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Best Defensive Partnership In The Universe

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Kay Age El

Kay Age El

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Daniel Agger alongside Jamie Carragher

“The pairing of Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger is the best defensive partnership of any Premier League team in history.

The former Liverpool centre-backs conceded just 58 goals in 8,171 minutes (approximately 90 games) playing alongside each other in the heart of the Reds backline and that works out to the equivalent of just 24.3 goals per season.”

From an article I wrote (actually wasn’t me) in the ECHO;

 
Pointless singling just these two out. Imagine telling Mascherano or Reina they didn't equally contribute to this statistic.
 
Oh I dunno. If it's earth, I'll go for Ironman and Hulk.

If it's the universe, there's just too many contenders. Dr Strange ? Thor ? The original Defenders ? Guardians ?
 
Squiggles said:
Pointless singling just these two out. Imagine telling Mascherano or Reina they didn't equally contribute to this statistic.
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For the sake of stats it gets pretty hard to start looking for large datasets for 4+ people... but I agree that at least a GK should be included in that.
 
Haven't read the article but I'm surprised that a Terry/Carvalho partnership wasn't at the top.
 
Nah Agger was vastly overrated.

Good player but nowhere near some of the greats we had. Injuries or not.
 
I know it wont be anywhere near the same sample size yet but whats the goals per game for Gomez and big Virg so far. Pretty lean id imagine
 
Dreambeliever said:
Nah Agger was vastly overrated.

Good player but nowhere near some of the greats we had. Injuries or not.
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There must be a rift in the space/time continuum somewhere, because I agree at least partially with Dreamy. Not sure about the "vastly" bit, but overall I thought - and I still do - that Agger's rep was to some extent a triumph of style over substance. Yes, he was willing to play the ball out from the back BUT a surprisingly large percentage of his passes went astray or to an opposition player. Yes, he could mix it when he wanted BUT too often he wasn't able to because his positioning let him down. If one looks only at individual player or player combo stats, the best ever season by a Liverpool CB pairing was one from Stevie Nicol and Gary Ablett when we conceded something like 16 goals ALL SEASON, and who's going to pick that CB duo in the All-Time XI?
 
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Judge Jules said:
There must be a rift in the space/time continuum somewhere, because I agree at least partially with Dreamy. Not sure about the "vastly" bit, but overall I thought - and I still do - that Agger's rep was to some extent a triumph of style over substance. Yes, he was willing to play the ball out from the back BUT a surprisingly large percentage of his passes went astray or to an opposition player. Yes, he could mix it when he wanted BUT too often he wasn't able to because his positioning let him down. If one looks only at individual player or player combo stats, the best ever season by a Liverpool CB pairing was one from Stevie Nicol and Gary Ablett when we conceded something like 16 goals ALL SEASON, and who's going to pick that CB duo in the All-Time XI?
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Pretty sure the 16 goal season was 78/79, years before Nicol & Ablett
 
There was more than one then, because Nicol and Ablett - an accidental partnership which was thrown together only because of injuries and suspensions (neither had been selected much if ever at CB before, nor were they afterwards) - certainly conceded a ridiculously low number of goals against.
 
tombrown said:
Pretty sure the 16 goal season was 78/79, years before Nicol & Ablett
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Is right.

LIVERPOOL TOP FLIGHT GOALS CONCEDED

78/79 16 goals (42 games)
87/88 24 goals (40 games)
68/69 24 goals (42 games)
70/71 24 goals (42 games)
05/06 25 goals (38 games)
08/09 27 goals (38 games)
06/07 27 goals (38 games)

Most appearances by defenders in 78/79 was Emlyn Hughes and Alan Hansen.
 
This is proof that stats can prove / disprove anything... They weren't even our best pairing of this time frame, never mind the entire league's...
 
Kay Age El said:
Daniel Agger alongside Jamie Carragher

“The pairing of Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger is the best defensive partnership of any Premier League team in history.

