Opinion: Dejan Lovren should be talking less and improving his game more
After Croatia defeated Spain in their Nations League game, Dejan Lovren took to Instagram and posted this.
Dejan Lovren is bragging about elbowing Sergio Ramos during the game. Moreover, he updated his Instagram story with insulting words to Spain, as a nation. But this is a very bad attitude on the part of the Croatian. What happens on the pitch should stay on the pitch. Lovren not only publicly insulted a player, but he also disregarded a whole nation.
More than Lovren's attitude, it is astonishing how people are adoring these antics by the Croatian. Virgil Van Dijk in the press conference said that he prefers Varane over Ramos. What Van Dijk expressed was his opinion.
Everyone has their preferences but Lovren is using a very bad way to express his feelings. Hatred is a very bad thing for the beautiful game and publicizing it is even worse.
If Lovren was a level above others then his antics could be put down to his ego. Cristiano Ronaldo talks a lot but he backs it up on the pitch. Even more, Ronaldo has never taken to social media to express his hate towards a country or a player. Lovren should be thinking about who he is as a player.
He was trusted by Klopp to hold the defense strong but he failed him. Up until Virgil Van Dijk came into the team, defensive solidity was lacking. Now that Lovren has Van Dijk by his side the defense have improved.
So he took to the press afterwards, demanding to be respected as a world-class defender. He cannot do that? He hasn't achieved anything much to demand respect. He isn't even the best defender in Liverpool, Van Dijk is.
If more accomplished players like Ramos or Pique did these type of things the scolding they would get would be much worse. Pique would be named as a shame to football. Ramos was slammed for bringing Salah down in the Champions League Final and Lovren gets hailed as a hero for avenging Salah.
Where is the vengeance here? Lovren attacks Ramos and elbowed him. To get away with it, he is using the Salah incident. Even if he was doing it for Salah, why does he insult Spain?
Lovren has to improve a lot in his game. What is he trying to prove by taunting Spain and Ramos? Spain has a World Cup and 2 Euro Cups, so has Ramos. Lovren hasn't even won a Croatian Footballer of the Year award.
He hasn't won any major title with Liverpool. So better he closes his mouth, lifts his game and then does the talking on the pitch. He is 29 years old and should be mature in his choice of words.