Dejan Lovren

[Muddled]

Oooorrrrr, you don't think it's poor squad management?

Well that's what I wrote, so yeah. My posts are usually my opinion.

It's not poor squad management - there has been 4 games this season how on earth has sticking to a preferred back 4 poor squad management? You could argue perhaps it was a poor decision but poor squad management gives the impression the poster doesn't know his arse from his elbow.

Exactly right. The initial poor decision was made against Stoke. Whether Rodgers manages squad rotation will be discovered as the season goes on.

Barring injury I think Lovren will start v United

I think Rodgers will take the view that it was just one mistake and won't change his plans on the basis of one mistake.

I think you're both right. I certainly think Rodgers will consider it, but one mistake and you're dropped doesn't send out the best message to the team. I suppose Rodgers will look at how he trains and how Lovren reacts on his return to training.

[Exiled_red]

Ironically, whilst watching Swasea yesterday, Ashley Williams looks like absolute bedrock in comparison to our hapless 2.

Which kind of says it all.

I was thinking this yesterday watching the game. Also he had to have been cheaper than Lovren.

Yeah, but Williams would probably look every bit as ridiculous in our defence as well

I then also thought this.

[FatelessOne]

Sakho scares me on the ball. You know he is just one bad control from losing the ball. He is far too relaxed on the ball.

IMO we need 2 new CB's. None of them inspire any confidence that they are good enough.

[The_weatherman]

Exactly.

Agree with it or not once we'd kept those 3 clean sheets there was no way it was being changed.

Of course, but it was a really, really bad decision not to start with Sakho, IMO. It's not hindsight either, I'm fairly sure I said so somewhere.

[Norbs]

Follow Aberdeen instead, LFC connection and 5 wins out of 5

I've got my local side in the National League. They'll do for the time being until we get an ogliarch

[Exiled_red]

I think you're both right. I certainly think Rodgers will consider it, but one mistake and you're dropped doesn't send out the best message to the team. I suppose Rodgers will look at how he trains and how Lovren reacts on his return to training.

I don't like it in this case but in general it probably is a sensible policy.

[Daniel 7]

Not but he solves 50% of the Skrtel/Loren conundrum and there are statistics that say that Sakho is the one of the best if not the best CB in starting attacks and moving the ball forward, we should use that. And last season we saw improvement when dropping Lovren for Sakho so I don't think it'd be extraordinary if the same thing happened again. The fitness record is **** I grant you, but Lovren is just basic **** so I'd be willing to take the chance.

Duplicate post really. No point

[Buzzo]

The other thing is the game where the back 2 looked good they were up against Giroud. Even I could mark him.

Just ensure you take a little mirror, and an ample supply of hair mouse out with you and you've pretty much occupied him for the full 90.

[Daniel 7]

Sakho scares me on the ball. You know he is just one bad control from losing the ball. He is far too relaxed on the ball.

IMO we need 2 new CB's. None of them inspire any confidence that they are good enough.

His forward passing is excellent, his tackling is good, his positioning is a lot better than the other fella, and he does play with composure when he is given time to. But that's my Sakho issue - if teams target him and pressure him, he can go to pieces and fall over. He needs too much time.

I'd vote for new defenders altogether. The problem is, there is a proper shortage of decent centre backs, which is probably why we're stuck with who we have.

[Exiled_red]

His forward passing is excellent, his tackling is good, his positioning is a lot better than the other fella, and he does play with composure when he is given time to. But that's my Sakho issue - if teams target him and pressure him, he can go to pieces and fall over. He needs too much time.

I'd vote for new defenders altogether. The problem is, there is a proper shortage of decent centre backs, which is probably why we're stuck with who we have.

I think most CBs will make mistakes if pressured, it's one of the reasons I want to see up play a pressing game.

[Norbs]

We should put in a sneaky £3m bid for John Terry.

Half serious

[Lecter]

A few things spring to mind

Sakho isn't the absolute answer to the defensive issues we've seen since Rodgers took over - while Sakho is undoubtedly the better player, parachuting him in to replace Lovren won't solve the greater problem. The Skrtel problem will remain. The system will remain.

Maybe Skrtel can't play alongside Sakho. There must be a reason why Rodgers's default position is to play Lovren alongside his number one choice at central defence. Factor in as well the focus on partnering those two together in pre season, training and matches - to think you can just drop in Sakho and see an improvement might lead to disappointment

Sakho has a **** injury record and can't be relied on. We have never seen him consistently chosen, and thats as much down to his poor fitness record as Lovren arriving.

No matter how it's dressed up or what excuses Rodgers comes up with preferring Lovren to Sakho is daft imo

Sakho might not be fantastic but he's our best defender and we are better with him in the side than without him

To me you play Sakho whenever he's fit, at best Lovren should be cover and even that is a stretch

[Lecter]

His forward passing is excellent, his tackling is good, his positioning is a lot better than the other fella, and he does play with composure when he is given time to. But that's my Sakho issue - if teams target him and pressure him, he can go to pieces and fall over. He needs too much time.

I'd vote for new defenders altogether. The problem is, there is a proper shortage of decent centre backs, which is probably why we're stuck with who we have.

Good post. Not sure Sakho under pressure is any different to many other centrehalf es. Most of them treat the ball like a hot potato these days

[DannyMan2006]

No matter how it's dressed up or what excuses Rodgers comes up with preferring Lovren to Sakho is daft imo

Sakho might not be fantastic but he's our best defender and we are better with him in the side than without him

To me you play Sakho whenever he's fit, at best Lovren should be cover and even that is a stretch

The thing with Sakho is that when he tries something fancy, he pulls it off. He knows when to boot it out and when to play it out of danger.

Lovren just tries to be too clever by half.

[Exiled_red]

My biggest issue with the mistakes that our defenders tend to make is they tend to be when the CBs get dragged out wide - many of them could be easily avoided by simply putting the ball out of play, immediate danger is gone and you have time to get men back and get into position. It should be basic defending. you don't need to be clever, and no-one complains if you concede a throw there. Maybe you can take more of a risk if you are desperately chasing the game in the last couple of minutes, but that wasn't the case, we were ~2/3s of the way through the first half, and while we weren't in a great position at 1-0 down we could play our way back into the game, the 2nd goal is a game changer. It's not doing the basics right that is the problem