Not yet.
I may do it later
I may do it later
-
Member #1 of the Luis Suarez fan club -
Absolutely fantastic performance from him yesterday. The back four just looked so much more composed, especially Skrtel.Comment
-
yeah thought he looked very good - pleased with this signing, the money makes you think what £20m! what! etc etc....but that's the market and when you look around there isn't an abundance of top centre halves available and when you consider that arsenal/united/barca all need a top centre half or two, i think we did very well in identifying this guy as our number one choice and getting him and paying what it took......had we only been willing to go to say £15m, and then United came in for £20m i think we'd have been ****ing pig sick over iti own everton fans on the internet....that's what i doComment
-
He was a beast in the World Cup and he played very well last season at Southampton. I reckon we've bought our new Hyypia.Was muß, das muß.Comment
-
Don't want to get carried away on the back of one home friendly against an understrength Borussia Dortmund, but yeah. He looks good doesn't he? Not just that, but he fought tooth and nail to get his move to Liverpool as well.
It'll be interesting to see who ends up partnering who. Last season, it was Skrtel who was first on the teamsheet with Agger and Sakho swapping in and out - will it be Lovren this season and the others partnering him?Comment
-
i reckon it will be skrtel as first choice, and maybe sakho in cup games to try it out.Originally posted by Daniel 7 View Postremoving all the weak links makes us stronger
too many gutless players, no beef or desire. pussies everywhere... sack them all.Comment
-
Agreed. Skrtel will start. Any **** ups and Sakho is in. Think we may play 3 cb more this season, probably when Stevie is rested.Comment
-
Dejan Lovren's journey to Anfield has been anything but straightforward.
Each day outside Melwood the most expensive defender in Liverpool FC's history stops to sign autographs for young fans because the £20million signing from Southampton remembers where he has come from.
Lovren used to stand patiently outside Bayern Munich's training ground in the late 90s hoping to catch a glimpse of his heroes.
The German city was home for a significant part of his turbulent childhood after his father Sasa and mother Silva sought refuge from the Bosnian War.
“Bayern Munich were my team,” Lovren said.
“I would go to the training ground to see them. I had my photo taken with Giovane Elber, Mario Basler, Bixente Lizarazu… I had all these pictures in my room.
“The guys here (at Melwood) waiting...that was me.
“Every time I sign because I know what it means for the mother and father to see their child smiling. Nobody should mind giving up 10 minutes.”
Born to Croatian parents in the Yugoslavian city of Zenica (now part of Bosnia & Herzegovina) in 1989, Lovren was just three years old when the family fled the violence in the region and embarked on the 600-mile journey to Munich.
It was a wise move as the Bosnian War raged from 1992 to 1995 and claimed an estimated 200,000 lives.
“I don’t know what would have happened if we had stayed but I think somebody would have been killed because it was horrible at that time,” Lovren said.
“In 1992 we were preparing to go to Germany. My parents took the decision and said ‘we don’t have a choice any more'.
“My father and mother’s parents were already there so we were the last to go. They literally took their bags, one little car and went to Germany.
“There was an attack on the market in Zenica a year after we left and a lot of people were killed. It showed to me it is a difficult life.
“It was really difficult for my parents to leave the country at 27, 28 years old, and say 'come on, we need to go to Germany'.
“You don’t even speak German, you know nothing about the country so you are going like a blind man. And with a three-year-old child like me to take too.
“But you know, I think this is what gave something to me - made something stronger inside me.
“It showed me that life is never easy. You will earn everything with work.”
After seven years in Germany, Lovren and his family were settled but they were never granted permanent residency.
In 1999 they were ordered to leave and headed for Croatia where they settled in the city of Karlovac. Lovren didn't speak the language and found life tough.
My grandfather left Bosnia two or three years before the war so he had the papers for him and my grandmother but not for my father and mother,” he said.
“A lot of people had gone to Germany because of the war and they couldn’t help everyone. They could have sent us back even earlier to Croatia or Bosnia because you had a one-year contract which the government might or might not extend each year.
“My parents didn’t know when we would go. Every year they were prepared with the bags. They were waiting for the situation to calm down. After seven years they said ‘now is the time'.
“It was really difficult for me too because I had good friends. Imagine, I was three years in nursery in Germany, four years in the school.
“When you arrive 10 years old in Croatia, I didn’t speak a lot of Croatian at home with my parents, so it was really difficult to write in Croatian.
“I didn’t know how to do that. It took me two years again to know everything in Croatian. It was a difficult time, when the other kids are laughing at you over things like that.
“It is true that difficult experiences make you stronger. My parents gave me everything they could but it was not amazing.
“I know where I came from, it will always be in me. Maybe it was better to happen like this than maybe to have a privileged childhood when you don’t know the real life.”
Football was always Lovren's passion but he was a teenager before he started to believe his ability could lead to a career in the game.
Having started out in the youth ranks of NK Karlovac, he was snapped up by top-flight outfit Dinamo Zagreb in 2004. His father would drive him on the 100-mile round trip each day to training and back.
“In Munich I was playing in this little club and I've been told they have a picture of me on the wall,” he said.
“They heard about me becoming a ‘star’ and it’s nice to still be remembered there.
“I never expected that I would be somebody one day. I just started playing and when I was 12, 13 I thought 'wow, I’m playing good!'
“Then Dinamo Zagreb were speaking about wanting to sign me and I thought 'maybe I can achieve something'."
After a loan spell at Inter Zapresic, Lovren established himself at Dinamo where he played alongside former Liverpool midfielder Igor Biscan.
His form led to Lyon buying him for 10million euros in January 2010 but he endured a tough start to life in France.
Lovren became an easy scapegoat for the team's weaknesses.
“The media there criticised me in many ways,” he said.
“Even from the beginning when I arrived they were asking 'why is this guy €10million?'.
“It was always 'why this? why this? why this?' When I was playing well, nobody was saying I was playing well.
“When I was playing bad, I would be the first one on the front of the paper. It wasn’t easy for me. They didn’t respect me.”
Since moving to Southampton for £8.5million last summer his career has flourished.
The 25-year-old Croatia international enjoyed an outstanding campaign on the South Coast – the highlight of which was scoring the winner at Anfield.
“It was a great moment for me,” he said.
“After a difficult situation with Lyon, I showed that I deserved to play in the Premier League and that I wasn’t the kind of player they were speaking about.”
Lovren was inundated with offers but once Liverpool signalled their intention to secure his services his mind was made up.
The transfer saga dragged on with Saints reluctant to do business but finally late last month the player got his wish and the deal was done.
Lovren followed clubmates Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana to Anfield as part of the summer exodus from St Mary's.
The fact that a new-look Southampton under Ronald Koeman come to Anfield for Sunday's Premier League opener adds an extra edge to Lovren's competitive Reds debut.Comment
-
Nice, self aware, intelligent.
Cheers Cormack, good read that.“Every time I sign because I know what it means for the mother and father to see their child smiling. Nobody should mind giving up 10 minutes.”
Comment
-
-
Igor.
If we are all only happy when we are really winning in the end, when your race finishes, what life would that be?Comment
-
Lovren vs Southampton
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_RwI38fQU"]DL6 - YouTube[/ame]Member #1 of the Luis Suarez fan clubComment
-
-
Thought he had a great game, brought some much needed stability'The tide is very much in our court now.'
KeeganComment
-
No problem Frenchie.Originally posted by Frenchie View Post
Thought he was very calm, composed, tackled and read the game very well.
Very solid in the air and certainly can pass comfortably with either foot.
Early days but he looked very good.Member #1 of the Luis Suarez fan clubComment
Comment