The Premier League has had its share of classy ball-playing
defenders down the years: Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King, to
name just a few. We could add John Stones of course, if we include playing the
ball to opposition strikers. Liverpool fans would add the name of a certain
Dane to that list. Tough, tireless and heavily tattooed, Agger played more than
230 games for the Reds despite recurrent injuries –
he recently opened up about overuse of anti-inflammatories during his career
– and formed a fairly reliable good cop, bad cop partnership with his partner
in tattoos, Skrtel, even if it never quite fulfilled its promise.
Agger gave Liverpool the best years of his career; fans will
be hoping Matip can do the same, and be rewarded with more than the Dane’s
solitary League Cup medal. The Cameroonian arrived on a free transfer, having
been a stalwart for Schalke. Many expected Matip to link up with Mamadou Sakho at
the back, but his
spectacular fall from grace means Dejan Lovren has stepped up. It remains
to be seen whether Matip’s partnership with Lovren can emulate Skrtel-Agger on
its best days, but the early signs are that these two are Klopp’s preferred
pairing.
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