This is Not the Agger We Know. Yet.

Lately there have ben some rumblings of discontent coming from Liverpool's perrenial substitutes like Yossi Benayoun and Ryan Babel. Both are unhappy at the lack of playing time and you wouldn't want it to be any other way. Indeed, the percieved benefit of having a strong squad is precisely that it keeps players sharp and determined to fight for their place.

It is a situation that Benitez appears to be more than happy to deal with even if it means making tough choices.

Because, whilst the form of Benayoun and Babel hasn't been such to really raise any questions, it wasn't the same earlier in the season when Martin Skrtel was prefered to Daniel Agger.

A strong end to last season had confirmed that the Slovak defender was a genuine talent yet the class and level of performance that Agger had shown the previous season put him among the best defenders on the continent. Surely he should be the one to star, was the general consensus.

Not for Benitez, however, whose choice fell on Skrtel. And, not for the first time, he was proven right.

So much that it took Liverpool some time to recover from Skrtel's injury. Not that there have been any major problems - Tottenham aside - but the team just didn't seem to be the same.
Just as Agger doesn't seem to be the same player. Part of that is down to the fact that he had been kept away for so long. Slowly, he has been improving yet, apart from setting up the first equaliser against Wigan, little has been seen of his passing skills.

Indeed, in theory his talent to act almost as an added midfielder should have given Liverpool the edge against sides like Fulham. Him occasionally moving foward could have opened up space for the other players. Yet that didn't happen.

Agger didn't do anything wong yet he didn't play as well as we know he can. As it is Skrtel would be justified to expect his place back once he returns (and gets his fitness back) to re-form his partnership with Jamie Carragher.

Which, in a way, is a comforting thought. Liverpool's future as far as central defenders are concerned seems secure with Agger and Skrtel being the long term answer.

In the meantime, however, one of the two will have to lose out and, going by what we've seen so far, that will have to be Agger.