Skrtel

[the_khl]

[quote author=drizzt link=topic=37363.msg995564#msg995564 date=1258907426]
[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=37363.msg995424#msg995424 date=1258895160]
I've said before that I think without Carra alongside him Skrtel looks lost. Carra's marshalling qualities shouldn't be underestimated. With someone yelling instructions at him Skrtel can be an excellent defender, as we've seen. Without that influence however, he can be almost comical in his decision-making. Slovakia against England was a good example of that.

Of course, one would hope that with so much tuition, he would start to learn for himself after a while. In the meantime however, he has to play with Carra as far as I'm concerned.
[/quote]

We have the single most disorganized defence I have ever seen. How the fuck is Skrtel the only player central on a corner? Yelling, "Out" and "Play it long" is not organization.
[/quote]

We are in desperate need to play the same 2 CBs in a few consecutive games. Skrtel had a bad game yesterday but everyone has been rather poor mostly (apart from the United game perhaps). A few weeks ago and people were calling for Carra to be dropped too. All this forced chopping and changing aren't helping anyone.

Agger's probably suffering from a concussion and has had 5 stitched in his head so he's hardly going to play come Debreceni.

So I'd probably play Carra and Kyrgiakos if Johnson is fit and then keep my fingers firmly crossed that Agger will soon stop getting injured.

 

[Hansern]

It will be Sktrel and Carra against Debrecen.

Against Everton I'd play Agger and Carra.

 

[Delinquent]

[quote author=drizzt link=topic=37363.msg995564#msg995564 date=1258907426]
[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=37363.msg995424#msg995424 date=1258895160]
I've said before that I think without Carra alongside him Skrtel looks lost. Carra's marshalling qualities shouldn't be underestimated. With someone yelling instructions at him Skrtel can be an excellent defender, as we've seen. Without that influence however, he can be almost comical in his decision-making. Slovakia against England was a good example of that.

Of course, one would hope that with so much tuition, he would start to learn for himself after a while. In the meantime however, he has to play with Carra as far as I'm concerned.
[/quote]

We have the single most disorganized defence I have ever seen. How the fuck is Skrtel the only player central on a corner? Yelling, "Out" and "Play it long" is not organization.
[/quote]

Yes, because that's all Carra does, isn't it?

When they play as a centre-back pairing Carra is forever getting in his ear, shouting, pointing, and generally instructing him on where he should be and what he should be doing. Of course, our defence has been horrific this season, but it shouldn't be forgotten that a centre-back pairing of Carra and Skrtel were excellent last season, at least for the most part.

Carra has been uncharacteristicly poor this season, and that's obviously impacted on the defence as a whole. After all, uncertainty breeds uncertainty. If Carra plays well, we tend to defend more coherently all across the back line, because his role is so much more than just blood and guts defending and heroic last-ditch tackles. The players around him look to him for inspiration and guidance. He organises, he marshals, and he leads by example. When he's out of form, it inevitably breeds doubt. Blooding two new, more attacking fullbacks obviously hasn't helped the situation. Neither are particularly solid defensively (Insua in particular has been dreadful at times) and this has put undue pressure on our centre-backs to compensate for their inadequacies.

I'm not making excuses for Skrtel - he needs to step up as do the rest of the back line. He hasn't become a shit defender overnight though. He has all the right physical attributes, but is still relatively young and has a lot left to learn. The fact is, there is a total crisis of confidence throughout the team at the moment, and it's affecting him badly. I think writing him off at this stage is a little premature, and any talk of him being shipped off by Christmas is just sensationalist nonsense.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Hansern link=topic=37363.msg995439#msg995439 date=1258897328]
The point is, zonal marking means you guard your zone and the rest of our players mark the dangermen from the opposition.

Now if you watch Citys first goal yesterday, Skrtel guards his zone, but no one is marking Adebayor. Kuyt walks past him, and places himself at the end of the 5 yard line and marks NO ONE.

If Kuyt had picked up Adebayor, there wouldn't be a goal. And if Skrtel had some fucking football intelligence he would have gone for the ball anyway, as it is so close to his zone.

So in fact, I blame both of them. But Adebayor should have been marked by someone else than Skrtel for starters.

I wonder what kind of communication we have regarding defending set pieces.
Before yesterdays game, I would have said; The dangermen are Adebayor, Lescott and Toure on set pieces.

So let's have 3 spesific players that get their man to mark on every set piece. That clearly wasn't the case yesterday. Because then Adebayor woudn't have been left alone.

It shouldn't be that fucking hard....
[/quote]

Just in case anyone's confused; the above is almost completely incorrect.

Which should help clear up the confusion.