Daniel Agger

[Dracco]

I like the way Agger plays, less hoofs, lots of simple passes, and at times attempts of longer passes without resorting to mindless long balls. Defensively he is not the most solid, but at the moment we have no one in our back four who is.

 

Difference to Skrtel is clear, Skrtel offers little going forward and is shaky defensively, was a disaster with Carragher, and funnily enough for a tall guy is a poor header of the ball. When Alonso left, it was clear that we needed different kind of CBs. We cannot simply have two hoofers, Agger is desperately needed there.

 

I would get rid of Skrtel, and try to get in Hangeland. A more dominant player in the air, better passer, and someone who would be able to play with both Agger and Carragher. In the longer term Carragher's successor has to be Kelly.

 

Hangeland is shite and Agger is more shakey defensively than Skrtel.

 

And Carra- Skrtel partnership looked bad in september and october after their head colision. Since then they practically did not playe together at CB.

 

But since January 2008 until start of this season ( that is one and half season) they played around 50 games at CB and we lost 5 of them. Look at the stats if you want.

 

You could call it hardly a disaster or you could call it short memory.

[Delmar]

Too injury prone; you simply can't plan for the future with injury prone players.

 

Sparks, whatever for... Anyway, by that definition we can plan on the future with Reina (I hope he did not get an injury last Sunday), Lucas, Insua and Mascherano. The rest seem to keep getting injured...

[JohnnyH]

Too injury prone; you simply can't plan for the future with injury prone players.

 

I know what you are saying. But if we are to apply that fairly, then one of the first out the door in the summer will have to be Torres.

[KOP1975]

 

He seems to want to be able to do all the fancy stuff - like bringing the ball out of defence, without actually 'getting his hands dirty', by doing the defending. Every time he is injured, his stock amongst our support seems to rise, bizarrely.

 

Like a certain Mr Ferdinand!

[KOP1975]

I still think Agger will come good.

He is young and missed nearly a year and thats a long time to be out.

[Delmar]

Hangeland is shite and Agger is more shakey defensively than Skrtel.

 

And Carra- Skrtel partnership looked bad in september and october after their head colision. Since then they practically did not playe together at CB.

 

But since January 2008 until start of this season ( that is one and half season) they played around 50 games at CB and we lost 5 of them. Look at the stats if you want.

 

You could call it hardly a disaster or you could call it short memory.

 

I prefer Hangeland, you Skrtel. So be it.

 

About your other points, September-October was critical for us this season, we're still trying to recover from that period. Rafa was trying to play in a different way, requiring a lot from the CBs as the full backs had license to go forward. Carragher/Skrtel combination proved to be a disaster for this season's requirements as you have to play on the floor and keep possession if your full backs provide the width. Hoofs come back fast in the PL and if the full backs are out of position counter attacks eventually lead to problems, even with two holding midfielders. Both Carragher and Skrtel are poor at passing the ball, that's one of the reasons why we had the nightmare start we did. The rest is history.

[redrosetints]

I posted this in the amnesty thread, but honestly I reckon it's worth a discussion on it's own.

 

I reckon Agger is incredibly overrated, he's not a very good defender, prone to mistakes and isn't actually all that great going forward. I much prefer Skrtel to him and it's a shame Martin will be out for a while.

 

I have never been convinced of Agger, and the only game where I have been in awe of him was the 2007 Chelsea Semi at Home when he had Drogba in his pocket.

 

Since then he's been inconsistent and if anything his concentration is aweful, people criticise Carra for making mistakes, but Agger seems to get a free ride despite making more than his fair share.

 

If it was up to me, I'd sell him and try and get someone built like a brick shithouse who can play the ball forward as well, and who is CONSISTENTLY good.

 

Probably not the most popular of opinions, but is anyone seeing what I am seeing or do people genuinely see a world class player in Agger.

 

I think they both have their ups and downs, but playing in an unsettled team, struggling for form, its likely your defence will be exposed and at 25 they are both very young. Lets face it Carras had a few problems this season, due to the general malaise around the team. All have had their problems and mistakes over the past 12 months, Aggers fitness record is also a worry.

 

If I were to pick one of the two, I prefer Agger, as when he is on song he's solid defensively and can play on the ball well, though Id agree we haven't seen much of that lately.

 

When you compare them to their peers, they also stack up, you've only got to look at Vidic, who is highly rated by many in the game and yet when anyone with any pace runs at him he's all over the shop. His 3 ? sending off against Torres, his awful challenge on Sunday when he should have gone. Neither of our pair have seemed to plum the depths Vidic does. Ditto Terry.

