With Dejan Lovren enduring a miserable first year at Liverpool, Henry Jackson selects four players the 26-year-old can take inspiration from.
The Croatian looked to be on a slight road to recovery after helping the Reds keep three successive clean-sheets, but he had a nightmare afternoon in the 3-0 loss to West Ham on Saturday.
His dreadful error allowed Mark Noble to double the Hammers’ lead in the first-half, marking a new low point in Lovren’s already faltering Liverpool career.
Although it seems impossible to imagine the former Southampton man coming good at Anfield, there are players who have got through similarly dark periods in the past.
Here are four Liverpool players Lovren can draw inspiration from:
When Jordan Henderson arrived at Anfield for £16 million from Sunderland in the summer of 2011, big things were expected of him.
He was regarded as one of the finest young English players around, and manager at the time Kenny Dalglish saw him as a long-term replacement for Steven Gerrard.
Henderson endured a miserable start to life as a Liverpool player, however, and for large periods looked little more than a mid-table Premier League midfielder – admittedly use in a less comfortable right midfield role by Dalglish.
He was famously on the verge of being sold to Fulham by Brendan Rodgers in 2012, but since later that season he’s never looked back – due to being afforded a role in his preferred central position.
The England international has grown and grown from 2012/13 onwards, bringing pace, dynamism and consistency to the side, and improving enormously in the more technical aspects of his play.
The 25-year-old was named as Gerrard’s successor as captain this summer; an incredible achievement given how badly things start for him on Merseyside.
Rafa Benitez brought Lucas Leiva to Liverpool from Brazilian side Gremio in 2007 and the midfielder had a big reputation in his homeland.
The then 20-year-old had just won the Bola de Ouro, Brazil’s equivalent of the PFA Player of the Year award, with previous winners including legendary figures such as Zico, Romario and Kaka.
Lucas just didn’t look the part with the Reds though, and the attacking side to his game that many had talked about seemed non-existent.
He always felt like a weak-link in the middle of the park during his first couple of years in England, and, appallingly, was booed by his fans during a wretched spell of form midway through the 2008/09 campaign.
He eventually came good, however, and blossomed into one of Liverpool’s most important players in 2009/10 and 2010/11, winning the club’s Player of the Year award after moving to a more defensive midfield role.
A serious knee injury in late 2011 has meant Lucas has never quite been the same player since, but he has remained a key squad player over the last four years.
The 24-time capped Brazil international brings calm and authority in his defensive midfield role, and remains the best at the club in that role.
He is a hugely likeable character and now the longest-serving player at the club.
Jamie Carragher
There may be some of you claiming Jamie Carragher was always universally loved at Liverpool, but that is simply not the case.
The Bootle-born defender broke into the first-team in 1996, but it was several years before he was able to win round all of the supporters.
Carragher looked little more than a utility player punching above his weight during the late 1990s, and he was often made a scapegoat if Liverpool dropped important points.
The defender’s lowest ebb probably came against Man United in September 1999, when his two own goals saw the Reds defeated 3-2 at Anfield by their bitter rivals.
Slowly but surely, Carragher began to earn more admirers though, and he played 58 times during Liverpool cup treble-winning 2000/01 campaign.
It was as a centre-back where the former England man truly became a Liverpool hero though, following a broken leg in 2003.
Again, a change of position saw his fortunes turn. He became one of Europe’s most dogged, consistent centre-backs between 2004 and 2010, and his performance in the 2005 Champions League Final, and road to the final, will never be forgotten.
In total he made a staggering 737 appearances for Liverpool in a 17-year career; only Ian Callaghan has played more times for the club.
Peter Crouch
There wasn’t exactly a huge amount of delight among Reds fans when Peter Crouch arrived for £7 million from Southampton in 2005.
The gangly striker had enjoyed a good spell with the Saints, scoring 16 goals in 33 appearances in 2004/05, but there was uncertainty over whether he was Liverpool quality.
Those doubts came further to the fore when the Englishman failed to score in his first 19 matches, even missing a penalty against Portsmouth at one point.
Crouch’s drought finally ended in December 2005 when he scored twice against Wigan Athletic at Anfield, and from that point on he looked a different player.
He scored 13 times in his first season and became a key part of Rafa Benitez’s side until he eventually departure in the summer of 2008.
There were spectacular overhead kicks against Galatasaray and Bolton Wanderers, an FA Cup winner against United and a brilliant ‘perfect hat-trick’ against Arsenal, as the striker displayed the quality he possessed in abundance.
Crouch was a likeable character on Merseyside in the end and only left as he wanted first-team football the Reds couldn’t offer due to Fernando Torres’ then-excellence.
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