Ever since Skrtel arrived at Liverpool in January 2008, he has always been a centre-back who divides opinion. He has always given his all in a Reds shirt, but he has flattered to deceive time and time again. In the eyes of many, he is only as good as the defence he's playing in. This means that, for example, he often looked very accomplished alongside Jamie Carragher in the Rafa Benitez years, but now he looks poor in a struggling defence under Rodgers. Their back-line will always have an erratic nature to it as long as the 29-year-old is in the team. The Slovakian is a defender who can have 89 excellent minutes in a game, only to blow it because of one avoidable moment of madness. His performances so far this season have not been good enough, and although he's been noticeably better than Dejan Lovren- more about him later- he's been far from blameless. His positional sense, reckless tackling and poor use of the ball have been hugely frustrating, and considering he's now the senior man at the back, he's showed a lack of leadership. Skrtel was terrific last season- he scored more goals that any Premier League defender in 2013/14, but is yet to hit the target this season- but so far this campaign his performances have not been up to scratch.
