Former Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes that Liverpool cannot be without defender Martin Skrtel, who has emerged as one of the important members of the team in recent years.

After the departure of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez, the spotlight is upon older players at the club like Skrtel. The Slovakian defender has been at Anfield since 2008. Even though there have been several transfer rumours surrounding the 30-year-old during this period, Skrtel has been able to keep his head firmly on the job at hand. After having enjoyed a nervy start to his Liverpool career, the Slovakian is now the indispensable member of defence according to Owen.

The 30-year-old has been extremely hard to dislodge from the starting spot even more Liverpool have been over at the start of the 2015-16 season. The Reds have managed only one win – against newly promoted Bournemouth – and will face a lot of questions if they lose against Manchester United after the international break. Brendan Rodgers made it a priority to ensure that the club had a strong start to the season. The lack of it was amongst the chief reasons for failing to qualify for the Champions League this campaign. However, it looks like another fight for qualification is on the cards.

“He’s developed into a real mainstay of the Liverpool team. He’s hard, he’s tough, he’s robust. He never misses many matches.He scores the odd goal as well, and he’s one of the first names on the Liverpool teamsheet for Brendan Rodgers, week in, week out,” said Owen. Following the departure of Gerrard in the summer, Jordan Henderson was announced as the captain of Liverpool. New signing James Milner has also been sharing the captain’s armband. It remains to be seen if it will be handed over to Skrtel.