Injury is part of football but it is definitely painful when injury brings you from being a regular starter to sitting on substitute bench on regular basis.
This is the scenario Croatian defender Dejan Lovren presently finds himself at Anfield. The player was a regular name in the Reds starting XI before picking up an injury before the start of this season and that ultimately ruled him out of action for some weeks.
In his absence, young defender Joe Gomez and experienced defender Virgil Van Dijk developed a strong partnership which makes opponents struggle before scoring goals.
Both defenders kept three clean sheets, helping the Reds to six consecutive victories before their 1-1 draw Chelsea in September.
Unfortunately, the 29-year-old returned to full recovery to realize that his place has already been taken by the young England international whose versatility and fast decision-making are too good to be ignored by Jurgen Klopp.
However, Dejan Lovren still remains an important figure in the Reds team but it remains unknown if Klopp would be brave enough to integrate the Croat into his first team once again.
Since the start of the season, Lovren has featured in just four matches as he continues to serve as back up to Joe Gomez.
Apart from battling Gomez for a place in the team, Lovren must also contend with Joel Matip.
Though the Cameroonian has been frozen out of the team this season, he’s highly rated by Klopp and Liverpool Faithfuls.
He currently has higher chances of breaking into the team than his fellow Croatian due to his tactical awareness coupled with his no-nonsense and consistent display for the team.
With the busy festive period fast approaching, Klopp will need all his players to be in good condition as he will be left with no option but to rotate his starting lineup.
The Reds will play 11 games in less than six weeks, hence, some fringe players would be involved in more games than they’ve done so far and it would be great to see if the Croatian defender would regain his place in the team.
He is back to full fitness and he’s in great shape as he helped his country defeat Spain in Thursday’s friendly match.
He made a match-winning tackle to prevent Marcos Asensio from finding the back of the net.
He must ensure consistent performance for the Reds so as to negotiate his way back into the Starting lineup in no time
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