Topic: Dejan Lovren

[pyroparty]

Immense though that's his 2016 so nothing new.

[John C]

Man, I got him so wrong. I said after his first season he'd never be a top CB, just didn't have it in him to not have a brain fart. He's turned those brain farts into FUCK YOU goals. Love it. What a class finish too, hard enough, without the distraction of Mane half going for it as well.

If he hadn't have scored I'd still have bumped the thread mate. At the ground it really was quite disturbing how easily people were prepared to turn against him.

Of course I say that after berating people who moan about moaning which has been endemic for 70 years because it has always happened without social media, Most recently Whelan got it as well in the glory days, but Lovren has been subject to intensive criticism at our "current level", not the Whelan area level.

[simesy]

Man, I got him so wrong. I said after his first season he'd never be a top CB, just didn't have it in him to not have a brain fart. He's turned those brain farts into FUCK YOU goals. Love it. What a class finish too, hard enough, without the distraction of Mane half going for it as well.

You and I as well as many others wrote him off and let's face it he was performing poorly and had no confidence. But I Love the way he's turned it around. He's been very good all year and I think jk has to get some credit for getting us organised at the back. I really hope his partnership with matip continues to look solid.

[ass sitting midfielder]

He is a bit...good. Isnt he? Great strike Dejan

[shrompsolod]

Top lad

[sms1986]

Already a thread about him - http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=325556.400.

[ass sitting midfielder]

Already a thread about him - http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=325556.400.

ah sorry, no need for a new one then.

[ass sitting midfielder]

He was superb. A bit of a hoofing but when you have so sweet footballer like Matip alongside they will target YOU. Still, for a centreback, he does look reasonably two footed. Great in the air as well. Fantastic goal, most forwards wouldnt be able to finish it like that. Perfect strike.

[Alonso_The_Assassin]

Although Hendo was probably MotM tonight, Lovren was a very close second. He was absolutely class tonight, and alongside Matip, they are the pairing to take us forward.

Personally, I loved that he resorted to the hoof at times. We need that no-nonsense mentality in tight situations. With Matip's zeal and Lovren's hard-nosed approached, it makes for a good partnership moving forward.

As for his goal. Beckenbauer would've been proud!

[deFacto please, you bastards]

Delighted he's turned things around, we come from the same city, makes it even sweeter. Samo tako nastavi Dejane!!!

[IanZG]

It's been a year since that WHU performance, hasn't it? That's 12 months he's player at a really high level. And what a finish yesterday, didn't strike it like a defender 

[the_red_pill]

“We have so many players here on the bench that can make a difference, we have a brilliant squad, the 25 players here, even those in the stand are top players."

[na fir dearg]

from our worst defender to best and hes scoring goals as well

[Shaved Crossbar]

He's very strong mentally, he has to have been to have come back from the depths he had reached.

I always look at players and assess if they could be title winners. I think he's got that clutch ability. Big performances in big games. I'm still concerned when he's up against a player 1 on 1 but there's not many CBs who are entirely comfortable there anyway.

[stockdam]

Superb goal last night. Like his shiner too.

[rscanderlech]

He is now worth the money we paid!

He is good but I worry that one injury to Lovren or Matip would mess up our defence again. I'd still like to see us sign one other defender assuming Sakho leaves, or otherwise see Gomez reintroduced to the first team and made into a viable option.

[Zlen]

Proving me to be an idiot with every passing game. Ah well.. 😊

[SerbianScouser]

Proving me to be an idiot with every passing game. Ah well.. 😊

I wanted him sold at the end of his first season. It was a huge lesson for me to be learned that players need more than one season and that`s it`s hugely important whether managers are using them properly.

[Giono]

I wanted him sold at the end of his first season. It was a huge lesson for me to be learned that players need more than one season and that`s it`s hugely important whether managers are using them properly.

Do you think it is time? I'm not sure. He seemed to thrive with 2 DMs in front of him at Southampton. But under Rodgers he had little protection and huge areas to cover. Now under Klopp, our set-up seems to cater to him more.

In the past my frustration with Lovren was in part due to my frustration that Rodgers preferred him over Sakho. I was happy when we started to see a Sakho - Lovren pairing with Lucas and then Can in front of them. Once again he had more support and thrived.

[PIPA23]

Lovren - Matip duo starting to develop nice... we need a solid CB partnership for long time..

[SerbianScouser]

Do you think it is time?

It`s much more than just time and I agree right now he must feel comfortable in a set-up that`s very similar to how he played at Soton with midfielders offering great protection through the middle and fullbacks putting in tackles and being reliable. I don`t know if he figured it out on his own or he got good advice from coaches but even before Klopp arrived last season he found that necessary stability by practically toning down on Luiz-ness if you know what I mean.

