THIS is how it works then. Or, at least, how it worked in this case. Don’t think I’m giving away any great secrets here, not exactly ‘pulling back the curtains on the Great and Mighty Oz’. There was a list. A ‘could you write about this bloke before a ball gets kicked’ list. With names. Their names and our names. A list of the bloke you were going to write about.
What? You thought we all just happened to decide to cover a different player each and somehow, accidentally, serendipitously, managed to take the entire squad into account? More to the point; you thought I *chose* Martin Skrtel?
No. I looked at the list and though ‘Skrtel? Why’d I get Skrtel? What am I bringing to the table that’s particularly Skrtel oriented that makes me the choice for this one? Is it just because everyone knows how much I repeat myself and, therefore, wants to torture me with writing the actual word ‘Skrtel’ hundreds of times just to see how long it takes me to write it as ‘Sktrel’ and not notice? You know that thing where you write a word and you look at it and it looks wrong? Or you write it so often that it loses all meaning and just becomes a random sequence of letters? Skrtel. First time, every time. And the original list spells his name correctly. With this weird little squiggle over his name. It’s not a ‘grave’, it’s not an ‘umlaut’ (he’d look even harder if it was); I don’t know what it is and I definitely don’t know how to do it. So I’m not going to try.
What are you supposed to say about Martin Skrtel? Bad season, good season, bad season, good season, bad season, good season, good season — hold on, he’s breaking the trend here, what’s going on? And yes, the maths may be shaky there and I may be forgetting that he was ‘terrible through the first half of’ whatever season pops up most in the comments at the bottom but you know where I’m going; Martin Skrtel is like Star Trek films, he’s good every other one but the inbetween bits can be absolute shockers. The inbetween bits are the backpass against City. The inbetween bits are the bits where you know you can’t trust him. Whisper this though. Tell you what, sod it, shout it from the rooftops. I trust Martin Skrtel.
I trust Martin Skrtel.
There, I’ve said it. There is genuinely no right-sided centre back on our books that I’d put in his place. I trust him more than Kolo. I don’t know Tiago. I trust Martin more than Andre.
I didn’t used to. I used to see him as an accident waiting to happen but the last two years have crept up on me — they’ve convinced me. It’s not even the lads on the books though; I’m in no hurry to go out and get a new lad to replace him. I like Skrtel. I trust him. I’m building defences on him, I’m sticking Mamadou next to him. I’m sticking Nathaniel out on the right and — go on, let’s go for it now shall we?
I’m sticking Joe Gomez out on the left and I’m going ‘that’s our defence’. I’m going ‘none shall pass’ and all that. I’m doing the pre-season mania. And in that mania I’m calling Skrtel the bedrock of this back four. I’m calling him the lad who’s not going to go wandering.
I’m happy with Clyne legging it down the touchline, that’s what I want my right backs to do. I’m more than happy, WAY more than happy, for Mamadou to stride forward imperiously and slide THAT pass through. You know the pass, the one where he just slips it forward and it’s gorgeous — if it was on FIFA you’d have hit triangle and you’d be screaming about how beautiful it was and he does it all the time and never gets the credit.
I’m happy for Joe to do whatever Joe does. I have no idea what it is just yet but I’m sure it’s great and why shouldn’t our left back be an 18-year-old centre back played out of position? Let’s have that one shall we? That’s nice and mad. But I’m happy because all this happens because Martin’s the lad who’s happy to just sit back and let them do that; happy not to go wandering. Apart from the moments when he heads upfield for the corners that is. When he goes up and he does the Arsenal thing again. When he does that thing where he towers over the other end’s back four and hammers home. Like he didn’t do last season. Like he did in that season that we all liked. Martin. On the end of crosses from Milner and Coutinho and Firmino and Hendo. Martin, the first centre back to ever get 30 goals in a season.
Sorry. Bit far with that one. But if the crosses are right, if the supply is there, if we’ve got him in the box, if we’re the Liverpool that we were then but with Phil and Bob and Jimmy supplying the balls in, why shouldn’t he hit double figures? Why shouldn’t we have goals from everywhere? Why shouldn’t Martin Skrtel be part of all the goals we’re going to score? There’s no reason is there? You’re having this aren’t you? You know it makes sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5VcdoF79o
I saw him once. Up close. Real. In the flesh. Couple of years ago. Out on Speke retail park it was. Where I used to work. Not naming the shop (had a big dog on the front, sold music). Didn’t see him there though. Saw him in Costa. Actually outside Costa. Having a coffee. With his wife. Taller than you think. Most players ARE taller than you think. Not Aspas, he was actually shorter and less imposing in real life than he was on the field. Hard as that is to believe.
But Skrtel was taller. Taller and slimmer. Sat outside with his wife on a decently warm day, drinking coffee. Uninterrupted, unnoticed, uncommented on. Just there, doing something normal. Doing the same thing as the rest of us. And I think that’s the moment that my opinion of him changed. He wasn’t swanning round like a star, wasn’t attracting attention. Wasn’t parking a stretch hummer diagonally across three bays like certain players one could name (hiya, Djibril); he was just sat there, a woolly hat pulled down, attracting no attention.
I think there was talk of selling him at the time. Let’s be honest, there’s always been talk of selling him. Most of the time I was okay with that talk. That day I changed. He just seemed like a bloke out for the day, having a coffee. Just seemed normal. Looked like an athlete. All of which is a ridiculous thing to hang a liking of a player on but I hung my liking of him on that.
