Liverpool’s Lovren proves how far confidence can take a defender

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Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren continues to surprise people this season.

Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren may not be the greatest player in world football, but the club’s current run of form appears to be doing wonders for his confidence both on and off the pitch.

The 28-year-old Croatian has been with the club for almost four years now, having moved to Anfield as part of the Southampton exodus back in the summer of 2014. Throughout most of his time up north he has struggled to make much of an impact, but Loren is suddenly brimming with confidence after the Reds’ current run of form.

“From the beginning, it is difficult when you [as an opponent] need to play here at Anfield at this stadium,” Lovren told Liverpool’s official website.

“We are ready for everything; whoever comes, we are ready to fight.

“I think if we are ready and prepared to fight until the end, I am a big believer that we can see ourselves into the final.”

Lovren has a reason to be feeling so confident, especially after Jurgen Klopp’s men were able to ease into the Champions League quarter-finals last night in their second leg tie against Porto. The result increased their current record to just two losses in 27 games in all competitions, and despite some of his past mistakes, Lovren has been at the forefront of that.

When you are in a setup that allows free-flowing attacking football, it is bound to generate results, and because of that, the feel-good mentality created is able to spread throughout the team. For a few years prior to this season, Liverpool resembled a team in a state of confusion, and courtesy of a few careless mistakes, Lovren was made a scapegoat for that era alongside several of his teammates.

Now, you can start to hear the confidence in his voice, and you can see it in the way he plays. Of course, he still is not a consistent member of the first team squad, but even as someone who comes in as and when he is needed, Lovren is benefiting from the need to prove himself as a key player in this current setup.

He made a key block last night at a point in the game where it was clear that Liverpool were on their way through to the next round, and yet he continued to play as if the scoreline was 0-0 on aggregate. Moving forward, a Lovren and Virgil van Dijk partnership could be exactly what this side needs.