Martin Skrtel’s time at Liverpool was a bit odd, really.
He held the record for Liverpool’s most expensive defender for almost six years, but arguably only spent one of those as first choice centre-half, yet has managed to pick up 319 appearances for the Reds.
Part of the problem with Martin, who looks set to depart to Fenerbahce this summer, is that he’s never been a fit for most of the managers he played under.
Perhaps highlighted during the end of his career, the Slovakian looked lost at times trying to play out of defence under Brendan Rodgers, and keeping up with the blood thunder Gegenpressing system of Jurgen Klopp.
It’s quite the shame since it started out oh so well, when he was brought into the club during the 2007-08 transfer window.
If life is 90% timing then Skrtel’s couldn’t have been better, Liverpool had been struggling for options at the back after Daniel Agger had the first of what would become a string of injury problems that defined his career.
Sami Hyypia, despite being one of the club’s greatest servants, was struggling to cope with the pace of the Premier League at the age of 35, leaving Jamie Carragher and an untested Jack Hobbs as the lone centre backs.
The signing of Skrtel was the perfectly shaped peg for that hole, and his man of the match displays against Chelsea in Europe and in the Derby instantly made him a fan favourite.
The following year, he overcame a serious knee injury delivered by all around not nice guy Ched Evans early in the season to become Carragher’s defensive partner and understudy.
Jamie was in his thirties at this point and couldn’t be the heart of the Liverpool defence forever, and with his imposing presence and excellent tackling/marking he looked set to take on the mantel as our best centre back; for that season at least it worked beautifully, with Skrtel and Carragher joining Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano in what was one of the most castrating defensive/defensive midfield quartets in world football.
Skrtel even managed to look decent in a Roy Hodgson team, playing every minute of the former England manager’s infamous campaign. There was a dip in fortune in mid-season such as the Newcastle and Blackburn games, but was anyone playing well in that team at this point?
It was under Kenny Dalglish, however, were he would have his brightest days in a red shirt, as he continued to play every remaining minute of the 2010-11 season, and with Daniel Agger’s injury problems seemingly behind him, it looked as if a defensive partnership three years in the making was about to enter it’s prime.
The two of them maintained the best defensive partnership in the Premier League for the first half of the 2011-12 season; with echoes of Carra and Hyypia before them; it looked as if Liverpool had a defence that could become a title challenging force in the years to come.
But then Kenny Dalglish was sacked, and this is where things start heading south.
Martin Skrtel is, was, and always will be a great old-school centre-half, unfortunately trying to give Brendan Rodgers that is like trying to serve pie and mash at a gaucho; it may be the best pie and mash in the world, but you want an Argentinian steak and a bottle of the most expensive wine in the cupboard, you’re never going to enjoy it.
His mistakes against West Brom, Manchester City, and declaring a one-man war against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup typified this change of fortune; it was as if Samson had lost his hair, and defensively at least, he was never regarded in the same light again.
In fact, you could argue that the only reason he wasn’t reunited with Rafa Benitz that summer at Napoli was because of the uncertainty over other defenders; Agger was suffering with injury problems (again), the jury was still out on Mamadou Sakho and Kolo Toure was only brought in as cover.
It is perhaps the ultimate irony though that this was a season where he would be remembered in attack rather than at the back; scoring seven goals, more than any other defender that year, including two bullet headers against Arsenal that put Liverpool seemingly on course to title glory.
Despite the goals though, Skrtel’s career under Rodgers never seemed like it was in for the long haul. There was none of the praise that he got under the likes of Benitez and Dalglish.
Dejan Lovren’s arrival from Southampton seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the Slovakian, who was now a fourth choice centre back; it was only because of the dreadful form of both Sakho and Lovren that he managed to make 33 appearances for the club.
Klopp’s arrival was another pie and mash at Gaucho moment, as despite Skrtel still being a solid and dependable option, he was a total misfit for the tactics of the German manager; Martin was simply too limited as a defender to play the ‘heavy metal’ football that Klopp branded at Dortmund.
We now know that Skrtel has now played his last game at the club, however, his volley against Manchester City, against the same opponents and six years to the day he scored his first goal for the club was a stunning parting gift.
It’s a shame really that Skrtel’s career at Liverpool has ended so anticlimactically, at the peak of his powers he could have slotted into any Premier League team, even now he could still play regularly for most, but his limitations in the last year or so make him in the eyes of many, too much of a throwback to even consider.