The former Liverpool centre-backs conceded just 58 goals in 8,171 minutes (approximately 90 games) playing alongside each other in the heart of the Reds backline and that works out to the equivalent of just 24.3 goals per season.”

From an article I wrote (actually wasn’t me) in the ECHO;

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Loved Agger. But be honest...when you read this article and realized that real viking blood was part of this great defence
.. did you @Kay Age El - cum in your pants ?
 
I was actuallly not that bothered but I thought it at least was something, not a bad list to top.

Honestly though we know stats can hide a lot of info and maybe our Virgil will never beat Agger/Carra’s record but for me he’s probably one of the best central defenders I’ve ever witnessed.
 
I'd agree with that and I've been around to witness a lot of 'em, as everyone keeps reminding me on here. Hansen and Lawrenson still get my vote as our best combo ever, but I'd say Virgil's range of skills is probably wider than either of theirs. If he keeps on the way he's started he could yet gatecrash my idea of the All-Time XI.
 
Judge Jules said:
I'd agree with that and I've been around to witness a lot of 'em, as everyone keeps reminding me on here. Hansen and Lawrenson still get my vote as our best combo ever, but I'd say Virgil's range of skills is probably wider than either of theirs. If he keeps on the way he's started he could yet gatecrash my idea of the All-Time XI.
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Yep, Jocky's probably my favourite Liverpool player ever, but taken in isolation, Virgil has all his best qualities - calmness, organisation, quality on the ball, great passer, takes the ball upfield effortlessly - but he's also quicker, stronger and can actually win headers and tackle if he has to.
 
Whaddapie said:
Could you imagine Jocky beside Virgil..? We'd never concede.
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That's why I've suggested a Virgil/Christensen partnership.. it'll be almost like the real deal.

Alan Hansen

196948-1471512215.JPG


Andreas Christensen

s-l300.jpg
 
Just found these comments from Lampard and even though it's obviously hype, his talent is there to see.


[article]https://www.goal.com/en/news/christ...d-says-defender-is/1mc90kzj7z0k81tc9pb0bpqnm4[/article]

PS The only reason I mention him again is because Sarri doesn't play him (apart from in Europe and the cups bar the United game) and even though Chelsea rejected offers from Barcelona, Bayern, Juve and a few others during January their might become an opening.
 
Lampard's a Chav fan so one has to filter those comments through that particular mental sieve, but sorry - "as good as van Dijk" is worse than hype, it's utter garbage. He *might* get to be one day (though frankly I doubt that, as our guy is a phenomenon) but that's the limit of what can sensibly be claimed at this stage.

All that said, we do need to strengthen at CB and to do so with quality. Signing him would also make you sooo happy, wouldn't it? ;)
 
Judge Jules said:
Lampard's a Chav fan so one has to filter those comments through that particular mental sieve, but sorry - "as good as van Dijk" is worse than hype, it's utter garbage. He *might* get to be one day (though frankly I doubt that, as our guy is a phenomenon) but that's the limit of what can sensibly be claimed at this stage.

All that said, we do need to strengthen at CB and to do so with quality. Signing him would also make you sooo happy, wouldn't it? ;)
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Few on here would've believed just how good Virgil was going to be for us when he was still at Soton mind. So whilst I agree with your overall sentiment, of course Christensen is still not as his level, however he does have the qualities to reach the very top too.

By the way, this is from a post of mine from March, 2016:

"PS I have been immensely impressed by Soton's central defender Van Dijk, anyone else noticed him?

Elegant, strong, commanding, clever, fast. Really looks a marvelous prospect."

*Shane Fucking Long*
 
Here's a post of mine from April 1975 -

"There's a centre back at Partick Thistle, Hansen I think his name is. Looks like a really good prospect. I reckon £100K should secure him in a year or two. I know that's an astronomical amount, but, IMHO, it would be a shrewd investment"
 
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