 

Given their age, the experience they have already gained and that the team still isnt settled and in form then I think it natural you will see errors. But give us a settled 11, on form and Im sure you will see the Skrtel and Agger we know they can be.

 

Aside from how long Carra goes on for, you have potentially another 6 to 8 years of these two at the back and that can only be good for the team, building on strong foundations.

[King Emlyn]

I know what you are saying. But if we are to apply that fairly, then one of the first out the door in the summer will have to be Torres.

In fairness Johnny if Torres injury record continues to deteriorate he would also be of little use to us.

[redrosetints]

Too injury prone; you simply can't plan for the future with injury prone players.

 

Like Torres and Gerrard ?

[Tom R]

Said it for about 2 years. He's currently the most overrated player at Liverpool by an absolute mile.

 

Had about 4 excellent games about 4 years ago.

 

Wow.

[King Emlyn]

Like Torres and Gerrard ?

See above for Torres. With Gerrard weren't all his early woes something to do with wisdom teeth? I remember it as being something that could be remedied; as of today whilst he does pick up injuries he's not in the same league as Agger, it's just one thing after another with him, he's Kewellesque.

[Mbrownrigg]

My main concern about him, other than his fitness record, is his ariel ability.

 

He just doesnt seem comortable attacking a ball, something none of our CB's seem good at at the minute.

 

And this results in us defending deeper and deeper, meaning were not pressing the teams higher up the pitch.

 

Which when we do, do that we actually look a half decent side

[Mbrownrigg]

Michael Dawson would be the one for me.

 

Sadly even a half decent centre half from Fulham is likely to be out of our price range at the moment

[TommyW]

Dawson? blimey

 

Agger is a good player, no need for a replacement

[The Golden Eel]

Yeah, I've said on here before that I feel that Skrtel's a better long-term prospect. Agger and Carragher a few years back was a fantastic partnership, but I feel that Agger's injury-proneness has taken it's toll. He can't put together a run of games. It's more hopeful than evidence-based to suggest that he'll suddenly be capbale of stringing together half a season or more. If he did manage to get over the injury problems, I have no doubt that he is a top-notch player. But, the injuries are ruining him IMO.

 

A decent bid would be highly tempting but getting a sensible replacement would be tough.

[Whelan]

He seems to want to be able to do all the fancy stuff - like bringing the ball out of defence, without actually 'getting his hands dirty', by doing the defending. Every time he is injured, his stock amongst our support seems to rise, bizarrely.

 

Couldn't agree more, and would add that for all his footballing ability, which is impressive, can you think of another defender who rushes clearances as much as him?

 

Horses for courses, maybe in the summer we need a Shawcross for these type of games (the Greek will always be an accident waiting to happen).

[dirty_sanchez]

I think he's decent, but I wouldn't be that bothered if we sold him. He's injured too much to be part of any long term planning. Same with Aurelio. Good player, but too fragile. We need players that we can rely on. Gerrard and Torres get a bye due to being amazing. Agger and Aurelio aren't amazing, they're just pretty good.

[Sangria]

I think he is a decent player but one with a terrible injury record and for me we have too many of those on the books.

One area of the team I like to see settled is the defence and with him and Aurelio it is never,ever going to happen.

[RedinSweden]

I think he is decent enough, but not as amazing as some claim. His injury record is appalling. I wouldn't be ridiculously gutted if he was sold.

[B3n]

He's quite comfortably our best centre back now, not sure why anyone would want rid of him. When Carra' and Skrtel are the centre back pairing there is basically no hope of us building an attack.

[Dracco]

Said it for about 2 years. He's currently the most overrated player at Liverpool by an absolute mile.

 

Had about 4 excellent games about 4 years ago.

 

Wow.

 

This is not far from accurate.

[Markmywords]

I don't think Agger's been fully fit for any length of time since he was on fire 3 years ago. I think him and skrtel will be class in a few years if they can stay fit, play a lot together and learn to compliment each other.

 

DA: Martin you have a wondeful taste in music.

MS: Daniel you have a fine dress sense.

 

That kind of thing

[PaulMcC]

He's in poor form and was terrible on Sunday.

 

He doesn't look like he's gonna win anything in the air these days.

 

All our centre backs, bar the Greek, have had big dips in form at one time this season.

[Dracco]

He's in poor form and was terrible on Sunday.

 

He doesn't look like he's gonna win anything in the air these days.

 

All our centre backs, bar the Greek, have had big dips in form at one time this season.

 

As he was against Unirea, ManCity and Arsenal. His last 4 games were utter shite.

[Tom R]

Put it this way - who here would rather we kept sami for another year and binned off agger and his massive new contract?

With the money saved we could have bought Chopper Shawcross, or Chaill, or someone like that instead.

 

i know I would.