Why Rodgers should stick with Sakho (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

Daniel Agger’s latest injury could not have come at a worse possible time for him and the Reds’ vice captain may now have a real job on his hands wrestling the shirt from his replacement Mamadou Sakho for the title run in. The Frenchman stepped in alongside Martin Skrtel for the trip to West Ham last weekend and turned in a flawless performance as Liverpool recorded their ninth consecutive win to remain top of the Premier League.

Sakho and Skrtel combined to do an excellent job in shackling powerful ex-Liverpool frontman Andy Carroll, so much so that it could even be argued that Agger’s injury was a blessing in disguise for Brendan Rodgers, as Sakho is far better equipped to deal with a player such as Carroll than the elegant but somewhat lightweight Dane would be.

It’s difficult to imagine Agger being able to cope as well as Sakho did with the big Geordie target man, but had it not been for injury he would surely have been charged with that task as Rodgers has gone for continuity with his back four whenever possible in 2014.

Agger’s injury is not believed to be too serious and he may be available for this weekend’s monumental clash with Manchester City at Anfield, but leaving out Sakho would be a big call for the Reds’ boss given how he performed at West Ham. For me Rodgers did the right thing in not bringing Sakho straight back into the side when he returned from the hamstring injury he picked up in the final game of 2013 at Stamford Bridge. Instead he kept faith with the tried and (relatively) trusted duo of Skrtel and Agger and presumably felt that continuity in selection was needed after several months of chopping and changing the back four in the early part of the campaign.

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