[quote author=KHL link=topic=42401.msg1206784#msg1206784 date=1288182318]
[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=42401.msg1206780#msg1206780 date=1288181929]
If any of Pepe, Carra, Stevie or Torres were injured or suspended and we were winning in their absence - no, I wouldn't automatically bring them back. It's highly unlikely with the squad we've got, but if we were in that happy position I'd have them on the bench until it became clear that we had to have them back in the team.
Skrtel had his shakier moments against Blackburn, it's true. I don't think they were bad enough or frequent enough to warrant dropping though - and, as far as pace is concerned, if Skrtel was skinned it's a safe bet Agger would have been skinned even worse, since Skrtel's the quicker of the two.
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He got skinned because he approached his opponent the wrong way not because he was particularly fast. He attacked the ball with no eye on the movement beeing made hence he just stood there as an Agger-tatooed statue watching football.
I'd drop Kyrgiakos before I'd drop Skrtel mind especially as soon as our opponents gets a little better than Blackburn as he's simply to slow and not quite good enough to make up for it either in positioning nor technique. If Agger's fit I think it's fair enough that he starts on the bench all I'm saying is that I don't think neither of his direct opponents has played that well either. For one I'm not one bit confident in our defense at this stage.
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Skrtel was at fault for the goal, they cut in on the left and the challenge was there to be made and he looked like he bottled it and tried to hold the player up instead, maybe because it was asking him to tackle on his weaker side, and his back pass at the end of the game was a bit of a heart-stopper, when he over hit the pass back to Reina and he had to control it. That said I've been impressed with his general defensive play of late, particularly in the last two games, he's looked a bit more composed, controlled and when he's had to he's launched himself whole-heartedly in the way of danger. None of our partnerships fill me with confidence right now, I'd like to see how Skrtel and Agger do, with Carra remaining at right back just to give us that extra bit of solidity, at least for the tougher games anyway.
