Chris Wood said that the Liverpool defender was “the hardest of all time” and harder than Van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk form in Alan Hansen, Liverpool had some of the greatest central defenders of all time, but striker Chris Wood revealed once the most difficult defender he has ever faced is not one of their decorated legends.
The role of the executor in football has changed because the game has changed, the referees have today a much healthier view of the two feet plated and late challenges.
“ Let us know that you are there, it was once a common sentence used in the football changing rooms from top to bottom of Great Britain, whether Sunday League or the Premier League, because the dominant central defenders and the hard fields used intimidation as a tactical.
The most difficult players of the Premier League in photos
For Liverpool, these plasters were often made by Jamie Carragher and Javier Mascherano, with the former winger of Manchester United Nani revealing once why a tackle of Carragher left him in tears: “When I saw my leg for the first time, I thought my season was over. That’s why I was crying.
“Subsequently, the doctor saw my leg and said that I was lucky because he just needed stitches and that I would be absent for two or three weeks. It is surprised that I could recover even faster.”
The Sky Sports Pundit received only a yellow card for the tackle on Nani, which, in today’s game, would have encountered a straight red and a heavy ban.
Towards the end of Carragher’s career in Liverpool, the Reds signed several central defenders in order to become his successor, and perhaps one of the most appreciated of the fans was a 23-year-old child of Slovakia called Martin Skrtel.
Chris Wood: Skrtel the toughest defender I have ever faced
Manager Rafael Benitez was delighted when Liverpool signed Skrtel in January 2008 for transfer fees of 6.5 million pounds sterling, telling fans that their new defender was “aggressive” and “very competitive”.
Wood, who played against Skrtel while he was a young striker in Leicester, went further in an interview on the YouTube channel of the Premier League in 2021. He said that for all legendary central defenders to adorn Anfield and the Premier League as a whole, it was not big as van Dijk who gave him his most difficult test.
“Skrtel was actually one of the most difficult of all time. He would not give you a minute of peace. He pinched you, pushed you, not letting yourself be settled.
“At the time, I was probably too young to change something and do something to him, but now I like to think that I would treat with him much better. He did the job and he pushed my game back, so it was a good learning curve.”
Skrtel left Liverpool in 2016 to sign Fenerbahçe, and although he did not win a lot of trophies during his stay on the Merseyside, we affect Liverpool fans affectionately.
Related
20 best central defenders in the history of the Premier League classified
Where is Virgil van Dijk class?
Former Slovakia international played 320 times for Liverpool, scoring 18 goals and winning the League Cup during the 2011-12 season. Inteastively, although he was yellow cardé 51 times, he received only one red card in England, because he was sent to a 4-0 defeat in Tottenham in September 2011.
