Sakho

[aRdja]

Anyway, £15m I thought was too much for a player who couldn't get a game for his club, who isn't better than what we currently have. I hope he proves me wrong.

[Guest LFD]

Anyway, £15m I thought was too much for a player who couldn't get a game for his club, who isn't better than what we currently have. I hope he proves me wrong.

 

He made less mistakes than Agger this season, I think he is already better than him personally.

 

Stronger, quicker, less mistakes and better passing stats.

 

£15 million (I think it was £16 million), is the going rate for Sakho.  

[aRdja]

Agger made more mistakes than before, this year, he hasn't had the best of years tbh, but he is a an excellent defender. Sakho is indeed stronger and quicker than the dane but then again he would be stronger and quicker than Jamie Carragher at his best or Hyypia. You'd be hard pressed to find any metrics showing that we're better defensively with him in the team. His passing stats are good, I think the quality of Agger's passes were better. Anyway, we can discuss this all night, but given the amount of money we spent on him, I wish we couldn't.

[JohnnyH]

A fit and firing Sakho alongside a centre back with leadership abilities to go with footballing talent will go a long way to sorting our defensive problems.

 

Skrtel and Agger are not the future.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

He had an injury disrupted season but was still, by far, our most solid defender. He's an experienced player who is also young, but has all the attributes to carry on the brilliant start to his career which saw him as PSG's youngest ever Captain. As LFD rightly points out, the only argument people seem to come out with is that he looks a bit funny when he passes. What the fuck. Too many are swayed by players they like. Like Agger? Right, slag off Sakho. Like Flano? Right, pretend he's got no flaws. It's pretty pathetic at times.

[Pureblood]

A fit and firing Sakho alongside a centre back with leadership abilities to go with footballing talent will go a long way to sorting our defensive problems.

Why does he need a leader next to him? At £16m can you not expect the finished article? Presumably he has leadership qualities of his own to be made captain of PSG.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Maybe being so new to the club and language he can't quite be expected to be that leader yet.

[Jairzinho]

He's been alright, Sakho, but Skrtel has been our best centreback.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

He's been alright, Sakho, but Skrtel has been our best centreback.

Cost us a lot or goals, unfortunately. Some games great, others a liability.

[Jairzinho]

Cost us a lot or goals, unfortunately. Some games great, others a liability.

 

Well, I completely disagree he's been a liability at all. Mistakes are illuminated possibly more than elsewhere when the team has such a gung-ho attitude, with no holding midfielder, and the keeper doesn't claim anything outside his six yard box.

 

I think Sakho has been pretty good as well.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Jair, he's constantly draging his man to the ground rather than heading the ball, he has serious trouble dealing with crosses in the box, and he has scored a record amount of own goals and many many more errors - like losing his man - which have leas to goals and makes mistakes.

 

The other parts of his game are top notch, and they do go some way to making up for those failing, but for me he has repeatedly coat us goals.

[JohnnyH]

Why does he need a leader next to him? At £16m can you not expect the finished article? Presumably he has leadership qualities of his own to be made captain of PSG.

Sakho has passing, heading, good reading of the game, but I've no idea if he's a leader, but I'd happily have two leaders at the back if he is. We had it in Hyypia and Carragher. If we are to progress and win the title then we need that again.

 

Skrtel, sadly, is a bit if a coward. Agger is one of those that looks lovely on the ball, but is error prone.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Sakho has passing, heading, good reading of the game, but I've no idea if he's a leader, but I'd happily have two leaders at the back if he is. We had it in Hyypia and Carragher. If we are to progress and win the title then we need that again.

 

Skrtel, sadly, is a bit if a coward. Agger is one of those that looks lovely on the ball, but is error prone.

Agger is like Skrtel: Really good at most things, but one or two obvious weaknesses that are targettes and cost goals. Put a big man on Agger and cross the ball in to Skrtel. Time and again.

[JohnnyH]

Agger is like Skrtel: Really good at most things, but one or two obvious weaknesses that are targettes and cost goals. Put a big man on Agger and cross the ball in to Skrtel. Time and again.

And I think that's had a negative impact on our 'keeper too.

[Pureblood]

Sakho has passing, heading, good reading of the game, but I've no idea if he's a leader, but I'd happily have two leaders at the back if he is. We had it in Hyypia and Carragher. If we are to progress and win the title then we need that again.

