Or . . . maybe it's really easy for some. Depends on what time period you remember Skrtel in: the Skrtel-Agger years or the recent "take any money and let the guy go" years. Still, let's end his time here on a high because Lucas is our only guy from the '07 time. Him being here that long had to mean something, at least.
Today, on 14 July, it has been officially (after like, ten announcements from Fenerbahce saying that they were done in the past two week. Thanks!) said that Martin Škrtel has completed the deal of moving to the Turkish team for £5.5m. Let's take a look on the long time we've had together.
He came to us on a four and a half year contract for £6.5m from Zenit Saint Petersburg on 11 January 2008, with Benitez saying that he aggressive, good in the air and one for the future, as well as comparing him to Carragher. So, now we know where those own goals came from. With that aside, he debuted against Aston Villa, wearing the number 37. Against Havant & Waterlooville (They recently got relegated from the National League South, if you wanted to know), he showed a very shaky performance in the FA Cup, giving away a corner which had us go down 1-0 and involved in a goal mouth scramble which got us 2-1 down not too long after we equalized. In the end, we ended up wining the match 5-2, because I'm sure us losing that match would be bad, but not as bad as 1-0 to the Imps. Really Rodgers, really. But Škrtel won back his new fans in good performances against Chelsea and Everton, getting a man of the match award for both matches and ended the season with stable performances.
In the 08-09 season, his game was so great that he actually displaced Agger, making a partnership with Carragher. Oh, all the own goals that we were lucky not to have! Sorry, I'll leave my sarcasm to the side now, promise. In Champions League, the two had very stellar performances that transfered over to the Premier League as well. Sadly, that was ended when he fell awkwardly on his leg against Manchester City, going out for 2 months due to a torn posterior cruciate ligament, which took a sizable chunck out of his season and brought Agger back into the picture. When he came back into the side, he came back into the starting XI and the club ended off the season in second place.
Fast forward a bit, right after his self proclaimed best season with the Reds, the Agger-Škrtel finally came in the 11-12 season. The season didn't start so well, with him having to play at right back, then getting sent off against the Spurs in a 4-0 loss. Still, he found a way to bounce back as he scored against Villa and another against Brighton & Hove Albion just five minutes after kick off. In February, he scored against Cardiff City in the Capital One Cup (then called the Football League Cup) and the match ended 2-2, going to extra time and then penalties as Liverpool won 3-2, giving Škrtel his first and only trophy with Liverpool. The Agger-Škrtel partnership finally gelled nicely with the fans and the league as Liverpool had the best defensive record in the middle of the 11-12 season and earned Škrtel "The Terminator" nickname. The season ended off with him captaining the side for the first time against Blackburn Rovers in a 3-2 win and him getting the Liverpool Player of the Year Award.
This was probably the last of his truly good seasons, in my opinion as later on he only had bad or mixed seasons. That isn't to say that the Arsenal match wasn't hands down amazing, it was just that he could no longer bring up as many good matches for his bad one, as seen this season against Southampton and Newcastle. Now, he is a decent veteran, but he had to go with Kolo Toure getting called up many more times than he had. And with Matip, Lovren, Sakho, Gomez and now even Lucas ahead of him, he just had to go somewhere new. It's for the best, as his standard is now obviously lower than what Klopp and much of the fans want. It shouldn't be that you ponder with a friend on if he'll have a bad performance and he repays you with that, it should be that he shows you up with a great match and gets the man of the match award. So this has to happen, saving him from fading away on the bench and possibly raising him to first on the All-Time Own Goal list and as well saving us from mediocrity.
YNWA Martin. Give Van Persie a few words on our behalf as you show him up. Won't be hard, will it?
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Anfield Until The End 16/17
RandomA bit overdue but this is about Liverpool and our new and old players, our cool manager, preseasons, transfer windows, new matches, transfer rumours and anything having to do with the Liverbird, the Redmen and the BPL.
