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Skrtel to be offered new deal

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gkmacca

gkmacca

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Tony Barrett
Published 1 minute ago

Liverpool are set to open talks with Martin Skrtel over a new contract, with the Slovakia defender now established as Brendan Rodgers’ first-choice centre back.

Skrtel has entered the last 18 months of his present deal but Liverpool are ready to offer him a contract extension to ensure that they do not run the risk of losing another senior player, with Steven Gerrard, the captain, set to leave the club for Los Angeles Galaxy at the end of this season.
 
Liverpool are to open discussions over a new contract for defender Martin Skrtel.

The 30-year-old is regarded as one of Brendan Rodgers' senior players now and with the pending departure of Steven Gerrard, the club is looking to keep a core group together to aid continuity and the development of their younger players.

Rodgers is looking to bring in a new goalkeeper, midfielder and striker over the next few months but Skrtel has established himself as one of the mainstays after a difficult period last season when his place and future was under question.

Skrtel has been at Liverpool for seven years and is in the final 18 months of his contract.

Liverpool have come under criticism over their handling of talks with Gerrard, who said he would have signed an extension to his contract had such a deal been available last summer rather than in November.

They have opened discussions with captain-elect Jordan Henderson and are close to agreeing terms with Raheem Sterling.

Skrtel said at the weekend: 'It is a great honour for me to play seven years for Liverpool. We’ve had some great moments together and I am really happy I am part of this all. Liverpool are now in my heart.'
 
Skrtel seems a better choice for captain, in my opinion. Henderson doesn't currently carry himself on the field like a captain, too much immature mouthing off at the ref for my liking.
 
Peter said:
Skrtel seems a better choice for captain, in my opinion. Henderson doesn't currently carry himself on the field like a captain, too much immature mouthing off at the ref for my liking.
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Could give a fuck what he does with the ref. He's the captain because he puts an arm around the shoulder of struggling players. He coaches younger players through games. Is tactically astute, communicates well and performs better when given more responsibility. Thats the stuff that matters.

Even though he usually only argues with the ref when he has a point so doesn't come off as a knob as much.
 
The most consistent defender for the last few seasons. His form enabled Rodgers to offload Agger, which in turn freed up wage budget for Lallana

He deserves this
 
tombrown said:
The most consistent defender for the last few seasons. His form enabled Rodgers to offload Agger, which in turn freed up wage budget for Lallana

He deserves this
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I think this speaks greater volumes about the quality of defenders we've had the last several seasons more than anything else.
 
Strange that there are Skrtel and Allen threads today as for me, both these two fall into the same category. They don't have any obvious failings (apart maybe from Skrtel's over excessive shirt pulling in the box) but neither one of them has an attribute for which they'd score more than 7.5 out of 10...and I'm not sure that's good enough for a side with title aspirations. So I'd ideally like to keep both but I'd prefer to see the squad bolstered by players who are simply better than they are.
 
I don't rate Skrtel; I think he's too error-prone, never seems particularly composed and rarely wins physical battles. He's capable of great games but not a string of them together.
 
I hope he stays aswell but he should be third choice in the future imho.
We need someone better next to Sakho.

I thought that was Lovren but seeing as he's struggling to play on the right side and to establish himself, you have to wonder about the whole transfer tbh.
 
Skrtel is far from perfect but I still think he's a very good and underrated centre back. Deserves a new contract.
 
I don't like this.

Skrtel is a fucking boss who's bled for us several times. He's a hero and deserves a long term contract
 
Peter said:
Skrtel seems a better choice for captain, in my opinion. Henderson doesn't currently carry himself on the field like a captain, too much immature mouthing off at the ref for my liking.
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That's one of my favorite things about him. That and when he screams at opponents who are acting like knobs.

Against Sunderland he controlled a ball awkwardly and the Sunderland players were asking for handball. When play died down Lego head immediately turned around and ripped them a new one screaming that it hit him in the head and telling them to eff off. It might have been John O'Shea.
 
Dirkus_Circus said:
That's one of my favorite things about him. That and when he screams at opponents who are acting like knobs.

Against Sunderland he controlled a ball awkwardly and the Sunderland players were asking for handball. When play died down Lego head immediately turned around and ripped them a new one screaming that it hit him in the head and telling them to eff off. It might have been John O'Shea.
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John O'Shea has a face that encourages you to tell him to fuck off..
 
Fabio said:
I don't like this.

Skrtel is a fucking boss who's bled for us several times. He's a hero and deserves a long term contract
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Yeah, but he doesn't boss opponents, apparently.

He does make errors, there are a few flaws he's failed to iron out, alot of it is over-exaggerated though, you see shirt pulling from other teams every week, it happens throughout the game. Someone just picked him out for it and the media picked up on it. He did it in a game a few months ago, and Carragher ripped him for it, but I don't remember many other games either side of that one where it's happened, he certainly seems to have knocked it on it's head alot more. He's our only defender who contributes goals too, he's become alot more dominant in that sense over the last few seasons, as for this notion that he's not composed/not technically good enough, he seems to have decent technique in and around the opponents box when it falls to him, or when bringing the ball out from the back, he's capable of carrying it and playing a decent pass through the middle.

He's probably the best of what we have at the minute and can play a part, despite our shortcomings last season, he's now got close to winning the title with us twice, with him playing a large enough part. Sakho and Can seem to have given us stability at the back, which has had a positive effect on Skrtel - it's not simple to string performances together when you have a different system/partner to contend with regularly, he's also had a different right back next to him fairly regularly when he's played in a back four. Hopefully this new setup will be allowed to breed continuity.
 
His passing has certainly improved from working with Rodgers, big difference compared to 2 seasons ago. I think it suits his personality to play as a middle CB in a system with 3 defenders: defensively he can do his instinctive last ditch interventions, which are his biggest strength, and in building from the back he can rely on Can and Sakho who are a bit more comfortable than him at bringing the ball out of defense.

Just a few weeks ago I was advocating removing him from startling 11, but in the last few games he seems to be growing in confidence. Hopefully new contract will inspire him even further.

EDIT: I just noticed there is an article on exactly this subject at ThisIsAnfeild. They list some interesting stats to prove the same point.
 
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