Martin Skrtel’s luck finally runs out against Swansea

Martin Skrtel conceded the penalty from which Bony scored

In the aftermath of a thrilling 4-3 victory over Swansea at home, Brendan Rodgers will certainly have plenty to ponder over. Whilst victory was essential if the Reds were to keep up with the top three, the manner of the victory was one that wouldn’t have pleased the manager. Although Sturridge scored for the eighth-straight game, becoming only the second player after Ruud van Nistelrooy to do so, the defense was once again far from convincing.

Anfield has become accustomed to the home side blitzing past the opponents. But, unlike Everton and Arsenal before them, the Swans didn’t wither away and die. They managed to comeback and equalize twice. After initially coming back from 2-0 down to make it 2-2, one would have thought that the next goal would be the winner.

But, although Henderson scored and restored Liverpool’s lead, that didn’t last long. The Reds conceded again early in the second half and it was Bony again, who punished them, this time from the spot. Although the Reds won the game, the manner in which Swansea scored their goals would have surely driven Rodgers mad, especially the third goal.

For the penalty, Martin Skrtel hauled Bony down to the floor and the referee Mike Jones had little hesitation in giving the penalty. Although it was clearly a foul, the surprise was that the referee actually gave the penalty. And once he did, in all honesty, the defender should have seen red. Fortunately for him and for Liverpool, he stayed on and the Reds finally managed to emerge victorious.

The simple truth is that this has been happening, with frightening regularity this season. All season long the Slovakian has been grappling with opponents inside the box from set-pieces without consequence. But Mike Jones, unlike others before, afforded the defender no leniency as he pointed to the spot, following which, the Ivory Coast forward picked himself up and calmly slotted the ball past Mignolet.

The truth was that Skrtel certainly had that coming. On more than half-a-dozen occasions already this season, the central defender has been wrestling with opponents inside the box. On one instance, against Stoke City, he pushed away Ryan Shawcross so hard that the central defender ended up inside the net. He was certainly lucky to stay on the field after that. But one assumed that he would have learnt his lesson. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he had not. And, for all the wonderful work that the Liverpool manager has done on the training ground, the one thing he had not done, was to curb his central defender’s instinct to drag people to the ground from set-pieces.

Although Skrtel had been getting away with it so far this season, it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to figure out that the day he was going to be reprimanded was near. Thus far, the Slovakian central defender has been concentrating far too much on bringing his man down rather than clearing the ball. He has been walking a tightrope right from the start of the season and against Swansea, he finally fell.

The seasoned Slovakian should have certainly known better than to just haul opponents down to the ground from set-pieces. Whilst that might be easy to get away with from open play as the referee is far away, that isn’t the case with free-kicks or corners. With the referee perfectly placed to look out for any infringement, it was a surprise that it took so long for anyone to catch Skrtel in the act.

Rodgers must hope that the Slovakian learns his lesson after today’s incident. Or else, many more referees might follow suit and the Reds might end games with a player less. For all their quality going forward, if the manager doesn’t sort out the defense, it would be a miracle if the Reds won the League this season.