Skrtel and Toure making errors but Agger is Liverpool’s fall guy
Published:Brendan Rodgers may now be wishing he had listened to offers for defender Daniel Agger in the summer as the Liverpool boss appears to have lost the faith with his vice-captain this season.
Despite Martin Skrtel’s attempt to create an own goals and gaffes DVD during one 90-minute game against Swansea, it was his central defensive partner that was hauled off just after an hour into the Reds 4-3 win.
That Kolo Toure replaced Agger, another man whose recent Liverpool displays belong on the same disc as Skrtel’s, would have felt like an extra kick to the dentures for the Dane.
As it was, Liverpool still managed to squeeze another three points out of the contest, but 8/1 on a first title since 1990 will not be shrinking any time soon if they keep shipping goals at such a rate.
In a show of defiance, Liverpool can be backed at 9/4 to keep their sheets clean against Southampton next at St Mary’s.
For all their invention and panache in the final third – Liverpool are now the Premier League’s leading scorers – Rodgers appears a long way off finding a solution to conceding at the other end.
Ironically, it was in the defensive positions where the Northern Irishman saw fit to strengthen the most last summer in his bid to improve on a seventh-place finish for the Reds.
However, the jury is still out on £18m Mohamed Sakho and loanee left-back Ally Cissohko, while Tiago Illori has finally been loaned out after failing to make any first team appearances so far.
Although Rodgers turned down a reported £15m bid from Barca for Agger in the summer he has largely opted to play Skrtel alongside free transfer Toure, which has certainly raised a few eyebrows among fans.
A string of injuries across the backline have clearly not helped the Reds, but it looks like Agger could finally be heading out of Anfield in the summer on the latest evidence.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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