I believe it's one of, if not, the best defensive partnership in the league, and up there with the very best in Europe too.
Ever since Carragher's injury, Skrtel's came in and done has a fantastic job along side Agger. Now Skrtel's first choice and Jamie doesn't have a sniff of breaking through that partnership. I remember a portion of fans were even saying that neither Agger or Skrtel would not have the leadership or defensive organisation capabilities required to play together.
Skrtel has always had the attributes to become a great defender, and after a promising start to his career here - after a very serious knee injury, his formed dipped and i had doubts he would ever be the same. Last season he played every minute of every game - he played regularly, but he never really played to the best of his ability.
He has great abilities as a centre back, strength, he has pace, strong as an ox but he sometimes looks clumsy, but the timing of his tackles is usually perfect - especially this season.
This season he has improved ten-fold - pre-season we looked exceptionally leaky at the back, we let in 3 goals in every premier league game, bar one, against Valencia. Early on he looked okay, but nothing brilliant - but when Carragher got dropped for Agger. He came into the team at centre back, all appearance before his injury were played at right back, and when the chance has been available for him, he has grasped it and taken it with both hands. The promising form which he showed in his early days has suddenly came back - he looks unbelievable, and looks a world class defender.
Another big advantage of having a player like him is that he can be a big threat at set pieces - he's already scored 2 this season and always looks a threat from corners and free kicks. With better delivery from these set plays - he could have had more.
The one significant advantage Skrtel has over Carragher, his is distribution. Martin is a very neat passer, he doesn't run with the ball much but every pass he does, it's usually very accurate and he can make very good forward passes which can start up attacks. Unlike Carragher who has a habit of hoofing the ball aimlessly too regularly, which causes us to lose possession and play a more dull and bland style of football.
Our other central defender, Daniel Agger is one truly fantastic player. He has all the defensive ability in the world, pace, strength and is a fantastic tackler. He's one of those defenders whose positioning is so brilliant, he isn't never required to make exgratigant risky tackles. He's already in the perfect position, ready and prepared to clear the danger away. He can read the game brilliantly - and i think that particular skill is underrated by fans.
His distribution is one of his greatest strengths - where players in any postion are in awe of his ability with the ball at his feet. Agger has a rare ability to glide past players with the ball - he just plucks up the ball in defence, and starts his run, and when in full swing, he just glides past 2 players and looks unstoppable in full-flight. Yesterday, he won the free kick by breaking through the middle with the ball at his feet - which resulted in our second goal - it's just such a great option to have a player with his ability defensively - and to have a player with his ability on the ball at his feet. Shows such confidence and is willing to do things create chances.
This season he looked decent early on, then he got that unusual rib injury which forced him on the sidelines away from the action. But now he's returned, he's looked brilliant and sharp, well he's always brilliant when on the field - but consistently brilliant, and hopefully now, his biggest burden - the injuries, are behind him, and he now can be a big solid rock in our defensive.
First time Agger's managed 10 premier league games in a row too. I hope now he's gotten over his injury woes - he deserves too.
As a centre back partnership:
They've started 10 games together, in a row in the premier league at centre back (they played more together earlier in the season but i excluded them because Skrtel played as a full back).
Our results with these two players at centre back together have been:
West Brom 0 - 2 Liverpool (0 goals conceded)
Liverpool 0 - 0 Swansea (0 goals conceded)
Chelsea 1 - 2 Liverpool (1 goal conceded)
Liverpool 1 - 1 City (1 goal conceded)
Fulham 1 - 0 Liverpool (1 goal conceded)
Liverpool 1 - 0 QPR (0 goal conceded)
Aston Villa 0 - 2 Villa (0 goal conceded)
Wigan 0 - 0 Liverpool (0 goal conceded)
Liverpool 1 - 1 Blackburn Rovers (1 goal conceded)
Liverpool 3 - 1 Newcastle (1 goal conceded)
During those games with Agger and Skrtel as our centre backs, we've conceded 5 goals - which is an amazing tally. Over a season, if you kept that up over a duration of a season - we'd only have conceded 19 goals in a premier league season. Which would be one of the best premier league defensive records known.
We've kept 5 clean sheets during those games, we haven't conceded more then once in a single match and a couple of those goals were very lucky - Newcastle and Blackburn being the prime examples.
Skrtel:
Tackles during those games:
Won - 28
Lost - 5
Succes rate = 82.143%
He's also successfully completed: 14 interceptions and 12 blocks.
Agger:
Tackles during those games:
Won - 29
Lost - 17
Success rate = 41.348 %
He's also successfully completed: 28 interceptions and 9 blocks.
So we all know how great they've been and currently are, but how good can they be? And how do they compare to other great defenders across England and Europe? I think they're both brilliant - easily the best in the premier league. Defiantly one of the best in Europe and arguably the best, in my opinion.
Just thought it'd make a good discussion talking about, probably, our strongest position - our defence overall.
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