This season for Liverpool has been a story of faith given and faith rewarded.
This has been holistic around the club, with Fenway Sports Group first keeping faith in Brendan Rodgers, then with Rodgers keeping faith in the team and vice versa. Without this web of faith, the season that is shaping up to be one of historic proportions may not have occurred. In terms of Brendan Rodgers and his managing, the most significant examples are of Raheem Sterling and Jon Flanagan. Rodgers gave these two players more than one chance in the first team, regardless of some shaky performances, because he saw their potential. And, of course, it paid dividends. But one case that isn’t talked about as much is the case of Martin Skrtel. In this case, Brendan Rodgers’s faith has once again been rewarded immensely.
In the beginning of the season, Skrtel was mainly known for two things: his tendency to score own goals and his undesirable habit to grab onto defenders in the box, pulling on their shirts in the process. Martin Skrtel was criticized as slow, and his “heavy feet” were dubbed a major reason behind much of his shirt tugging and own goals. He wasn’t seen as intricate enough to be a successful centre-half. However, Rodgers stuck with Skrtel, with the Slovakian only being eclipsed in game appearances by Jordan Henderson. Yes there were many times in which even I had been wondering why Rodgers wouldn’t try a partnership between Sakho and Agger, regardless of the double left footed conundrum between the two. Earlier on in the season I thought that would be a better risk than Skrtel’s defensive woes. I was wrong.
The second half of the season has been a period of astounding improvement for Skrtel, with his superb all around performances bolstering and covering for the defense, at times single handedly. He has been a force on both sides of the pitch: maintaining the long sought for sense of consistency in the Red’s defense while becoming a constant threat in the opposition’s box during set pieces. He has scored seven goals this campaign, including a double against Arsenal and a stunner against Manchester City to the fault of Vincent Kompany and subsequently leads all defenders in Europe in the goal scoring category. His defending has seen a renaissance as well. One noticeable stat is that the defender is also leading the Premier League in clearances by a comfortable margin with 388. His tackles, interceptions, and blocks have also eclipsed his first half respective stats by a wide margin.
Considering his sudden offensive threat, coupled with his defensive showings in the second half of the season, it is no wonder Brendan Rodgers has heralded the defender as a “colossus” in an interview with the Liverpool Echo. Rodgers had much to say about the Slovakian, and it was evident that he felt that his faith in the defender had been rewarded at last:
“I think he’s been the top centre-half in the Premier League, alongside Vincent Kompany. I see a more complete defender now… tactically, he has taken on board what I’ve spoken to him about and the intelligence in his game has grown. He’s very comfortable on the ball and his reading of the game and his awareness has become better.
“He has added to his power game. That aggression is still there but he has added a bit of subtlety to his defending.”
With the major flaws of Martin Skrtel’s game seemingly faded, the defender has become invaluable to the team’s push for the title. He may not be as exciting as the forward line of Suarez, Sturridge, and Sterling, but thus far his defensive (and offensive) contributions have been just as important. Rodgers has clearly been pleased with the defender’s performances during the second half of the season and his faith in the player has been rewarded at last.
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