I love center back highlight videos. I am not sure why this is, but I can't get enough.
This one is perhaps my favorite. It depicts Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho as a pair of warrior gods who defend Liverpool's goal and honor against all comers and defeat them with ease.
That, of course, was not the case in real life. In real life, Mamadou Sakho is a monster. A very injury-prone monster. And Martin Skrtel is the type of player who you don't know what he will do next, but you know it will be interesting. That's why the powers that be at Liverpool decided to ship Skrtel to Turkey rather than keep him in the Reds' defense.
Welcome Martin Skrtel! pic.twitter.com/3WYt2wyL3T
— Fenerbahce_EN (@Fenerbahce_EN) July 14, 2016
Though he wasn't as good as that video seemed to indicate, Skrtel wasn't as bad as many supporters thought. Skrtel was a pretty good center back for most of his Liverpool career. He even won Liverpool's Player of the Year Award in 2012! That team had Pepe Reina, Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Jamie Carragher and Dirk Kuyt on it!
Skrtel's biggest weakness was not that he failed but that when he did fail he failed spectacularly. WHen other center backs are at fault for a goal, it's because they're a few yards out of position, or fail to recognize a play developing in time. When Martin Skrtel is at fault for a goal it's because he'a at the concession stand getting a hot dog when he notices a striker streaking toward goal so he runs over and slides from behind, failing to bring the striker down in time but earning himself a red card for his trouble.
He was never as dirty as his reputation suggested, a reputation helped by his intimidating appearance, but he was dirty enough for other teams' fans to hate him and he got caught enough for Liverpool fans to hate him too. He was tough, though, as evidenced by that time he scored a 97th-minute equalizer against Arsenal after Olivier Giroud stepped on his head.
Skrtel did many things well, but those things were overshadowed in the eyes of the fans by how badly he did the things he was bad at. That will be his legacy for the time being.
Photo: @Lil_Magician10 | Twitter
Hindsight will be kinder to Skrtel than in-the-moment fan reactions. It always is.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
