Liverpool’s Virgil van Dik to Alan Hansen form had the best centre-back of all time, but striker Chris Wood once revealed that he wasn’t one of the most demanding defender-adored legends he’d ever faced.
The role of enforcers in football has changed as the game changed. These days, the judges have been looking much more wisely on two pairs of tackles and slow tasks.
“Let them know you’re there” was a common phrase once used in football dressing rooms up and down the UK. Whether it’s in the league on Sunday or the Premier League, the dominant centre-back and tough tackle midfielder used the threat as a tactic.
The toughest player in the Premier League
For Liverpool, these tackles were often played by the likes of Jamie Carrager and Javier Mascherano, and former Manchester United winger Nani revealed why Karager’s tackle shed tears.
“The doctor then looked at my feet and said he was lucky because he needed stitching. I’ll be out for a couple of weeks. He’s surprised I can recover even faster.”
Sky Sports Pundit only received the yellow card for Nani’s tackle. Today’s game would have been full of straight reds and a huge ban.
Towards the end of Karager’s Liverpool career, the Reds have signed several centre-backs with the view that they will become successors. Perhaps the most beloved was the 23-year-old Slovak man known as Martin Skulter.
Chris Wood: Skullel, the toughest defender I’ve ever faced
Manager Rafael Benitez was excited when Liverpool signed Skrtel in January 2008 with a relocation fee of £6.5 million, informing fans that the new defender was “offensive” and “very competitive.”
Wood, who faced Skultel when he was a young striker for Leicester, went one more time in an interview on the 2021 Premier League YouTube channel.
“Skrtel was actually one of the toughest things ever. He didn’t give you a minute of peace. He pinched you, didn’t push you away, and he didn’t calm you down.
“At the time I was probably too young to change something and do something to him, but now I like to think I’ll deal with him better. He did the job and put off my game, so it was a good learning curve.”
Skrtel left Liverpool in 2016 and signed Fenerbahçe. Despite not winning many trophies during his time at Merseyside, Liverpool fans have love.
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The former Slovak International played 320 times for Liverpool and scored 18 goals in the 2011-12 season, winning the League Cup. Despite still 51 carding yellow cards, he received one red card in the UK as he was sent in a 4-0 defeat at Tottenham in September 2011.