When Dejan Lovrengesticulates frenziedly at hisLiverpool team-mates, he is desperately attempting to revert back into the commanding, dominant and elite centre-back atSouthampton.Dismally retrogressing into anerratic, undependable andpanic-stricken defender,Lovren is recreating his Lyon ordeal atLiverpool.Arriving atLyon fromDinamo Zagreb as a prodigious defensive prospect in the 2010 January transfer window for9.4/7.4 million, Lovren was designated to be aCroatian version of Edmilson, who once scored an overhead kick as a centre-back for Brazil against Costa Rica at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.Lovren began hisLyon career as a utility player,starting at right-back in a2-1 winoverParis Saint-Germain and at left-back in a0-0 drawagainstToulouse."My preferred position is in central defence, but I have no qualms [with Lyon]about playing on the right or the left,"Lovren said, perLigue 1's official website. "If I had to, I'd even play as a goalkeeper."Lovren's initiation atLyon wastaxing asmanagerClaude Puel had doubts.At one point,Cris,Jean-Alain Boumsong,Mathieu Bodmer andJeremy Toulalana central midfielderwerePuel's preferred centre-backs overLovren.Playing amultifaceted role forLyon also wore thin asLovren started and finished eight Ligue 1 games on the bench during his first season."The first six months [at Lyon]were really, really difficult for me. I didn't speak the language [French] so I didn't understand anything [fromPuel],"Lovren said, perJim Lucas atSouthampton's official website."[The French] journalists were killing me, asking why the club played millions for a player who didn't have enough experience."A lack of experience did not hold backMiralem PjanicLovren's team-mate at the timescoring six times, registering 10 assists and appearing in 37 league games.There were11 playersborn in 1989 or later who played more than 2,000 minutes in the 2009-10 Ligue 1 season.If you were good enough, age was not relevantLovren was barelyLigue 1 standard."Imagine being 20 [years old] and reading [harsh criticisms about you from the French media],"Lovren said,per Jim Lucas at Southampton's official website. "You start to think that is the truth."But it was the truth becauseLovren was unreliable.Lovren did not speak French and was unable to communicate effectively with his teammates.He gave away possession 27.7 percent of the time he attempted a pass, thus was ineffective inLyon's build-up play.He was a nonexistententity from an attacking point of view as a full-back.Averaged 0.3 key passes per game (pass leading to scoring chance) and failed to score or create a goal in 683 minutes.Incompetentas opposed to inexperiencedwas theprevailing adjective to describeLovren.Liverpool centre-forwardMario Balotelli's catch phrase is "Why always me'"Lovren spent hisLyon career thinking "Why always me'" every time he incurred another daft red card.Clattering into then-Auxerre right attacking midfielderDennis Oliech while booked,Lovren received two yellow cards in 22 minutes.Leading 1-0,Auxerre were gifted a one-man advantage and scored three further goals to win 4-0againstLyon."It's a big slap of course. A match to forget,"Puel said, perAFP (h/t FIFA's official website). "The goal we conceded was stupid [and Lovren's]red card [was] stupid as well."Post-Puel in aRemi Garde era,Lovren's inclination for red cards continued.Despite being booked,Lovren hackedLille centre-forwardNolan Roux from behind, who was dribbling away from goal.Lyon spent the next 25 minutes (20 minutes plus five minutes of stoppage time) defending a 2-1 leadwith 10 men againstLille.Lovrenhalf-heartedly accepted culpability."I agree with the second yellow card, but not the first,"Lovren said, per Lyon's official website. "I'm not in the best form of my life and I'm very disappointed at being suspended."In his final season atLyon,Lovren's inability to retain standard positionaldisciplineheavily factored into him being sent offthree times in league play."I was thinking: 'Oh my God, what am I doing'',"Lovren said, perPaul Doyle atThe Observer (h/t The Guardian). "[Lyon]didn't have the time to wait for me"Southampton signingLovren fromLyon for10.9/8.5 million in the 2013 summer transfer window was as bizarre asAlaeddine Yahia saying hello and bye to the Saints.The idea ofLovren transforming fromtrain-wreck defender to a wall forSouthampton would be akin to Iago Aspas registering 10 assists from corners in La Liga on loan at Sevilla this season (currently has zero).Lovren achieved a feat in the Premier League he had not accomplished since the 2009-10 Ligue 1 season: did not get red carded in league play.Heexperienced a career-best season at Southampton but still brazenly maintained he was not a liability at Lyon, pointing the finger at Ligue 1 referees."I was the same player in France and I think now I'm showing the quality to everybody and proving, even to myself, that I was not so bad in France,"Lovren said, perPaul Doyle atThe Observer (h/tThe Guardian). "It is just that in England the referees are different [and more lenient]."As soon asLiverpool came calling,Lovren showed his true colours.He abandonedSouthampton, the club which rescued his career."When I decided to go to Southampton, many people were surprised ... [now]I realised I've got no business staying at Southampton,"Lovren said, perSportske Novotni (h/tJoe Rimmer at the Liverpool Echo). "Frankly, my head is already at Liverpool."Liverpool signingLovren for25.6/20 millionwas a routine inflated Premier League transfer."[Lovren]is still relatively young, so his peak years are ahead of him and I believe he will improve and progress even further with us," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said, perJames Carroll at Liverpool's official website. "He is a commanding and powerful presence and clearly has leadership skills, which is important."Contrary to Rodgers' masterful public relations spin,Lovren's psyche is not that of a natural leader.Lovrenis not an efficient organiser of the back line, let alone a leader, which is whyLiverpool's defence is in disarray.Liverpoolhaveconcededmore goals (13) than Stoke City (12),Swansea City (10) andSouthampton (five).Lovren is a "do as I say, not as I do" centre-back.Liverpool did not put much stock intoLovren'spowerlessness to work his way out of a rut atLyon."[I'm]disappointed by certain people [at Lyon],"Lovren said, per Sportske Novotni (h/tIan Holyman at ESPN FC). "[Managementare]killing [my] calm and joy at going to training."Lovrenattempting to revise his history atLyon, the persistent red cards and the diva-like behaviour gives you an insight into how mentally fragilehe can be.He is bringing back his Lyon misery atLiverpool: He never recovered from his mentally scarring start at OL.Lovrenprobably wonders to himself every time Liverpoolconcede: "Oh my God, what am I doing'"@allanjianga+allanjiangStatistics viaWhoScoredRead more World Football news on BleacherReport.com
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