Video: Martin Skrtel v. Queens Park Rangers

Skrtel def looks improved, especially in the air. The one thing though that I still don't quite like about him is his tendency for needless and sloppy fouls, like in the video at 4:03 and the other one at 4:44. That looks like a penalty to me.

boy def deserves the acknoledgement, but i until i see him perfom in this way from the leftside and next to Carra - it's thanks to the partnership with #5.  Agger, top 3 CB in the world!!!!

All that said - I got the Squirtels bad, and I love it!

Hey guys I know its off topic but any ideas of our "supposed new boy" jordan lbe who seems promising?

Skrtel has been tremendous and just gets better and more confident each game. He even scored on a corner against Bolton with a header at the near post. Of the 100 corners we've had this year, it's the only one I can remember we scored on. The whole back line has been tremendous, even Coates when he gets a game.

My fave part of Skrtel's game is when he dribbles through the midfield and everyone around him kinda stays away either because they're like OMG SHOCK WHY IS HE THERE or because he's big and scary and really can't be tackled down. Agger's still my fave CB but Skrtel is awesome too

haha but the funny part is that everyone's gonna let Skrtel through right to the other end of the pitch and then he has that clueless look on his face where else to put the ball, hilarious the last time it happened!

We used to call it 'getting a nose bleed' when you get so high up the pitch you don't know what to do!!

Off topic, however, solution to Liverpool's lack of clinical finishing. Buy Michael Owen back from the Mancs

Wash your mouth out with soap.

I heard Sean Dundee's available too... :)

I understand how it sounds like it would make sense. But you've got to understand how it really doesn't. 

are you a manc in disguise?

Wonder what a manc in disguise would even look like.

Gary Neville hiding behind a bush?

Quick, GET HIM!

No

by the way speaking of defence we have conceded half as many (0.57) goals per game this season starting Glen Johnson than we have (1.13) starting with Martin Kelly. Maybe it's to do with who else is playing but thats something to consider for those who see him as defensively weak.

Yea I'm sure that's the only reason, not the fact that we have Agger/Skrtel playing well, and the added bonus of Enrique on the left...

ummmm note i said THIS SEASON. Enrique has played every match this season, as have at least one of Skrtel or Agger.

Is there still time for an apology?

hahahaha no, you must be punished for your sins. I hereby banish you to a week spent commenting on other, lesser offside pages :P

Not really. For example, when Johnson got done pretty badly in the Chelsea game Skrtel came over to make a world-class block. It still showed up as 'no goal' allowed for Johnson using this stat even though Johnson failed. Against Chelsea again, Johnson completely failed to mark his man or find the ball in the air and Malouda had a crack at goal -- that he screwed up, but again Johnson gets away with a huge mistake with no goal against.

And it works both ways, for example at Fulham, where Johnson allowed a tame shot and a goal only happened when Pepe spilled the rebound, yet in that case Johnson has a goal against. You'd need a more advanced stat to compare them accurately...

Not that it matters too much, because the club is completely committed to both players. Johnson has a long contract that was just extended and Kelly has accepted his role as Johnson's understudy.

Our players need bibs. Martin Kelly and Martin Skrtel both drool or spit or salivate, moisturize, whatever, in the same spot on their jersey right under their neck. Disgusting, I had no idea footballers sweat, until now. 

Its a product like Vicks that helps you breath..... they slather it all around the chest area!

been wondering what that ish is - i saw someone i think for wolves dunk his whole fist in a jar of it and lather up.  i thought it was jus some kinky birmingham style, but makes sense now!

I can't tell if you're being serious or just trying to make me think of Charlie Adam.."slathering". 

Deadly serious - I used to use it myself during winter on half frozen pitches in the middle of winter. That and a deep heat rub on the legs which causes your skin to burn; and Fowler help you if you accidently graze your hand over your groin dong... ouch!

Did you play somewhere cold year round? Because somehow I managed to get through many years of sports and never having seen something like this. But most of my season was about 80-90 degrees....

About a couple of hours drive south of Anfield...

You don't see frozen pitches at EPL matches cause of the undersoil heating; but on amateur pitches all around Britain you'd have brooms brushing away the snow up and down the touchlines, and your fingers so cold after the match you could barely undo your laces!

and now I live in the tropics - exact opposite. At th emoment I can't walk to the deli to get a sandwich without sweating.

He's being serious. It's vaporub or something similar that helps avoid congestion building up in the chest on cold days.

Not to be "that guy", but I've thought for the past year or two that Skrtel has been under-appreciated, even around this site (that's how it came across, correct me if you guys thought otherwise), especially with his contribution to the team last season. The season would have been a whole lot shittier without him. Carragher's form was woeful up until Chelsea away, and his injuries combined with Agger's injuries meant that Skrtel had to play every single game, and he did. Respect. 

I think there is a consensus that Skrtel never got back to the levels he did pre-knee injury during the title run season, especially not after he'd endured the poor season in Rafa's last season and having to work under Hodgson who inspired weakness in every single player.

Under-appreciated? Perhaps. However, during that period of time he was a player who definitely did not inspire any kind of confidence. You would worry when he went up one on one with a pacy attacker if he'd stick out a late leg to concede a foul or penalty. He'd be losing his aerial challenges in our box and in the opposition box, he'd be lumping balls up aimlessly.

Rather than under-appreciate, I simply think this is kudos to whatever has happened behind the scene (coaching, personal settings, etc) to restored martin to be confident again and he can only get more impressive now.

I've always really liked Skrtel, but I know I've been critical of him as well, so I think you're remembering right. It's mostly born out of the fact (or maybe just my opinion) that he's been so inconsistent--when he's been good he's been very good, but his tendency to go missing and make big mistakes has been concerning in the past.

