Liverpool got their new campaign off to a good start with a 2-1 win over Southampton at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge.
It has been a huge summer of change at Liverpool with Brendan Rodgers signing eight players while one big one in Luis Suarez leaving the club. The Uruguayan hit 31 goals in the Premier League last season and will be a huge loss for the Reds.
However, they conceded 50 goals at the other end and one way to alleviate the loss of Suarez’s goals is to concede fewer at the back. Rodgers has looked to solve that problem this summer with the signings of Javier Manquillo and Alberto Moreno at full-back, but the big signing at the back is Dejan Lovren from Southampton.
The Croatian is the man tasked with leading and organising the Liverpool defence both vocally and by example, which is what was missing last season after Jamie Carragher’s retirement in the summer of 2013.
Lovren was a target for the Reds last summer but Southampton got there quicker and look to have made around a £12 million profit on the central defender, with Liverpool paying what was needed to get him in a Red shirt and playing regularly in front of the Kop.
Coincidentally, Lovren made his league debut for Liverpool against Southampton at Anfield, a ground at which he scored the winning goal for the Saints last season.
He started at the back with Martin Skrtel to his right-hand side and Glen Johnson playing out of position at left-back. The Croatian looked confident and a step above what the Reds had last season straight away. He was leaping above Graziano Pelle and winning headers, putting his foot in quickly and early to win the ball back for his side and starting attacks with good passing.
Lovren misplaced just three passes from the 68 he attempted against Southampton.
In the first half alone, Lovren completed all 43 of his passes. Liverpool had Mamadou Sakho on the sidelines who is superb on the ball, completing 92% of his passes last season, but if Lovren keeps up passing displays like the first-half at Anfield, the Frenchman probably won’t be missed.
In total, he completed 96% of his passes, misplacing just three throughout the 90 minutes.
Lovren only contested one tackle but won it, beating Pelle to the ball, who he kept quiet throughout the Italian’s performance.
He also won 50% of his 10 headed duels. A 50% success rate isn’t the best but to win five headed duels – more than any other player in the Liverpool side – is a decent figure. After all, he was up against Pelle who scored most of his 23 goals in the Eredivisie last season with his head and himself won 139 of 146 contested headed duels over the course of his previous season with Feyenoord in the Eredivisie.
Pelle’s duel success with Feyenoord in the Eredivise, 2013/14.
The Croatian also made four interceptions, which only Javier Manquillo – who was also making his competitive debut for Liverpool – equalled. Last season, Lovren made 84 in total which was more than anyone else at Liverpool and he’s set to lead the charts again, but this time for Liverpool. It also shows what type of defender he is as Lovren loves to step forward and pick the ball up before it reaches the opposition player he’s marking.
Lovren’s clearances against Southampton.
If we add to that his 11 clearances that only Martin Skrtel (20) beat, you have quite a strong defensive performance on your hands. Skrtel made the most clearances in Europe’s top leagues last season so it was always going to be hard for Lovren to perform more and, regardless, it’s far more effective for a defender to intercept a ball as opposed to hoofing it up field. In terms of interceptions, where Skrtel performed two, Lovren cut out an opponent’s pass on four occasions.
Lovren was brought into Liverpool to lead the defence and he did so today. Aside from Southampton’s equaliser where Dusan Tadic’s magic beat the Croatian, it was a strong performance from Lovren and a promising one for the rest of the season.
He may have been expensive but Lovren may well may worth every penny judging by his performance on Sunday.
- By Jack Watson (18 August 2014) - Squawka
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