Confidence, its a funny thing - and many on here (and our manager) are stating that this is the catalyst behind his recent, or season long, poor performances. I do sympathise - it sucks being low on confidence in a job where you are struggling. Often, at these times its sink or swim - you will start performing well and build confidence or you will collapse. The question I have is - how much of his performance against West Ham was down to 'confidence'..?
I will pick two 'moments' up - firstly the Messi like cross overs before losing the ball. This dosent seem like the action of a player who is low on confidence, if anything the total opposite. Why he decided to do this, I have no idea - perhaps it was so Rodgers could get a good view on the absolute tekkers he has? But in all fairness, this is not the action of a player who is struggling with their own ability. When a striker is suffering the same issues they wouldn't dare do this - we have all seen players hiding from the ball in games, this is not the action of someone who is worried...
Second I would look to the goal that we conceded after his total blunder... In the post match analysis they showed 4 times he could have got rid of the ball before he eventually lost it. A player low on confidence would not have lost the ball here - they would have simply put it out and retreated back towards their own goal. Not try to take on a player who has tracked you back to the corner...
The message we often hear is 'go back to the basics' and this is what a player low on confidence would have been told. When in doubt kick it out - as the mantra goes... But we don't see this - Lovren seldom puts his boot through the ball, he always waits for the 'bounce' and a chance to control the ball when the safer option is to header out on the volley.
Personally, I don't think its a confidence problem - its a coaching issue. He was decent at Saints, but if you go back and watch a lot of his performances he simply went through the ball. I believe the we are asking Lovren to play a style that he is not accustomed to - and to be honest not many CB's are. Ok, when the pressure is off then come forward with the ball and play out from the back. But when defending I we need to follow the absolute basics - get the ball out of the danger area as quickly as possible. When under pressure clear the ball - allow the midfield to press and win it back. Not fanny about with the ball in the final 3rd and risk allowing our CB to be caught out of position against players who will dispossess them and turn towards goal.
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