In the aftermath of Tottenham's 4-1 annihilation of Liverpool earlier in the season, Dejan Lovren was not a happy man. The defender had to be withdrawn after 31 minutes after two mistakes meant that Spurs had breached the Liverpool defence twice.
The defender has had many ups and downs during his stint at the club, the Croatian can have periods where he looks like the aggressive leader that Liverpool need, but the 28-year-old's spell at Anfield has been riddled with many individual mistakes.
Speaking to The Sunday Times about his form this season, Lovren revealed that his self-confidence suffers greatly from these mistakes but that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has helped him overcome these problems:
You know maybe, it’s sometimes just . . . my self-confidence disappears in some moments. And he believes in me, you know? And I believe in him. Sometimes, I’m a person who thinks ‘Ah, I’m really good.’ But other times I think, ‘Ah, I did that. I’m not good enough.’ He says always be level, but it’s difficult. You have sometimes self-confidence, sometimes not; sometimes good moods, sometimes not.”
The most telling part of the interview was Lovren revealing the exchanges between himself and his manager after the Tottenham defeat. Lovren admitted he was fuming after being substituted early but after a few days Klopp called the defender into his office and reaffirmed his faith in the Croat:
It took a couple of days then he invited me into his room. I wanted answers but he said positive things. He said, ‘If you just think about yourself like I think about you, you will be one of the best players in the world.’
One of the qualities of Klopp as a manager has been his persistence with certain players. Dejan Lovren, Simon Mignolet, Alberto Moreno stick out as examples of the German's insistence on getting the best out of the talent he has available to him. Granted Mignolet has been dropped in recent games and Moreno has been ousted by the industrious Andrew Robertson, but Klopp seems to give every player at the club the best chance of success, and while his continued faith in Lovren may go against popular consensus, it may be his only way of getting the best from the beleaguered defender.
