Player Feature: Martin Skrtel

-
The Slovakian international is back in training and could be the must have buy this Christmas. We all got excited about Alex and Agger as cheap members of a legaue leading back four but each of them were only ever going to be stop gaps. Skrtel however is a bona fide starter and at 5.6m is incredible value.
With Skrtel in the side, Liverpool conceded 4 goals in 6 games, keeping 3 clean sheets in the process. 3 of these goals came against United and City, two of the better attacks in the league.

Skrtel is tipped to return to the first team on Boxing day at home to Bolton in time to face Stoke, Everton and Wigan as well the aforementioned Wanderers. This run should be good for 3 clean sheets and points a plenty for the big centre back. When he was fit he was averaging 3.83 points per game for a very healthy 0.685 points per million spent. Anyone still clinging to Agger, Alex or Kompany should look to Strkel to solidify their back line in time for the Christmas period, much in the same way Benitez is.

Comments

Ash said…
I've been avoiding liverpool defence due to rotation, and just how can you trust someone who scores so many own goals like Jamie Carragher?

I think this article is excellent, I really rate Skrtel and will probably buy him.
December 18, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Unknown said…
Hmm...
Carragher: Started every game.
Arbeloa: Started every game. (-1 suspended)

Personally, I'll gladly take that sort of rotation...
December 18, 2008 at 10:50 AM
Ash said…
Carragher is no Bosingwa. Bosingwa scores goals for his team.

You are right though, Arbeloa is quality.
December 18, 2008 at 10:57 PM
marco said…
Skrtel is a good option, agree. But what is the timing of his return? there seems to be no news on this yet so it could take a few weeks
December 19, 2008 at 12:12 AM
Chris said…
marco, i think that's the biggest risk here. alot of people jumped on Carvalho (I was very close to) because reports suggested he was due to return. With Skrtel, because he is so cheap I plan to wait until he has actually played a game before I bring him in. Although in the mean time I have Agger rotting on my bench so I hope its soon!
December 19, 2008 at 5:29 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pushing the Panic Button: Gameweek 15

-
Image
Powered by Tableau The above visualisation is going to form the centrepiece for a new regular post (probably bi-weekly) which is kind of the opposite of the fanning the flames piece. Rather than focus on players who did well this week, we're going to look at players who didn't, and particularly those who haven't for a number of weeks and identify whether, yes you guessed it, the panic button should be pushed. Before we get into specific players, a quick review of what the table above shows: Goals xG - This is the expected goals a player should  have scored in a given week based on the number of shots he took (inside/outside the box), his historic skill level regarding hitting the target and the league average rate of converting shots on target (SoT) to goals. This metric gives an overview of the chances a player is receiving, along with the quality of them and the way he is converting them. Pts - simply the points scored by the player over the last five g...
Read more

Demba Ba and transfer planning

-
Image
I try not to get involved in too much "will-he-won't-he" speculation in these pages with, for example, the weekly statistical rankings being provided regardless of rotation risk. I'm not saying, of course, that this shouldn't be a factor, only that I'm in no position to offer a worthwhile opinion, other than collating other news stories (which are often based on nonsense quotes from managers anyway). There are plenty of other sites who offer opinions on whether Tevez will play or if Vidic has recovered from injury but in almost all cases it's pure guess work and so I try and stay away from such discussions. With that in mind, my initial reaction to Ba's move was negative. I have no idea whether he will play every week at Chelsea, and while you'd think it would extremely odd for a player to leave a good team to go and ride the bench, other players have done the exact same thing before. All I therefore see is a player who has gone from being the e...
Read more

Dousing the fire, fanning the flames: Gameweek 4

-
In the first of a new regular series, we're going to look at the week's top fantasy performers (purely measured by fantasy points) and look at the evidence as to whether their success is sustainable or whether the inevitable hype needs to be ignored. Where possible I will draw on the available stats but I'll also add more subjective comments regarding a player's future playing time or other possible risks. Without wishing to be negative, more often than not we're going to be dousing fires here as you don't need me to tell you after yet another Carlos Tevez goal that he's a good player. I'm also going to stay away from defenders who purely earned their points from defensive means as the sustainability of those is a whole other ball game that needs more than just a line or two per player. Each player has been assigned a 'Buy', "Hold' or 'Sell' status. These don't necessarily reflect what I would  do, more what I believe to b...
Read more