James Pearce spoke about Dejan Lovren after his performance in Liverpool’s 3-0 loss against Watford, during a Q&A on The Athletic.
What did he say?
The Croatia international has been severely criticised by fans following his performance in the defeat.
He showed a distinct inability to spot danger – a trait any centre-back needs – as he allowed the ball to bounce over his head in the box for Watford’s first. He also failed to cover Virgil van Dijk for the second, then didn’t do anything to stop Troy Deeney for the third.
When asked about the 30-year-old’s performance, Pearce replied: “I thought he looked rusty which was understandable given his lack of football. He made some basic errors but very unfair to just focus on him. Not a single Liverpool player on that pitch can be truly satisfied with his performance.”
One fan mentioned that the team have been poor since returning from their break, which led to Pearce adding: “Yeah that’s the bigger issue. Why the team hasn’t been firing collectively since the break? To focus on Lovren would be to miss the point.”
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Multiple problems
Lovren was bullied by Deeney at times, as shown by the fact the centre-back won just six of the 13 aerial duels he competed in during the 90 minutes, but there were other players who looked suspect.
Looking at WhoScored, the Croatian actually got the highest rating of any Liverpool player, alongside substitute Adam Lallana, with 6.5.
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It is Trent Alexander-Arnold who received the worst, with 4.8, while five of Jurgen Klopp’s starters received a rating that was under 6.
Even Mohamed Salah was ineffective, failing to get a shot on target or complete a key pass at any point of the match.
This highlights that there were issues all over the pitch, so while this doesn’t mean that Lovren’s shaky performance should be completely excused, solely focusing on him would be letting his teammates off very lightly for what was a poor display across the board.
Meanwhile, FFC has identified a player apart from Lovren who had a shocker.