da 888： It’s strange to praise defenders in a game that ended 2-2. It’s even more odd to praise Dejan Lovren in a Liverpool shirt these days. But this was a unique game.
da gbg bet： The Croatian hasn’t been the Reds’ best player this season, to say the very least. But few Liverpool fans can pin too much of the blame on a guy who has had to endure some really horrible personal issues over the past few years, not to mention taking painkilling injections to play for the club.
Liverpool fans will have been pleased to see Virgil van Dijk arrive for obvious reasons. And an extra one was to take some of the pressure off Lovren.
And yet, against Spurs, there didn’t seem to be any lingering bad memories.
It was at Wembley in October when the Reds were humbled by Tottenham, and Lovren had a terrible game, compounded by some harsh criticism from his own manager who figuratively threw him under the bus after the game.
But given the vociferousness of the criticism he received after the last game, there should be some mention of the fact he had a fairly good match this time around.
No Liverpool player had many touches of the ball. It was a frantic game with lots of pressing and little time, but it was also a match in which the away team dominated the possession. Liverpool, after their early opening goal, saw no reason to become the game’s protagonists, whilst living on the break suited their front three who combine pace and precision nicely.
Lovren’s 40 touches was about par for Liverpool’s players, though much more than his centre-back partner Van Dijk who was clearly given less time on the ball than the Croatian as a ploy from Spurs, but he stayed firm, completing a creditable 74% of his passes.
That may not sound like much, but when you take into account that Lovren made a staggering 15 clearances, it shows that his evening wasn’t about keeping possession ticking over. It was about taking responsibility and doing the simple things properly, something he has often failed to do in a Liverpool shirt.
Despite the ridiculously high number of clearances, that wasn’t actually the most interesting stat from Lovren’s day. The defender made no tackles and only one interception, whilst his centre-back partner Van Dijk also made no tackles.
That shows what they had to deal with. Spurs attempted to work the ball wide, hoping to get Christian Eriksen or their full-backs into crossing positions to create chances for Harry Kane. But it was to little avail: Kane was kept very quiet all game, right up until he was given two chances from the penalty spot in the final minutes. Other than that he was marshalled very well indeed by a much-maligned Liverpool defence.
All in all, no defender will get the plaudits from this game. It was simply too much of a frantic finale for that to happen. But when you analyse what happened around the big events at the end, you’ll see that the Reds’ defence certainly wasn’t as disjointed as it has been from time to time this season. And with fourth spot still very much alive, and with the Champions League still to play for, that should come as welcome news.