Dejan Lovren

[Shaggy]

No beating around the bush there

[Lecter]

That said there is a genuine derth of good quality centrehalves

City have 2 or 3 decent ones, as do Chelsea

Outside of that I am struggling to name any other good quality players who I would pursue for this position

I like the look of that Stones lad at Everton but we wouldnt get him, outside of that there is nothing of note that I can see

[alonso14]

Whilst I can agree that we offer less midfield protection to the back four the issue I have with Lovren is positional

Its not just positional when teams are scything through our midfield, its positions he takes up wherever the ball is on the pitch. Invariably whatever position he takes is the wrong one and that is born out by the number of times hes failed to even be goalside of players either in general play or from set pieces

I didnt watch him last season so cant really base what I am seeing this season against anything else but his game looks fundamentally flawed. He isnt a good talker / organiser because to be that you have to be positionally savvy and he isnt

we have brought him in to organise the back four - be our leader and be positive and aggressive. its almost like he is thinking he has to be that talismanic leader in every moment of each game. he didnt do that for southampton last season so is he trying to live up the the hype around us bringing in a 'front footed' defender.

he is attacking balls which he shouldnt. as a centre back there are times when you cant win every challenge so you drop off and look to pick up the second ball or just contain the situation but in his own mind he has to do that every time.

has he been told to be aggressive in every challenge because he is making some really poor choices at the moment - things he wasnt doing last year for his previous club.

[Lecter]

we have brought him in to organise the back four - be our leader and be positive and aggressive. its almost like he is thinking he has to be that talismanic leader in every moment of each game. he didnt do that for southampton last season so is he trying to live up the the hype around us bringing in a 'front footed' defender.

he is attacking balls which he shouldnt. as a centre back there are times when you cant win every challenge so you drop off and look to pick up the second ball or just contain the situation but in his own mind he has to do that every time.

has he been told to be aggressive in every challenge because he is making some really poor choices at the moment - things he wasnt doing last year for his previous club.

Maybe someone else was doing the organising for him and guiding him into positions

As I said I didnt watch him closely enough to form an opinion of him, he certainly didnt stick out like a sore thumb as a top defender

As I said in my post its not just in general game play or when hes attacking the ball its constant positional errors that is a worry for me

[danperkins]

He's crap. Get him out of the team ffs.

even so early in the season he has been at fault for way too many goals this season for us. His positional sense for a premier league CB is genuinely shocking.

[RichC]

we have brought him in to organise the back four - be our leader and be positive and aggressive. its almost like he is thinking he has to be that talismanic leader in every moment of each game. he didnt do that for southampton last season so is he trying to live up the the hype around us bringing in a 'front footed' defender.

he is attacking balls which he shouldnt. as a centre back there are times when you cant win every challenge so you drop off and look to pick up the second ball or just contain the situation but in his own mind he has to do that every time.

has he been told to be aggressive in every challenge because he is making some really poor choices at the moment - things he wasnt doing last year for his previous club.

This sounds exactly the same as my thoughts on Skrtel, they both for me try and be this front footed defender which when it works is fine but if it doesn't we're left with invariably a free run at goal.

Neither of the two CBs we've been playing have been good enough and make the same basic errors game after game it's a real worry as it's something that we can't seem to fix which leads to what they're being coached to do.

[Rich]

He certainly seems to share the same "attributes" as Skrtel does. Yadda yadda, give him time etc but he looks like a calamitous signing. At £20m.

IMO Sakho is twice the player Lovren is.

[RichC]

Agreed. No idea who to partner with Sakho though as Skrtel is worth a goal a game to the opposition.

[Gazzla]

Lovren looks a real turkey on this evidence, where are these famed organisational and leadership qualities everyone banged on about in the summer? He's starting to make Toure look a safe option.

Sakho has to play, who the hell you partner him with though is anyones guess

[Rich]

Lovren looks a real turkey on this evidence, where are these famed organisational and leadership qualities everyone banged on about in the summer? He's starting to make Toure look a safe option.

Sakho has to play, who the hell you partner him with though is anyones guess

You've kind of answered it in your first sentence!

I'd seriously play Toure and Sakho and see how they get on. I don't believe they'll be any worse than Skrtel and Lovren and could well be a better pair.

[DannyMan2006]

I've not seen a single CB stand out as bossing it since Rodgers took over. Even Carra wasn't that great, all though his best days were behind him by then. What's worrying is that allegedly the committee signed Sakho, who has been useless, whilst Rodgers signed Lovren, who's also been useless.

The best LCB was Agger, who in fairness couldn't hack it anymore so I'm not vindicating that he should have been kept. But since Rodgers has come in we've lost our two best CB's in Carra & Agger and they haven't been replaced.

And I don't understand all these calls for Sakho tbh. He had his chance last year and he failed. At least give Lovren a run and see if he can eventually settle.

Btw, on Southampton players, many have said last seasons success was down to Schniderlin & Wanyama. That was before they sold anyone. I think they could be right.

[alonso14]

I've not seen a single CB stand out as bossing it since Rodgers took over. Even Carra wasn't that great, all though his best days were behind him by then. What's worrying is that allegedly the committee signed Sakho, who has been useless, whilst Rodgers signed Lovren, who's also been useless.

The best LCB was Agger, who in fairness couldn't hack it anymore so I'm not vindicating that he should have been kept. But since Rodgers has come in we've lost our two best CB's in Carra & Agger and they haven't been replaced.

And I don't understand all these calls for Sakho tbh. He had his chance last year and he failed. At least give Lovren a run and see if he can eventually settle.

Btw, on Southampton players, many have said last seasons success was down to Schniderlin & Wanyama. That was before they sold anyone. I think they could be right.

any defence will look pretty solid with those two in front.

[DannyMan2006]

You've kind of answered it in your first sentence!

I'd seriously play Toure and Sakho and see how they get on. I don't believe they'll be any worse than Skrtel and Lovren and could well be a better pair.

How people forget, back end of last year Toure had run out of steam and was abysmal. Sakho was equally useless & he faired no better when he came on as sub this season against West Ham. Rodgers is best sticking with Skrtel & Lovren and hoping they sort it out. Prior to QPR it had seemed they were getting a grip. But I don't think it's coincidence that when the rest of our team is having an off day, the defence comes under increased pressure and looks brittle.

[DannyMan2006]

I honestly think we could have Terry & Cahill or Kompany & Demichellis in the centre of our defence and we'd look no better.

[alonso14]

it could be a case of none of the centre backs gelling with each other. its not easy to find the right a partnership that blends so well where each player makes up for the others weaknesses.

All our centre backs look of a similar mould - decent in the air,not especially quick, not overly communicative, all around 6' 3, none are what you would say brilliant with the ball at their feet, all fairly aggressive.

when you look at some of our best partnerships of the modern era, henchoz & hyppia were different, carragher and hyypia were totally different, carragher and agger were very different.

none of our current centre backs look like they would complement each other and make a complete pairing. they're all too similar.