End of Season Player Rating - Martin Skrtel

I'm slowly working my way through the defense rating each player's season and offering a few comments from my point of view. I do not have a photographic memory so please feel free to post your comments and reflections on the individual players as you saw them for last season or anything I forgot. I intend/hope for these to be interactive. For those of you new to this game, remember 1=horrific, 10=unreal, 6=about average.

Martin Skrtel - 8

Skrtel was Mr. Reliable. It seemed he was always covering for Carragher during Agger's injury time. It always seemed quite obvious when the squad was playing without Skrtel as the back line just seemed shaky. Part of this may have been responsible for Pepe Reina's poor play the second half of the season. Half of being a keeper is positioning one's self based on what the keeper assumes the his defense will cover. Throwing new bodies who play differently does have a significant impact on the keeper's assumptions that he must make throughout a game.

More after the jump/poll:

Skrtel performed admirably and proved quite reliable, holding the line while his partner Agger was out. As mentioned before, he covered well and was the teams ironman starting an astonishing 42 of Liverpool's 51 games this season. This is more than any other player aside from Reina. This reliability and his strength in the air mean his health is vital to any Liverpool campaign. In addition, getting 4 goals from a center back is a fantastic bonus. He was a real threat from set pieces and surely worries defenses.

The one thing Skrtel needs to cut out is some of his rash challenges as way he conceded too many penalties. In addition, the only player to commit more fouls than Skrtel was Charlie Adam. While I realize he played more games than anybody, a CB still must be more careful. It is a part of his game he has to fix.

Skrtel 2011/12 Season Stats (via ESPN Soccernet):