How Football Reporting Works: Liverpool’s Dire ‘Martin Skrtel Is Better than Chelsea’s John Terry And Anyone At Southampton
HOW football comment works, with Liverpool FC’s Martin Skrtel – and not Chelsea’s John Terry and anyone at Southampton.
Liverpool beat QPR 2-3 in the Premier League, thanks to own goals and a barmy last few minutes of exciting, error-rich football. You might suppose that Liverpool’s defence, as with that of QPR’s, was not all that good.
The Mirror’s Oliver Holt was there. He appraised Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel:
Skrtel: 5 Weak first half tackle on Austin proof of uncertainty gripping him
The Indy was there:
Martin Skrtel – The enforcer of Liverpool’s back four was completely bullied by Zamora and can count himself fortunate (or unfortunate) if he keeps his starting place against Real Madrid on Wednesday. 5
ESPN:
Martin Skrtel, 4 – The big Slovakian has had problems in the past with Zamora, so this was nothing new. Some of Skrtel’s headed clearances didn’t have the right accuracy or distance, and he never really looked comfortable throughout under the aerial bombardment.
The Daily Mail saw it all:
[Skrtel was] Given a torrid time by Zamora all afternoon and didn’t look comfortable at Loftus Road.
So. Skrtel was pretty poor.
Garth Crooks saw it all. Oddly, he picks Skrtel for his team of the week. He tells the BBC:
Martin Skrtel saved Liverpool’s skin twice in a fixture where both teams struggled to defend at times. He kept them in the game in the first half having kicked the ball off the line and stopping it from ending up in the net.
He then saved his team for a second time to stop them going two down with another amazing clearance as Liverpool looked to be losing their grip on the game. Thanks to Skrtel Liverpool went on to beat QPR and leave them anchored to the foot of the table in an extraordinary game of football.
In hunting round for a defender for his BBC Team of the Week, Crooks reached the conclusion that Skrtel was better than Chelsea’s John Terry, Southampton’s Alderweireld and West Ham United’s Collins.
Which he wasn’t…
Posted: 20th, October 2014 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