I knew he`d thrive under Klopp because as a Sacchi student Klopp was always gonna make us well organized without the ball, compact and tough to be opened through the middle. In Klopp era our underlying defensive numbers are Top 4 level but what was letting us down were silly individual mistakes and a keeper that doesn`t save much - with Matip and Milner we seem to be on a way to reduce those mistakes which might finally put us in a position to be a team that concedes less than 1 goal per game which is what we need to be successful this season.

[DanA]

 I think a big part of is his positioning. He was always too far away from his fullback and that more than anything was causing headaches. That's not happening anymore whether he's on the left or right.

[Keith Lard]

I wanted him sold at the end of his first season. It was a huge lesson for me to be learned that players need more than one season and that`s it`s hugely important whether managers are using them properly.

Me too! Honestly thought he was utter gash at one point. Now I think he's excellent. Remarkable turnaround.

Someone should feed me humble pie and then smash the pie over my head and beat me with a broom stick. I deserve it.

[Doc Red]

I think a big part of is his positioning. He was always too far away from his fullback and that more than anything was causing headaches. That's not happening anymore whether he's on the left or right.

He's also been playing mostly alongside Sahko, and recently Matip, two defenders that are calm on the ball with a great eye for a pass, as opposed to Skrtel whereby Lovren was the playmaking outlet.
Additionally,  he's got Milner playing on his left side, a player that thinks before the ball is in his vicinity.

[MBL?]

I used to absolutely shit myself every time the ball went near him, how times have changed.

Not all that surprising though. He was great for Southampton and brilliant for Lyon for a couple of years.

[Keith Lard]

I used to absolutely shit myself every time the ball went near him, how times have changed.

Not all that surprising though. He was great for Southampton and brilliant for Lyon for a couple of years.

Brilliant at Lyon? I heard he was a bit average there.

[MBL?]

Brilliant at Lyon? I heard he was a bit average there.

Wont pretend i saw much of him there but ourselves and a lot of other teams were linked with him at the time. His form then dipped which is how he ended up at Southampton a couple of years later.

[rafathegaffa83]

I think a big part of is his positioning. He was always too far away from his fullback and that more than anything was causing headaches. That's not happening anymore whether he's on the left or right.

I recall Bilic saying before Rodgers was sacked that Lovren basically needs to be given one role in defence and that Rodgers was asking him to do far too many things. I think that is definitely one thing Klopp has done: massively simplified his game.

[Kopenhagen]

Wont pretend i saw much of him there but ourselves and a lot of other teams were linked with him at the time. His form then dipped which is how he ended up at Southampton a couple of years later.

He was linked with a lot of clubs before he moved to Lyon. Chelsea were seriously interested when he was at Zagreb, iirc.

I recall Bilic saying before Rodgers was sacked that Lovren basically needs to be given one role in defence and that Rodgers was asking him to do far too many things. I think that is definitely one thing Klopp has done: massively simplified his game.

Definitely.

[mikeb58]

Be it Lovren or anybody else I love it when players come good, if you think we're made up with Lovren imagine how he feels!

Just hope this run of form continues, and with it his partnership with Matip develops into something we haven't see for ages at Liverpool, i.e a solid,reliable 1st choice CB pairing.

Deffo reckon seeing the calm influence of Milner in support has helped his game.

[riismeister]

https://twitter.com/coolchaps4u/status/777092404855775232

[clinical]

              Karius
Clyne Matip Lovren Milner

Actually looks pretty decent now.

[Fiasco]

              Karius
Clyne Matip Lovren Milner

Actually looks pretty decent now.

It does, although no clean sheets in 5 league games is a slight concern (I know Lucas played one of those games and a freak mistake from him cost us a goal).

8 goals conceded in the first 5 games isn't great, but we're not conceding tonnes of chances so hopefully we'll start to keep some clean sheets going forward.

[Redcap]

It does, although no clean sheets in 5 league games is a slight concern (I know Lucas played one of those games and a freak mistake from him cost us a goal).

8 goals conceded in the first 5 games isn't great, but we're not conceding tonnes of chances so hopefully we'll start to keep some clean sheets going forward.

Well, 5 of those were in the first two games. And you're absolutely right about the relatively few chances we're conceding. Except for when we concede a goal a la Costa or Vardy, we don't actually look like conceding at all. After the first two games I think there was a statistic that said opposing teams had scored from almost every shot on target at that point. This will ultimately mean much fewer goals conceded over the course of the season, as the mistakes and luck regress to the mean.

[Agent99]

Hope his injury isn't too serious.

[gerrardisgod]

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF!

[ZeusMetallica]

Another injury eh. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. He did very well again today.

[farawayred]

Is he going to miss the international break?

[Ken-Obi]

Is he going to miss the international break?

I hope he avoid any breaks.

[sms1986]

Is he going to miss the international break?

He doesn't have a very good relationship with the Croatia manager, so he would probably miss it anyway. Besides, we don't know how serious his injury is and he's got 17 days before our next game.