Liverpool journalist Paul Machin has been assessing Reds defender Dejan Lovren ahead of the Merseyside club’s upcoming Premier League clash against Crystal Palace.
This comes after the topic of team selection for the midweek clash with Roy Hodgson’s side came up in a recent episode of The Redmen TV’s Liverpool podcast.
With fellow Reds defender Joel Matip sustaining an injury during Liverpool’s recent 0-0 draw against Everton, Machin shared his thoughts on the possibility of Lovren stepping into the side for the Palace game to replace Matip.
He said: “Look, Dejan Lovren doesn’t have stinkers every time he takes the field for Liverpool, but when he loses his head and he gets embroiled in stuff, I think that’s when you lose Dejan Lovren and it’s to the detriment of the team.
“But look, Dejan Lovren can come into this game and have a perfectly fine performance. As much as we can have our opinions, I think we’re all agreed that eventually Dejan Lovren will leave and I will hold no ill-feeling towards him. But I would rather us have a better player than Dejan Lovren in our squad.
“But there’s nothing to say Lovren comes in and doesn’t have an absolutely fine, or in fact, a really good game because he’s had plenty of them. He’s had more good games for Liverpool than he’s had bad games.”
Lovren has only made 10 Premier League appearances for the Reds so far this season. However, his performances have resulted in the Croatian being awarded an impressive season rating of 7.09/10 (per WhoScored).
Would you start Dejan Lovren against Crystal Palace?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
It’s a shame that Matip suffered his injury against Everton, but it seems a valid option that Lovren would step in to replace him for the Palace match.
With Lovren’s decent level of performances when called upon in the Premier League this season, Klopp will be hoping that the Croatian can continue this level of quality if he does pick him to start against Palace in midweek.