Liverpool FC Forum

Reg wrote:Study names Lovren as top defender
Monday 18th May 2015 20:43

..Football fans were left scratching their heads on Monday evening when a study named Liverpool's Dejan Lovren as the best centre-back in the Premier League.


Liverpool fans had high hopes for Lovren when he signed from Southampton for £20million last summer, but his first season at Anfield has widely been regarded as a failure.

Lovren committed a number of errors, was part of a Liverpool team that has conceded just nine fewer goals than relegation-threatened Hull and went through a spell of starting one league game in three months due to his poor form.

But the CIES Football Observatory see things differently. Its annual study into the top five leagues in Europe concluded that the former Lyon defender is better than John Terry, Vincent Kompany and Gary Cahill.

Based on its six criterion of shooting; chance creation; take on; distribution; recovery and rigour, Lovren is the 12th best defender in Europe and top of the pile in England.

Paris St Germain defender Thiago Silva is rated as the best centre-back in Europe, with Jerome Boateng of Bayern Munich and Barcelona's Javier Mascherano just behind him.

Despite being involved in a relegation scrap, Sunderland's Patrick van Aanholt is rated as the 15th best full-back in Europe, while Gael Clichy is third and Manchester United's Antonio Valencia fourth.

Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas is regarded as the best "defensive midfielder" on the continent.

Only James Rodriguez is rated as a better attacking midfielder than Chelsea star Eden Hazard. Swansea's Gylfi Sigurdsson makes the cut for the top 15, sitting in 14th place - 10 places above Manchester City's David Silva.

Unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi is listed as Europe's best forward. The Barcelona star tops the strikers' table, followed by his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez. Sergio Aguero is fifth, Diego Costa seventh and Gareth Bale 14th.

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/98558 ... p-defender

   


   
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Doeboy » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:09 pm wrote:Sorry,  but this guy is a calamity. Don't know what was going through his head for todays ***** up and unfortunately that kind of thing is always going to be in his locker. Sakho should be ahead of him in the pecking order. Infact,  Ilori looked very good in the U21 Euros in the summer and wouldn't mind giving him a chance to come in and establish himself.

The_Rock » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:36 pm wrote:Yes lovern is a below average defender. But lets say if we had Reid and Tomkins playing for us...do you think they would have done a better job ?

NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

No matter who Rodgers picks as our CB pairing...they will struggle. Why ? because the HEAD COACH we have here does not play to their strengths.

Are skrtel and loven ball-playing defenders ? No. They should get rid of the ball as soon as they touch it. So what do they do ? Play from the back when it is so f**king obvious that they are uncomfortable doing it. When our CBs touch the ball more times then Benteke....well that tells the whole picture doesn't it ?

I am not defending lovern...... I am more of a Sakho fan. But the facts are all there for us to see. Skrtel and Agger were the best defensive pairing when the king was in charge of us. Then Rodgers comes in....and all our CBs look like a poor-man's titus bramble.

We can nit-pick all the individual mistakes ........... but the fact is....when ......fundamentally ......our tactics are utterly cr@p, there is nothing much we can do apart from hoping for individual brilliance (coutinho, sterling, sturridge, suarez, gerrard....etc)

Thommo's perm » Sun Aug 30, 2015 11:03 am wrote:I feel sorry for him because he is looking worse as time goes on...