’s will address this problem.

I honestly can’t believe that people are suggesting that we get rid of all our CB’s this summer.

What if you lose every game in a season 1 nil? You'd have one of the top defensive records but the worst ever points tally possible.

Goal difference tells a better story.

[Mattshark]

What if you lose every game in a season 1 nil? You'd have one of the top defensive records but the worst ever points tally possible.

Goal difference tells a better story.

In that regard we are doing quite well.

[RedReet]

What if you lose every game in a season 1 nil? You'd have one of the top defensive records but the worst ever points tally possible.

Goal difference tells a better story.

WHAT???

But we didn't lose every game 1-0. Goal difference doesn't tell a better story on how the defenders played. What if we won every game 100-99?

You being serious?

[Tee]

It also suggests that people have been more than a little over the top in criticism of our defending as a team.

Yep, but that is usually the case here.

[DannyMan2006]

Shows how poor the league is this year IMO.

Stats can be used to say anything.

Personally, I've watched us this year and I've not been impressed by the performance of our team when it comes to defending. And it's not just one thing.

1. Lapses in concentration at the back - Skrtel v City & Glen v Zenit prime examples, but hardly the only ones.

2. Being hit on the counter. More common earlier on in the season to be fair. Only recent example I can think of us when down to ten v West Brom.

2A. In addition to point 2, I think sometimes we push players forward during build up play and get to far ahead of the ball. One simple ball forward has too often sliced through our team.

3. Set pieces. Recently we've cut down on points one and two. Much improved. But opposition teams know that if they can hang on they have a chance. We are ****e at zonal & man marking.

I'd love to blame one individual or say signing one player will solve it. But I think it's deeper than that. Individual errors and bad tactics equals disaster.

But as I've said, only point three is not getting better. So I'm positive because with the SAS I think we can break down teams to not worry about conceding one.

[Maxiedge]

WHAT???

But we didn't lose every game 1-0. Goal difference doesn't tell a better story on how the defenders played. What if we won every game 100-99?

You being serious?

Well, to just say we had the 3rd best defensive record last season certainly doesn't tell the story. Teams would go 1 nil up, sit back and just soak up the pressure as we had no firepower.

Also, I 'd take winning every game 100-99 that would be a +38 goal difference too which is pretty good.

[Tee]

Stats can be used to say anything.

Personally, I've watched us this year and I've not been impressed by the performance of our team when it comes to defending. And it's not just one thing.

1. Lapses in concentration at the back - Skrtel v City & Glen v Zenit prime examples, but hardly the only ones.

2. Being hit on the counter. More common earlier on in the season to be fair. Only recent example I can think of us when down to ten v West Brom.

2A. In addition to point 2, I think sometimes we push players forward during build up play and get to far ahead of the ball. One simple ball forward has too often sliced through our team.

3. Set pieces. Recently we've cut down on points one and two. Much improved. But opposition teams know that if they can hang on they have a chance. We are ****e at zonal & man marking.

I'd love to blame one individual or say signing one player will solve it. But I think it's deeper than that. Individual errors and bad tactics equals disaster.

But as I've said, only point three is not getting better. So I'm positive because with the SAS I think we can break down teams to not worry about conceding one.

Have to agree with you and I have felt the main cause of our vulnerability has been the lack of protection from midfield. Hopefully now with Lucas back to somewhere near his best we will see us retain a more solid defensive shape when we lose possession.

[RedReet]

Well, to just say we had the 3rd best defensive record last season certainly doesn't tell the story. Teams would go 1 nil up, sit back and just soak up the pressure as we had no firepower.

Also, I 'd take winning every game 100-99 that would be a +38 goal difference too which is pretty good.

Well I thought it less debatable than saying that I thought Johnson was excellent last year as well as Agger and pointing out that Skrtel was player of the season behind Suarez. That's all opinion, facts are we had 3rd best defence.

I also didn't say it told the whole story either, I said it indicated that the problem mightn't be with our defenders.

[PTP]

We had a terrible league campaign last year, yet still had joint 3rd best defensive record. This to me suggests the problem is not with the personnel. We sacrificed our defensive solidity to score more goals this year and that has cost us at the back. We need to find the right balance between defence and attack and I don’t think buying new CB’s will address this problem.

I honestly can’t believe that people are suggesting that we get rid of all our CB’s this summer.

i don't think people are suggesting we should sell all our centre backs

carra is retiring, coates doesn't really look up to it and if possible should be improved upon = so looking at those two alone suggests that we defo need at least one centre back

then the skrtel issue is he is out of the team, something appears to have happened between him and rodgers, which has driven speculation that he is off

[RedReet]

i don't think people are suggesting we should sell all our centre backs

carra is retiring, coates doesn't really look up to it and if possible should be improved upon = so looking at those two alone suggests that we defo need at least one centre back

then the skrtel issue is he is out of the team, something appears to have happened between him and rodgers, which has driven speculation that he is off

The first post I quoted siad they would consider selling Agger and Skrtel and I'm sure I've read similar recently too.

Obviously certian matters are out of our control and TBH I won't lose too much sleep is we sold Skrtel for a decent price. I just can't get my head around wanting to get rid of Agger though.

[PTP]

Stats can be used to say anything.

Personally, I've watched us this year and I've not been impressed by the performance of our team when it comes to defending. And it's not just one thing.

1. Lapses in concentration at the back - Skrtel v City & Glen v Zenit prime examples, but hardly the only ones.

2. Being hit on the counter. More common earlier on in the season to be fair. Only recent example I can think of us when down to ten v West Brom.

2A. In addition to point 2, I think sometimes we push players forward during build up play and get to far ahead of the ball. One simple ball forward has too often sliced through our team.

3. Set pieces. Recently we've cut down on points one and two. Much improved. But opposition teams know that if they can hang on they have a chance. We are ****e at zonal & man marking.

I'd love to blame one individual or say signing one player will solve it. But I think it's deeper than that. Individual errors and bad tactics equals disaster.

But as I've said, only point three is not getting better. So I'm positive because with the SAS I think we can break down teams to not worry about conceding one.

agree with this

i think our first choice back five, on paper, is good - Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique

i think a lot of our 'defensive' issues come from further up the pitch

the midfield is weak and full of pussies and lacks real energy - Gerrard doesn't have the legs to cover every inch of the pitch and the 'three' man midfield to me, gets over run and we end up (especially when being countered like danny has pointed out) in a situation where the defence is outnumbered.

Henderson's recent good run of form, where he has been if you like the water carrier. is no surprise to me as he is full of energy and since being moved more central has given the midfield some much needed legs

we also need to look at the defence contributions from the two wide men in the attacking three - with johnson and enrique both looking to get forward we leave ourselves exposed

it's all if's and buts - but if we took our squad and added three maybe four players of this type/quality

hyypia (as carra is retiring
mascherano (as this is one area we clearly are short)
Kuyt (instead of borini)

and added a good left back in

we'd be sorted - not much to ask is it

[PTP]

The first post I quoted siad they would consider selling Agger and Skrtel and I'm sure I've read similar recently too.

Obviously certian matters are out of our control and TBH I won't lose too much sleep is we sold Skrtel for a decent price. I just can't get my head around wanting to get rid of Agger though.

i didn't read the posts you quote haha -

[kingfunk]

If BR feels we can sell Skrtel and buy a player who is an 'improvement' and brings more to our game, I have no problem with that.