With respect to Saints other central defenders, without Dejan Lovren Southampton are just not the same defensively.

The key signing of last summer was Dejan Lovren, Saints signings in the close season have recently followed a pattern of the earlier they are signed during the transfer window, the better they are and in the case of Lovren that is very much the case.

He has been the rock that binds the rest of the defence together and formed a good partnership with Jose Fonte, Its fair to say that during the six weeks he has been out we have missed him, during that time we have played 5 league games, yes we have kept two clean sheets, but both were away at Fulham and Hull, two teams in trouble at the time and not known for their goalscoring, in the other three games we have conceded 7 goals and just about all of them had an element of error in them defensively, be it the way we were opened up for a player to run on and score in the case of Odemwingie for Stoke and Jarvis for West ham on Saturday, or just poor defending where we seem to lack leadership and cohesion at key moments in the game.

Jose Fonte has had a good season that cannot be denied, but he owes a big part of that to Lovren, without the Croatian Fonte doesnt look as good.

This reminds me very much of Claus Lundekvam a decade or so ago, at one time Lundekvam's ability to play in the Premier was questioned, under Glenn Hoddle the Norwegian looked to be on the way out in season 1999/2000, but the following season he formed a partnership with Dean Richards and was ever present in the League and never looked back.

This reminds me very much of Fonte, he needs a big man alongside him and this not only helps him with his game, but boosts his confidence, yes Fonte is a Premier class central defender, but it has been his partnership with Lovren that has turned him into that.

Now Saints come up against the most potent attack in the Premier League and hopefully Dejan Lovren will be fit to take his place in the side again, if he is then we have a good chance of stifling the dual attack of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, without him I very much doubt it.

I would have preferred Lovren to have some game time under his belt before this one, but he hasn't so we just have to get on with it, the fact still remains though, Lovren is our best central defender and we are better with him that without him.

Its going to be tough, Liverpool have only been stopped from scoring three times in the league this season, two of those were away at Manchester United and Arsenal, the third was of course our great win at Liverpool five months ago, that was of course when Suarez was out injured, but that is only an aside, that day Lovren was the hero, heading the only goal of the game on 53 minutes and we need his aerial prowess on Saturday, if liverpool have a weak link it is their own defence who are susceptible to set pieces such as Lovren's goal and the way Swansea clawed them back on Sunday.

It could be set for a high scoring game and to win we will have to be able to outscore them, yes I know that could sound a little absurd, but i don't mean to outscore them with a 1-0 win as we did at Anfield, we may need three or four, if we have Lovren back then that will be a big boost in defence, keep it tighter at the back than we have in recent weeks and we can cause them problems of our own and part of those problems will be Lovren's ability to cause them problems with set pieces.

Photo: Action Images

Paul_Soton added 10:43 - Feb 25 Enjoyable read as always, my instinct is to agree fully. It's very odd that the 'feelings' don't match the results. In 20 games Lovren's played it's been 1.2 goals conceded/game with 1.4 pts/game. In the 7 without it's been 1.3 goals conceded/game and 1.6 pts/game. Statistically (t-test unpaired) there's NO significant difference if he plays or not.
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bstokesaint added 12:40 - Feb 25 In my opinion Lovren is the best central defender (arguably defender full stop) in the Premier League. I know Gary Neville sung his praises too. I can't remember ever been so impressed with a defensive signing. Proper no nonsense stuff with the timing and composure to boot. I suspect if he was at one of the top clubs he would have a price tag in excess of £30m right now. The sky would be the limit if we could get another central defender of the same ilk. If you throw in England’s next two regular full backs and a top class keeper as well, I think you’d struggle to find a better defence in the Premiership.

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bstokesaint added 12:42 - Feb 25 That last comment about a central defensive signing was meant as no disrespect to Fonte who I agree Nick has raised his game since Lovren's arrival. However the defensive cover sadly isn't up to the same level.
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halftimeorange added 13:19 - Feb 25 Maybe it's me but, whilst we concede many soft goals, do the stats suggest that most of our opposition's successful attacks come from their right wing - even if the goals are mostly scored from the centre? I rarely seem to see a team skewer us from their left, particularly if the defence-minded Chambers is at RB but both Luke Shaw and, when he played, Danny Fox, appear to have been regularly stranded out of position. In Fox's case it seemed to be bad judgement but Shaw marauds up the wing, we lose the ball and he can't get back to stop crosses. If Davis doesn't fill in nobody else does. That is I perceive, our main weakness (in addition to either fist-choice CB being absent).

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slynch added 13:19 - Feb 25 I think what you say is correct. But I would like to add that his understanding with Shaw is as important. Shaw goes forward as he is required to do and Luvren can cover LB with ease. Yoshida gets easily overrun and out of position, a lot of goals have come from that area. Paul_Soton: a good statistical analysis but I think you should consider taking into account that the average position of the opposition in Luvren's games was 10; since he has been injured the average opposition has been 15, much inferior.

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