Dejan Lovren Under Most Pressure for Liverpool Following Win over Stoke City
Liverpool celebrated a rare win on Saturday evening after their 1-0 victory over Stoke City and, after keeping their first clean sheet in over a month, absent centre-back Dejan Lovren will now be under pressure to reclaim his starting role.
A heroic late goal from the most unlikely source in Glen Johnson sealed all three points for the Reds, who forced a two-point wedge between themselves and 12th-placed Stoke.
Brendan Rodgers' team selection was another bold one, with captain Steven Gerrard's omission the biggest talking point.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, Lucas Leiva replaced the 34-year-old in shielding the back four after an impressive showing in the 2-2 Champions League draw against PFC Ludogorets Razgrad.
Lucas was aided by Joe Allen, with Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson supporting lone striker Rickie Lambert.
Perhaps most surprising, however, was Ivory Coast centre-back Kolo Toure also keeping his place in the side over Lovren.
After the game, Rodgers told reporters that Liverpool "need players in the team with quality and experience," per Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo.
The performance of Toure, in replacing Lovren, displayed both of these attributes, and Rodgers continued by stating that "Toure's experience coming in has been good for us."
This clean sheet underlines Toure's positive impact on the Liverpool defence since his reintroduction; Lovren faces a fight to reaffirm his first-team credentials in light of this.
The £87 Million Bench
In finding this "quality and experience," Rodgers opted to drop several of his expensive summer signings.
Saturday's substitutes Brad Jones, Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Lazar Markovic amount to a staggering £87 million in transfer fees.
This is without captain Gerrard, who remains arguably one of the club's most valuable players, although his age would clearly depreciate his market value.
Encouragingly, however, the Reds played some of their best football of the season without these players; although it can be argued that Moreno, Lallana and Can have merited a starting role on their recent form.
Since his £20 million summer arrival, Lovren has consistently been one of Rodgers' worst performers, and it is the Croatian's inability to provide the requisite leadership demanded by his role that is most alarmingly contributing to the side's poor defensive efforts.
Naive decision-making, an incompatibility with his teammates and a lack of physicality have also hampered Lovren's start on Merseyside.
The manager's claim that "the guys who have come in will get an opportunity over time," suggests that the likes of Lovren will have to wait for another chance in the starting line-up.
That this comes at the benefit of free signing Toure underlines the fallacy in Liverpool's summer spending.
Kolo Toure
Shortly after his free transfer to Anfield in 2013, Rodgers lauded the centre-back's mental qualities, with Andy Hampson of the Daily Mail quoting the manager.
Rodgers outlined that "one thing he has got is a winning mentality. He has got great belief in what we are doing here."
This was incredibly important, given the retirement of Merseyside defensive icon Jamie Carragher that summer, and the manager continued, stating "[Toure] offers great leadership on the field."
However, now at 33 years old, it has been a worry whether Toure could match this leadership with the physicality that made him such a crucial component to Arsenal's unbeaten Premier League season in 2003/04.
Against Stoke, and in encounters such as away to Real Madrid and home to Ludogorets in the Champions League, Toure has proved this to be an unfounded fear.
On Saturday, the defender made one successful tackle, one successful interception and a phenomenal 12 clearances—the most of any player on the pitch.
While his capabilities may be slightly raw, it is this no-nonsense attitude that Rodgers must lean on after such a poor run; for so long the manager has been criticised for emphasising a patient building from the back in terms of passing.
Toure's presence provides a welcome calm to a Liverpool defence that has been so erratic and disjointed so far in 2014/15, and this is evidenced by an upturn in results.
A Rare Clean Sheet
After such a long and disappointing run was compounded by an embarrassing error from goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, which saw the Reds concede just two minutes in to Liverpool's Champions League draw with Ludogorets, Rodgers called for defensive stability.
Perhaps hoping to spur Mignolet on after the game, Rodgers underlined that "the goal was a massive setback for the team, but we need to keep his confidence as high as we can," per the Daily Mail's Dominic King.
The manager continued, adding that "we have to look to the weekend and keep a clean sheet."
Happily, Liverpool replicated the score from last season's corresponding fixture, where a valiant Mignolet saved a late Jonathan Walters penalty to gift the Reds an opening-day victory; a 1-0 this season is perhaps even more important.
This victory over Stoke could prove an invaluable turning point for the Reds, with the clean sheet vital—it was just their third in the last 20 games.
The Echo's Doyle continued to quote Rodgers post-game, with the manager concluding that "we are in a moment where we need to get results and improve our style of football and get confidence into the team."
Rodgers continued, stating that "in the last couple of games we have shown we are slowly getting there."
The term "winning ugly" is regularly mentioned when a side is struggling well below their expectation levels, such as Liverpool this season, and these results are what Rodgers must build on.
His admission that performances have built over "the last couple of games" nods to the inclusion of Toure against both Ludogorets and Stoke.
With Kolo Toure so influential in Liverpool's growing stability against Stoke City on Saturday, Dejan Lovren is under immense pressure to find a way to force himself back in Brendan Rodgers' first-team thoughts.
Statistics via WhoScored.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