But this is far and away his best run of form in a Liverpool shirt, and there's little to be critical of at this point. It's been great to see him and Agger do so well, and long may it continue.

Agreed - just never looked the dominant player we all saw in the early part of his career with us; but he's slowly winning back the fans confidence.

So where exactly do you think his good form started? Because I remember some folks being surprised by his great performance against Chelsea away last season, and I can't remember him making any major mistakes or inconsistent performances since. Does it coincide with Liverpool's good showings last Spring at all? I understand that lately it's been one notch even better, but when did most folks stop cringing when fast players came near him? 

Only reason I bring this up is because maybe we could have had the Skrtel we have now a while ago, but a certain Jamie Carragher making him play on the left, or a certain Jamie Carragher playing at all, was the problem. Maybe Carragher was all "ey Marty why you hoofin' yacht me Liverpool player's feet?" telling him what do and shit, when he should have been doing this stuff all along. 

He made a horrid tackle in the Carling Cup earlier this year.  Thats just off the top of my head.

Spurs red card for tackle on Mr Spock.

But yes, I was wondering when Steve Clarke's contribution to the team would start shining. Only 13 goals conceded, that's enough for me. 

Had my finger ready on the volume knob, luckily didn't have to adjust it this time.

1:28, that's an awesome chest into space away from the defender. He had a nice tackle in the box as well. 

As alluded in the article, this version of Martin Skrtel is one that you WANT and NEED on the team sheet, not just someone you throw in and hope for the best, as has been the case in the past.

i don't usually comment but i just needed to express my happiness for Skrtel, always was a huge fan of his. I was wearing my Skrtel away kit from last season here in the states one day and this guy from Liverpool stopped me to tell him that he never thought he would see anyone in this country repping Skrtel. Anyway yeah he's the man, hope him and Agger keep it up for the rest of the season. 

When he first joined he looked solid, but he did go through a shaky patch and whilst I'm not sure whats behnig the form re-discovery, it's certainly pleasing. Lets see if he can keep this level of performance up throughout the whole campaign though!

i've been feeling the same way about enrique but didn't know if i was just making unsubstantiated assumptions.  you guys have been terrific with introducing more stats to back up player analysis, any chance you could make a comparison between enrique's early season form versus his most recent performances?

Considered it a few times, and we're getting to the point where his form seems to have dipped for 4-6 weeks so there should be a bit of data to look at. Or: If not this week, soon.

Just curious, could part of it be the fact that his novelty has worn off? I guess it's obvious he isn't "wowing" us like before, but he has been fairly stable at least.

There's a reason he was wowing us before, though: He was the best LB in the league over the first two months of the season. Saying he hasn't played up to that level of late isn't saying he's been shit, but I don't expect his numbers over the past six or seven weeks are anywhere near as good as at the start, though I'm open to being surprised.

Really? I think his performances have been consistently high. He's not perfect, so of course he'll make a mistake here and there, like when he failed to cover Sturridge. But he made the exact same play when it happened against QPR, so I think he's paying attention.

awesome stuff.  also found Alan Pardew's assessment of Enrique as a "non-touchline hugger" pretty interesting when compared with the assumption that he was "the man who knew how to cross to Carroll."  food for thought I guess.

I find it slightly disturbing the automatic assumption that Carroll should be primarily a converter of crosses.  That Carroll's head was the new intended weapon of LFC and that's why we bought Enrique and Downing and Adam to provide those balls.  Not that you're assuming that, but some are.

As the players have shown, Adam is so much more than the standard corner-taker.  Enrique is a great defender who attacks and likes to cut in as much as going on the outside.  And Downing, well, he can cross, but also has a decent shot on him and is useful with or without a big target man to aim at.  And finally Carroll himself is so much more than just a vehicle for headed goals.  He can become the essentially unplayable forward - big, unshakable, comfortable with the ball at head or feet, linking up play, drawing defenders, causing havoc in the box.  All of those players have so much more to them than just the obvious run, cross, head.  And I'm sure Kenny and Comolli were well aware of that before choosing these particular individuals to add to the squad.  But the assumption is that just because we're not doing as much run-cross-head as people expected us to, therefore something must be wrong with the plan.      

Sounds like you're living in a video game world. In the real one, most of the time Carroll is super easy to mark, falls over constantly, has poor ball control, can't pass accurately other than layoffs, and causes about as much havoc as a teddy bear.

I said he was a teddy bear with potential, dammit.  POTENTIAL!!

lol

Ponytailential!

True that Carroll is more than just a head. But it's a weapon that's not being used nonetheless. And we're in a very odd situation where we have players that are known for certain strengths, and whether that was the main reason the players were seen as valuable to Liverpool in the first place, those strengths aren't being exhibited. 

I think the people assuming those things about our new players are just upset that we are even having trouble getting the look-sprint-cross-shove-head-goal routine down, and that's the main tactic at the player's former clubs. Sorta like, "ok, our strategy coming into this game isn't working, so we should at least try the old way and nick a goal" but that doesn't seem to happen. 

Have to agree with that.  It's that much harder to accept that a player can come to Liverpool and not do what he used to be known for doing.  The way Adam has had to change his game from what he used to do at Blackpool.  And Kuyt for sure made a big change from being lethal finisher to wide player.  And Lucas from attacking mid to all-rounded midfield rock.  And I figure Kenny's plans for Carroll involve a lot more than what he used to do at Newcastle.  But of course until he starts scoring with his head (and hopefully any other body part too), he'll continue to inspire that much more frustration.

"even Hodgson wouldn't be able to get these guys to hoof and head". That's what those fans really mean. 

As much as Martin Skrtel's defending has improved that 50 yard pass over the top to Suarez was the most impressive part of his dominant performance.