 

Skrtel, sadly, is a bit if a coward. Agger is one of those that looks lovely on the ball, but is error prone.

 

 I think all of our centre backs look error prone because of our high risk approach and the lack of an imposing goalkeeper.  But for me Skrtel is one of the best in the league, right up there with Kompany, and rightly played every game. 

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

And I think that's had a negative impact on our 'keeper too.

Totally agree. A settled back four with one of the CBs taking responsibility for the line would help greatly. I don't want a keeper rushing out to catch the ball every two minutes, at least not when the back line is so deep.

[Guest LFD]

He's been alright, Sakho, but Skrtel has been our best centreback.

 

Skrtel had a strange season.  Some great game, then some really poor games.  He got around 4 OG, then again he scored 6 goals (although I'm more concerned with how well our defenders defend).

 

Overall he had a very good season.  But he was at fault for a lot of goals we conceded.  

 

That's why I like Sakho, he is rarely at fault for goals.  If we have four players in the back four that don't make many mistakes (and a keeper), then we'll go a long way to conceding less.

 

So many of the goals we conceded this season were from basic errors.  Very few were because of our attacking system.

[KMD7]

Skrtel had a strange season.  Some great game, then some really poor games.  He got around 4 OG, then again he scored 6 goals (although I'm more concerned with how well our defenders defend).

 

Overall he had a very good season.  But he was at fault for a lot of goals we conceded.  

 

That's why I like Sakho, he is rarely at fault for goals.  If we have four players in the back four that don't make many mistakes (and a keeper), then we'll go a long way to conceding less.

 

So many of the goals we conceded this season were from basic errors.  Very few were because of our attacking system.

 

Hard to argue with any of that. 

[El Rojo]

I like Mignolet, I think there's a lot of potential there still, but I think it's a cop-out to pass some of his mistakes off on the CBs.

 

There were too times over the season when he chickened out from aggressively attacking crosses. Generally, he needs to be ballsier and having use of his fists gives him a significant advantage over both attackers and defenders in his box in this regard.

[Jairzinho]

Skrtel had a strange season.  Some great game, then some really poor games.  He got around 4 OG, then again he scored 6 goals (although I'm more concerned with how well our defenders defend).

 

Overall he had a very good season.  But he was at fault for a lot of goals we conceded.  

 

That's why I like Sakho, he is rarely at fault for goals.  If we have four players in the back four that don't make many mistakes (and a keeper), then we'll go a long way to conceding less.

 

So many of the goals we conceded this season were from basic errors.  Very few were because of our attacking system.

 

I disagree with this. Although the keeper is a bigger culprit than the system.

 

Stick Kompany in a side that has no defensive midfielder, no periods of the game where there is much controlled possession, and a keeper that doesn't come for any crosses, and he'd make several mistakes that led to goals throughout a season.

 

Skrtel has to do far more defending than all of the other centrebacks at good sides.

[El Rojo]

I disagree with this. Although the keeper is a bigger culprit than the system.

 

Stick Kompany in a side that has no defensive midfielder, no periods of the game where there is much controlled possession, and a keeper that doesn't come for any crosses, and he'd make several mistakes that led to goals throughout a season.

 

Skrtel has to do far more defending than all of the other centrebacks at good sides.

 

That's a very good point that often gets overlooked in this debate.

[Boss]

I think all of our defenders look error prone because all our defenders are error prone.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

I think all of our defenders look error prone because all our defenders are error prone.

Sakho isn't error prone.

[Guest LFD]

I disagree with this. 

 

You disagree that many were down to basic errors?

 

Mignolet fucked punch against Norwich.

 

Flanagan not winning a header against Norwich.

 

Skrtel / Johnson not dealing with the two Crystal Palace defenders.

 

Johnson not closing down the Palace first goal.

 

Flanagan not track the man for one of the Palace goals.

 

Agger getting skinned by the Cardiff attacker.

 

Gerrard slipping vs Chelsea.

 

Toure passing to the West Brom attacker.

 

Agger not track Lovren against Southampton.

 

Skrtel four OGs.

 

I could go on and on... 

 

Very few goals were we caught on the break.  We were against Chelsea when we were going for a draw and against Palace when we were going for goals for our goal difference.  But most games, the goals we conceded were from basic errors - not tracking players, passing to the opposition, not winning headers etc.

[Tony Moanero]

Sakho was last summer's marquee signing. He is infallible.