Ranking Liverpool's Starting XI From Real Madrid Defeat

9. Martin Skrtel

Skrtel can be a very frustrating defender to watch. He can often be Liverpool's standout centre-back for large parts of the game, but there is a recklessness about him that brings no calm whatsoever to the Reds' back-line. This perfectly applied to his performance against Los Blancos. The 29-year-old conceded numerous avoidable free-kicks in dangerous areas, sliding in needlessly when staying on his feet would have been a far more sensible option. He is also not good enough on the ball to play Brendan Rodgers' risky 'playing it out from the back' tactics, and his woeful loss of possession in the first-half almost allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to open the scoring. He was strong in the air though, which remains probably his greatest attribute. The Slovakian remains the first defender on Rodgers' team-sheet, but you just feel that, as long as he's in the team, the defence will never really improve much.