“Dejan, to be honest, was not worse than Joel” – Klopp Reveals Why Lovren Was Taken Off Against Tottenham

Liverpool suffered a rather embarrassing defeat at the hands of Tottenham on Sunday, which was a direct result of a number of poor mistakes in the defence. It all started with Dejan Lovren switching off in the fourth minute to allow Harry Kane to break the deadlock.

Lovren was responsible for the second goal we conceded as well and that was enough for Jurgen Klopp as he took the Croatian off for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after just half an hour.

That didn’t stop the goals going in as mistakes from Joel Matip and Simon Mignolet saw Spurs score a couple more but Klopp came out to suggest that subbing Lovren was more of a tactical move and not a reflection of the performance from the former Southampton man.

The German was speaking after the game and was quoted by the Liverpool site as saying:

“Yes (it was a tactical decision) but I really don’t want to blame players.

“Dejan, to be honest, was not worse than Joel [Matip]. We had to change something, we tried to make sure that we are a little bit more stabilised; it was less about the centre-half position with Joe there, it was more that we needed more protection in the half-space. In this case, with Emre which actually didn’t work too well, but that was the idea behind it,”

The boss also analysed each goal we conceded and that we could have defended much better on each occasion.

“The first goal, it’s unbelievably easy to defend; when Harry has the ball not anymore, but before, easiest. It’s a close, small space, we only have to clear the ball – we don’t do it.

“The second goal, all the analysis, all we knew before the game, it was clear Tottenham would play in situations like this.

“We make a cross, not a bad cross, but we overlap in a situation when the ball is already away. We miss the moment. It was not possible for counter-pressing I think. We miss the moment.”

Klopp had another go at Lovren for the second goal.

“Usually, we all know Dejan would make a header in this situation. He missed the ball. And on the other side, Son, because he’s in a better position and he’s very quick, is not to stop anymore so an easy goal.

“Third goal, another present, we have the ball and lose it, make then a free-kick off it, make a foul. But then it’s a free-kick nowhere, it was nothing. We make the header in the middle of the park and have nobody for the second ball.

“Everything that happened today was so obvious. It was bad in these moments. The fourth one just happened like it was today.”

It has been a poor couple of months and all the positive vibes at the start of the season have gone down the drain. We play Huddersfield next and it will be a surprise to see if Lovren does make the side again or if we learn how to defend better.