Why France World Cup Hero Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Agger Are Ideal for Liverpool

When Liverpool signed Mamadou Sakho on transfer deadline day, the question that was immediately asked was how to accommodate him and Daniel Agger in the same defence.

Could two left-footed players form a formidable partnership at the heart of the Reds' defence? Has there ever been a partnership of such design before?

Naturally left-footed players are usually deployed on their strongest side, whether that be in defence, midfield or up front. Only with the advent of "inverted wingers" have we seen left-footed players line up on the right side of the pitch in recent times.

The debate over whether two left-footed players can play together in defence is a difficult one to analyse—not least because of a lack of previous of examples. 

The only time I recall two left-footed centre-backs being paired together is Walter Samuel and Marco Materazzi at Inter Milan, but even then that was rare.

Theoretically Ideal Partnership

A ball-playing centre-back partnered with a strong, ball-winning centre-back is viewed as the "ideal" partnership.

On paper, avoiding the double left-foot debate, Sakho and Agger are a perfect match, complementing each other. Agger is technically sound, comfortable on the ball and bringing it out of defence. He's experienced and intelligent on the pitch.

Sakho is younger, more aggressive, good in the air but still more than comfortable with the ball at his feet—95 percent pass completion rate for France Tuesday night, 95 percent vs. Swansea, 96 percent vs. Sunderland, 91 percent vs. Crystal Palace (stats via Squawka).

Sakho is, somewhat, the Martin Skrtel of 2008 but vastly more comfortable in possession.

"

The player who had the best pass accuracy for England was Jordan Henderson (92%). For France, it was Mamadou Sakho (95%) #LFC

— LFC USA (@LFCUSA) November 19, 2013"

Potential Problems

Two right-footed players at centre-back is commonplace, so surely it can work the other way around? Again, this isn't easy to analyse and there are indeed two different thoughts of logic.

You might assume that, given most footballers are right-footed, this would actually give left-footed defenders an advantage—for example, a forward with the ball on his right foot equals the ball being on the defender's left foot and thus their strong side.

The most obvious problem is that neither has played as a right-sided centre-back and thus whoever is asked to move across to that side would require a lot of patience to adapt their game from what has been natural throughout their career.

The angles that the player adopts, the passing angles playing out, their positioning off the ball; such autonomous skills and knowledge would need to be "re-written" and require extensive work on the training ground.

"

Some real credible journalists hailing Sakho's performance for France last night. Comparisons to Thuram. Bright future

— Monkey Sponge (@monkey_sponge) November 20, 2013"

Left or right?

"We had a chance to protect the club for maybe the next ten years and that is what we have done" explained Brendan Rodgers to the Liverpool Echo after signing Sakho and youngster Tiago Ilori.

You would assume that, given Ilori is right-footed, the long-term future would see Ilori as the right-sided centre-back and Sakho left. However, just to complicate the picture further, Ilori has played on the left of the two during his youth career and thus far at Under 21s for Liverpool.

So should Rodgers attempt to switch Sakho to the right side now? Or would Agger be the one to adapt? 

Importance of each

Agger is the club's vice-captain, recently recalled to the side for the visit of Fulham last weekend, while Sakho was described by Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre as a "marquee signing."

Having spent £18 million on Sakho, it's difficult to see the Frenchman being on the bench for long.

Therefore, it only appears inevitable that we will see an Agger-Sakho combination at some point in the near future.

Will it work? There's only one way to find out—just probably not best to test it out in the Merseyside derby.