Jamie Carragher believes that Liverpool must stick with Dejan Lovren, despite his error-prone start to life at Anfield.
The Croatian centre-back was signed from Southampton in a £20m deal over the summer as Brendan Rodgers sought to improve his side’s shaky defensive line.
However the 25-year-old has made a less than impressive start on Merseyside, with statistics recently revealed having named him as the most error-prone enforcer in the Premier League.
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As a result Brendan Rodgers has been urged to drop Lovren, with Kolo Toure’s impressive showing in the Champions League loss at Real Madrid having swayed many fans’ opinions.
But Carragher – who won the Champions League in 2005 – believes that his old club have to “persist” with their big money addition:
“I thought he was excellent for Southampton last season and that is the reason Liverpool bought him but every manager has a different way of doing things,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“Liverpool’s full-backs are more offensive and so are going to leave you more exposed, that could be something to look at because Brendan Rodgers likes his full-backs to get forward.
“Alberto Moreno likes to get forward, Lovren is on that side and at times he does find himself in the left-back position with and without the ball.
“Maybe that is something he has either got to get used to or if he is struggling with that then Liverpool have to curtail it and change the small details of how they set-up slightly because you want to get the best out of him.
“He is proven in the Premier League last season and showed he is a very good centre-back, he showed that a lot, but it is difficult for him at the moment – it is difficult for them all – but they will come through it.”
“Eventually they will start keeping clean sheets, they have to, whether that means them changing a few small details about the set-up of the team, I don’t know.
“But when you pay that much money for a centre-back you have to persist with it and get him through it.
“Get Lovren to learn your values but it is also about getting to know him and playing to his strengths and weaknesses.”
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