He was the best centre half at the club when Rafa was manager.
So, yeah he should be. Rafa dropped Sami from the CL squad one season. He never did that to Carra.
Centre Half situation
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He was the best centre half at the club when Rafa was manager.
So, yeah he should be. Rafa dropped Sami from the CL squad one season. He never did that to Carra.
Rafa also saw it fit to try and replace Sami with Pellegrino. Yikes.
You're fucking kidding me? Better than Hyypia?
Hyypia was dropped because he was like 47 years old during that season.
As for our centre-backs, I think they're all capable of playing well for us if the stars align and everything is just so... but that's kinda the problem... we've got no one that we can build a defence around and haven't since Carra declined.
Skrtel has been a good servant but he's always needed someone better alongside him to marshal the defence.
Sakho has it in him to be a decent defender and has had more than a few games for us where we've seen it all come together and he'll look great but then too often what you might normally describe as instinctive becomes panicky and that panic spreads.
Lovren has thankfully salvaged his reputation somewhat after a complete horror show of a first season. Like Sakho, he can also look like a top defender at times but as we saw last week he can still lose his head. A 20M player based on how he carries himself rather than how he plays.
I like Toure and don't particularly mind if he stays but I don't want to see him playing regularly. He may get dismissed a little too easily but much like youth players getting a go in the side, he can look good simply by proving that he's not a complete disaster.
Skrtel has been a good servant but he's always needed someone better alongside him to marshal the defence.
Sakho has it in him to be a decent defender and has had more than a few games for us where we've seen it all come together and he'll look great but then too often what you might normally describe as instinctive becomes panicky and that panic spreads.
Lovren has thankfully salvaged his reputation somewhat after a complete horror show of a first season. Like Sakho, he can also look like a top defender at times but as we saw last week he can still lose his head. A 20M player based on how he carries himself rather than how he plays.
I like Toure and don't particularly mind if he stays but I don't want to see him playing regularly. He may get dismissed a little too easily but much like youth players getting a go in the side, he can look good simply by proving that he's not a complete disaster.
I'd get shut of Sakho first, he's cringeworthy. Matip's obviously going to play, not sure who would compliment him best. I hope Gomez gets a chance to stake a claim and I'd certainly keep Kolo around.
Sakho will be first to go on my list. Every player will have bad games from time to time, but Sakho have bad minutes every single game. He would be playing well one moment and then come up with something terribly amateurish. He is a ticking time bomb really.
Try finding a game where for the whole 90 mins he didn't do something stupid like fall over his own legs or being hesitant over a simple clearance.
Try finding a game where for the whole 90 mins he didn't do something stupid like fall over his own legs or being hesitant over a simple clearance.
Difficult to be overly enamoured about keeping any of our centre-backs bar Gomez, who is young and promising, and Kolo, who has been our best centre back this year and has huge experience (and is good as far as the dressing room goes). I wouldn't care if Skrtel, Lovren and Sakho all go, none of them have particularly established themselves as dominent centre backs.
I would. They may not be a world-class group but (a) I wouldn't want to have to replace the whole lot at once, (b) finding one good replacement will be hard enough, let alone three, and (c) Gomez - for all his definite promise - is completely untried at CB in the Prem.
Yeah, in fairness that's the only thing that's really in their favour, that and the hope that they'd each look better with someone more assertive alongside them. I hope Klopp doesn't change too much this summer because then we're looking at another bedding in season (unless Klopp is as good as I hope he is). Still, that doesn't say much for their quality really.
I thought my point was pretty clear, you were saying Skrtel has had numerous poor games, I was pointing out that you can say that about the very best centre backs out there.
B
bkwitche2
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So the point is Ferrari's and Toyota's all break down?
Must say I do like The Anfield Wrap.
My own personal addition to this debate;.
Obviously building on keniget's points, which mirror my thinking I'm not actually adverse to trying two new centre backs as a pairing. Whilst I like Sakho, Lovren & Skrtel, none of them fill me with as much confidence as hyypia & henchoz & I thought that partnership needed work.
Obviously building on keniget's points, which mirror my thinking I'm not actually adverse to trying two new centre backs as a pairing. Whilst I like Sakho, Lovren & Skrtel, none of them fill me with as much confidence as hyypia & henchoz & I thought that partnership needed work.
It can be done successfully, yes, but it remains a risk and not one I'd particularly want to take. Not being as good as H and H doesn't make our current CBs poor players. I for one don't think they are, and IMO it's going to be harder to improve on them than some of us imagine.
But Henchoz pretty much mirrors the points made about the other three. He was only as good as his partner. He played well for only a short period of around 2 seasons, prior to that he had been relegated in a poor Blackburn defense alongside the hapless Peacock. Henchoz was good enough for that short period, but that was about it, we didn't see longevity in him, like we did with Hyypia.
Another point worth making is that we desperately need a leader and a player who will dominate at the back, Matip seems much more in the mould of what we already have. So I'm guessing that means that we will end up with two new centre halves. To me then it's more or less gonna be Gomez and one other who stay, which ideally would be Lovren or Skrtel. Sakho doesn't instill confidence in me, and people seem to have already made their mind up that Toure is gone.
Toure and Skrtel will be off. If this is true we might get some money for him:
Chinese Super League (@CSL_Football)
27.03.2016, 15.29
There are rumours that Sven Goran Eriksson wants to take Liverpool's Martin Skrtel to Shanghai
27.03.2016, 15.29
There are rumours that Sven Goran Eriksson wants to take Liverpool's Martin Skrtel to Shanghai
Skittles for 20 million please.
Surely he's nearly half as good as Mangala.
I think the problem is a lot of people don't/can't take Kolo seriously. The mistake at West Brom, running into Phil Dowd at Fulham, his age and general clown like ways probably don't do him any favours in terms of his abilities as a player.
He's surprised me this season as well. Put in some very solid performances.
We have a collection of Henchoz-esque centre backs at this point. We don't have a Hyypia or a Carragher to be the partner that ties this defence together, Matip doesn't look like being that kind of player either.
They are all fair game at this point, but it needs to be a top centre back that comes in to partner Matip - who, I do not know.
As for Skrtel, he hit his peak a few years ago now and his form has been inconsistent across his entire Liverpool career (like much of the squad), with notable mentions to the high of the 11-12 season (Player of the Year) and the low of the shite form he served up in the 12-13 season. It's not really fair to say that fans are only on his back because of his most recent form, there's a good number of fans that have said he could go for a while (there were many who would have been happy to accept the offer from Napoli I'm sure) - he looks one of the best of a bad bunch at the moment but only on his day, certainly not every day.
Lovren. Inconsistent and totally devoid of confidence for more than half of his Liverpool career. Southampton have been absolutely fine without him, which makes you wonder. I'm not convinced he'll ever be a top centre back here.
Sakho is the enigma. The second leg against Man Utd was a perfect example of Sakho. He was everywhere, covered everything, but managed to make a brilliant performance look like an accident at every turn. Nothing Sakho does ever looks truly deliberate and I think this is the issue fans have with him. He looks like a liability without being one, then at other times he proves you right by fucking it up. He's an exciting player for all the wrong reasons, gets the heart rate going anyway!
Kolo. Has put in some great performances this season, but anybody that thinks he could have done that for 38 games is kidding themselves. The issue with Kolo is not that he doesn't have the ability, it's that he doesn't have the fitness anymore. He could gladly stay as fourth choice for me - but I don't even think he should be part of this discussion, he's not first choice and it is the first choice that are not good enough.
So, which of those wouldn't you swap for a Mats Hummels type?
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