So, when there was talk of the new contract being based around appearance clauses that the club could easily manage to their advantage and Skrtel being ‘disgusted’ by the offer, I was with him. After a season where he was one of the few to emerge with any credit intact, it was no time to be testing out new contract models and he was quite resolutely not the player to test that model out on. Potentially losing him meant losing experience, meant losing stability, meant rebuilding our centre back pairing yet again when the last rebuilding hadn’t started to work yet. It meant a ‘no’ to me.
I don’t know what changed, I don’t know why he signed, I’m not interested in who he may or may not have turned down to re-sign for Liverpool but I’m glad he did. As signings go, that’s the best defensive signing we could make. No settling in, no learning the ropes, just a lad who knows what the club means. Just a lad who knows what his job is and will do it from day one.
And if he’s made vice captain? Yeah, cool. I’d have that. No problem with that. Him, Lucas, Milner — sound with any of them. Senior pros, experience on the pitch, someone for the kids to look up to.
Martin Skrtel? Yeah, I’m happy with Martin Skrtel.
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Pic: David Rawcliffe-Propaganda Photo
I agree too. I’ve been a bit harsh on him in the past like defenders aren’t supposed to make mistakes ever. We could get his best years out of him for the next few seasons. He’s 30 now. Regardless, I feel confident the position is covered when he’s on the pitch. Better the devil you know.
A young English CB played out of position at LB? Isn’t that the Team of Carra’s origin story?
I think so so to Skrtel every other game and not season. He’s infuriating because he has all the attributes to be consistently sound and dependable. I was about to say great but let’s be realistic here, Skrtel is on average a 6/10 player most weeks. Their are 2 issues for Skrtel’s deficiencies and in the main for me over the years they have remained constant.
As any fan who has played the game as a defender at a descent level will testify. Being a centre half is mostly about positioning and having the ability to place yourself in a position which primarily allows you to intercept and clear the ball from the danger zone. If you cannot get to the ball THEN you make sure the opposition doesn’t get a free shot or header at the goal and here the 80/20 rule of priority applies in that respective order of importance. Skrtel just inside his own half or out wide by the touch line, where the opposition have their backs to goal and are no threat is pretty good in these positions. HOWEVER as soon as the opposition begin to cross balls into the box he ABSULUTELY shits his shorts and panic sets in as Skrtel is incapable of touch marking his man, focusing the said 80/20 rule of ball interception to man marking and as a result spends most of his time grappling attacking players and not clearing the ball from the danger zones to recurring catastrophic effect. As I said earlier he has nearly everything in his locker but unfortunately he will NEVER possess the required sense of positioning nor the mental strength to be a top centre half. That is the reason why he ALWAYS makes the same errors time and time again and again.
And because he is never in control of his emotions in and around the box he therefore is incapable of remaining composed or of being any assistance to his fellow defenders. Therefore in my view Martin Skrtel is and has been the underlying problem with our defence for several years.
Give it a rest once a hater always a hater. He’s by far our best centre back for the past 3 years. Without him I shudder to think what out defense would be like.
Dont mind this guy. Instead of watching LFC for the past 3 years hes been “Playing the game at a decent level”
I’m glad to see someone saying he likes Škrtel. Sorry, Ian, it’s really easy on an iPhone to do the accents, and I like the way they look. :-)
I also like Martin Škrtel. He’s passionate about playing for Liverpool, respects the club and the fans and loves living on Merseyside with his family. He’s tough as nails, gives his all, never shirks, plays through the pain. Few players are perfect, error free. His concentration probably does lapse, and he may not have the highest degree of tactical intelligence on the pitch, but I agree with Robin that I somehow feel for the most part confident that his position is covered when he’s on the pitch.
Skrtel has been the’ leader’s of the worst LFC defences in over a decade and continues to be trusted!?
A lot of LFC fans (as well as the decision makers also!) obviously have their priorities all messed up.
Skrtel = common denominator
Anyone tell me which of his partners has played well with him? Anyone name a centre back that has performed better alongside Skrtel than any other partner?
He is pretty good in a strong defensive team with one or two DM’s in front of him and a quality keeper behind him. I’ll give him that. Under Rafa he was good. don’t buy into the good year bad year myth) But then Lovren looked good in a similar set up at Southamption.
Under Kenny and Rodgers, who want to play a higher line and be more expansive, Skrtel always wants to drop too deep, is out of position a lot and can’t read the game.
Generally he can’t mark at corners without fouling and is a walking peno. He looks like a hard man but he’s a little fairy bullied on a regular basis and wets the bed at the thought of Drogba.He is supposed to be a leader, even captains his country, but been at LFC years and never once mentioned as a possible successor to Gerrard and goes missing when we’re struggling.
Good centre backs don’t have to make as many last ditch tackles as he does because they don’t let the opposition attack get that far. But people see these sliding tackles etc and think he’s quality, mainly because they can’t see/don’t read what happened in the previous 20 seconds.
There are actual Liverpool fans, who watch Liverpool play every game, and think Skrtel is better than Sakho. My reasoning for this is Skrtel does a lot of individual stuff well, but he ruins a defensive unit. He never gets the stick his partner gets. I’ll give him Lovren. Lovren is not his fault)
Whats next for Skrtel? Being part of another defence that once again concedes over 50 goals in all competitions. Then the new manager will get rid.