Daniel Agger has enjoyed a long, successful spell at Liverpool FC. Until this season, he has been one of the first names on the team sheet, and has been a rock at the back for The Reds. Only seven games left for them this season, and many people at Anfield are beginning to wonder whether these could be Agger’s last for his current club.
He put in a decent performance against Sunderland on Wednesday night, although, as many will recall, his mistake by letting John O’Shea have a free header with two minutes to go could have been cruicial to their title challenge. Fortunately for him and all the other scousers inside Anfield that night, O’Shea glanced his header wide, and Agger escaped. Steven Gerrard was the first to tell him how lucky he was.
Injuries and age have been the main concerns for Agger over the recent years. The sight of the Dane striding out of defence and producing one of his ‘trademark’ long range strikes have become increasingly rare. Some will agree that Agger now prefers to do the ‘simple’ things correctly, instead of pushing for ambitious plays in matches.
As a defender of course there is nothing wrong with him doing just that, and now at 29 years old, he has been at the club for such a time now, experience is something Agger certainly brings to the Liverpool side. It was there for all to see in the game against Sunderland the other night, as he was one of the bold few trying to calm everyone down, as Liverpool’s defending turned into the ‘long ball’ approach, clearing high and long every time they got the chance.
Mamadou Sakho, a 24 year old French international, arrived last summer from PSG after losing his first team place to Thiago Silva. The Frenchman is tall, strong and can be good on the ball, because of this, Agger maybe hasn’t enjoyed as many starts as he would have liked this season. Sakho has established his class in the Premier League despite injury, and many fans feel that his pairing with Slovakian centre-back Martin Skrtel is the best they have in the team. Sakho rarely fails to win the ball, with a 90% tackle success rate this season in the Premier League. The one place, however, where Sakho has the real edge is strength. It may not be well known to all fans that the Frenchman has broken weight machines at Melwood due to his raw power, so it is fair to say that he won’t be intimidated by many centre-forwards he may come across this season.
Unfortunately for him though, after picking up a hamstring injury at Chelsea over Christmas, Agger has been allowed to regain his place in the Starting XI, though for how long no one knows. During a spell out of the team earlier in the season, Agger claimed he was happy to stay as long as he was wanted. With his quality, Agger could stay at Anfield to play his part in next season and beyond, but the problem is he could end up playing understudy to Sakho, a role he won’t want at this stage of his career.
Perhaps Agger’s time on Merseyside is coming to an end.
By Ben Kelly
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