Dejan Loves Himself

[ILD]

I'm writing this a bit tongue in cheek after a discussion me and @Ryan had in the match thread but is it just me or is Lovren ridiculously arrogant for a CB? He absolutely loves himself doesn't he? Does anyone remember the stories of Lovren being photographed walking around in the nip at the Croatian World Cup training camp? Course he was, sure he loves himself. He'd eat himself if he was chocolate.

I try to watch him closely during games. He seems to get bored of playing the percentages and doing his job efficiently and quietly. Every now and again he'll get impatient and try attack the ball on the front foot to make himself look flash. He often get's caught in no mans land doing this. His other little trick is to make a big tackle (for the fans) to clean out the ball when standing up and forcing his man backwards giving us time to regroup and re position over selves might be safer. He reminds me a bit of Willy Gallas. Good player but loves himself and wants to ensure HE looks good on the field.

When Lovren first arrived he was seen as our defensive savior, a fearsome leader. He would be our vocal rock at the back and babysit the other three defenders turning us into a defensive unit. He did look to be this player for us initially. I was at the Southampton game and noticed Lovren wading out of defense with his arms spread calling HIS line. He wanted the other three to walk out with him and work as a unit. Yessss, I said to myself. Finally someone to take control back there and shore up the defense and whip the boys into shape.
But..... I don't notice him doing it anymore. Has he said, sod it, I'm doing my own thing or do we still have trust in him to be our defensive rock?

 

[iffythebiffy]

I think a certain level of arrogance exists within every pro sportsman at the top of the tree, as indeed every Premier league player is. That personal feeling of "I am the boss of this shit, no fecker is getting past me today" is a component of many defensive players psyching themselves up for a match. When this gets transmitted to the rest of the back four, you could argue the sense of "the CB knows exactly what he is doing " should theoretically at least, raise the confidence of the entire defensive unit. Lovren had this at Southampton, and I dare-say it's something he wants to get here. Absolutely agree that he loves himself, but hey, it's better than being a sulky moody git who dwells on his mistakes and then takes absolutely no risks, in the way Downing did.
As far as your last point goes, I think BR wants every player to manage their own situation and think for themselves rather than following anyone, giving the responsibility to the individual player to assess risk, and then act appropriately. He wants players to use their intelligence, and I think that is a part of it.

 

[Mystic]

The technique in the celebration was superb, it's a lot hard than it looks, we all remember how Pepe failed miserably when he tried it.

 

[ILD]

As far as your last point goes, I think BR wants every player to manage their own situation and think for themselves rather than following anyone, giving the responsibility to the individual player to assess risk, and then act appropriately. He wants players to use their intelligence, and I think that is a part of it.

I agree each player needs to be accountable for themselves but we can't have four player doing their own thing and acting as individuals. I like the idea of an organizer, especially if we don't trust our players to work together as a unit.

 

[iffythebiffy]

I agree totally, but I don't think BR does.

 

[ILD]

I agree totally, but I don't think BR does.

Didn't BR buy Lovren to be our vocal leader and defensive organiser?

 

[iffythebiffy]

You're not wrong. Point taken.

The Independent
JAMES ORR Monday 11 August 2014

Lovren didn't take long to impress the Anfield faithful on his Reds debut yesterday, scoring in the 14th minute against Borussia Dortmund in the 4-0 friendly victory.
Rodgers described the Croatian centre-back's performance as "perfect", and compared him to Carragher, who retired in 2013 after 737 appearances in all competitions for the Reds. Only Ian Callaghan (857) has made more for the club.
"Dejan was perfect," Rodgers said. "He is exactly what I’ve been looking for since Jamie Carragher left.
"He is a dominant, No 1 centre-half, who reads the game well, offers good guidance to the back four and the rest of the team – and shows his qualities of range of passing too. You saw with the pass to [Philippe] Coutinho in the build-up to the first goal.
"Just like he showed against us last year he's dominant in the box – both in ours and the opposition's – and I thought he was excellent."

 

[Mystic]

I think Lovren will get there, he just needs time to settle in, by the end of the season he'll be great imo.

 

[Hansern]

Playing with Skrtel cant be easy though.
Even though Kolo is a bit shite these days. Our defence looked much more organized for 95 mins yesterday.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Playing with Skrtel cant be easy though.
Even though Kolo is a bit shite these days. Our defence looked much more organized for 95 mins yesterday.

Also helped by Swansea not really pressing on much though. I think they really attacked only in the last 10 minutes or so of the first half and also the first 5 minutes or so of the second half, and also at the point they scored.

Having said that, I agree that we did do a better defensive job overall, though I think the key contributors were the full backs and the CMs. Manquillo frustrated Montero, and while Johnson did nothing in front, his deep wirhdrawn position at LB did help to keep Nathan Dyer in check. With the threat from the wide areas throttled, it was down to Shelvey to drive things in the middle for them and we generally had an easy job keeping him quiet (other than giving him acres of space leading up to their goal).

 

[Whirly]

Let's not forget that he was mostly responsible for the Swans goal because of his ball watching.

He may read the game well, but at this stage I'm yet to be convinced that he can actually defend whilst reading the game.

He also tends to waste possession far too often with Hollywood balls, and bad turnovers leading to dangerous counters. And he's been a reactive defender in the box, leading to a handful of legitimate penalty opportunities for the opposition.

At this stage I think he might be more of a shouter than a leader, but this could all change if he can sort out his individual errors and our overall defensive frailties.

 

[Silver Sean]

I suppose someone's got to.

 

[mark1975]

Playing with Skrtel cant be easy though.
Even though Kolo is a bit shite these days. Our defence looked much more organized for 95 mins yesterday.

It's amazing that this guy has made mistakes all season, but Skrtel gets part of the blame. As for the Swans game, they played a tight game for 80 minutes and barely attacked, they were also lacking their main attacker.

 

[Roopy]

He is a croat, and all my croat friends are all in love with themselves.

 

[localny]

Talked to some friends from Lyon today. They say he was awful for them.

 

[Comical Aly]

Talked to some friends from Lyon today. They say he was awful for them.

If only our transfer committee had had that opportunity!

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

He was 20 when he went to Lyon, and left at about 23, so it could be argued that the few seasons at Lyon were spent in development. He looks like he's 28 or 29 but is still only 25. I think it's easy to be too harsh on centre backs when they're in their early 20's as it's a position which is under tremendous pressure and scrutiny.

Having said that, he's at an age now though when he should be displaying more polish than those silly mistakes that we've been used to from the likes of Skrtel, Agger, Toure, etc. Playing with a dodgy keeper and CB partner hasn't helped, but he hasn't been a shiny example himself. I think he has the potential to become very good for us but he really has to start meeting expectations rather than just showing potential.

Here's an interesting analysis from a Saints fan last season anyway:
- http://sfcplayerstats.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/dejan-lovren/

 

[keniget]

Does anyone have insight into Lovren's career beyond his one good season at Southampton?

Plenty of players have come and gone with one or two great seasons to their name never to be repeated. It doesn't really tell us all that much about him as a player.

Was he considered a big prospect before moving to Lyon? Were big things expected of him? What exactly happened at Lyon?

Is the player everyone was so impressed by at Southampton the player everyone was always expecting from him or he genuinely just a late developer?

The hope, of course, is that he finds his feet along with the rest of the team and starts looking like the defensive lynchpin we bought him to be but for now you have to call it as it is - he's not looking the part.