Dejan Lovren pleads for patience as World Cup stars continue to struggle

Dejan Lovren has pleaded for patience for every player who played in the latter stages of the World Cup saying that “everyone is struggling” with slowly getting back up to speed, and that England’s players are still reacting to the disappointing of not reaching the final.

Even now, three months after the World Cup ended in Russia, plenty of English, French and Croatian players are still some way away from playing their best football. There has been serious scrutiny of Harry Kane’s game, for example, even though he has scored six goals for Tottenham so far this season.

But Lovren said that even Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah, his team-mates for Croatia and Liverpool respectively, are “struggling” with getting back into the rhythm of high-level football. And that the combination of the emotional and physical cost of the World Cup, along with not having a proper pre-season, is still effecting players.

That is one reason why England and Croatia played out such a slow 0-0 draw in Rijeka on Friday night. And why, afterwards, Lovren defended Kane against accusations that he is underperforming, as well as every other player who was still playing in Russia in mid-July. “You can’t say that [Kane is underperforming] on just one game,” Lovren said. “It is not only him.”

While the Croatian players are still getting over the emotional effort of reaching the final, Lovren suggested that England’s players are still coming to terms with failing to reach the final after raising expectations so much before then. “A lot of Croatian players are all exhausted emotionally,” Lovren said. “It is the same for England, trying to get over not going to the final. They felt these emotions about how the fans would react in England. It really wasn’t easy. Then you have such a short period of rest. It is not so easy to adapt straight away.”

Most England players only had three weeks of rest before returning to pre-season in early August, meaning that they missed out on the whole of the traditional pre-season with their clubs. So Lovren said that he “definitely, 100%” felt physically different from how he would normally feel by mid-October. “It just isn’t the same if you haven’t started from day one in pre-season,” Lovren said.

“I haven’t even had a pre-season with my team! The most important thing is to get your form but all the players [who went to the World Cup] are having this period of adaptation. Even Luka (Modric) said to me he is struggling.”

Egypt did not make it to the final, but were eliminated in the group stages. Even then, Lovren said that commitment had effected Mohamed Salah, who is still not at his best yet. “Everyone is struggling, even (Mo) Salah,” he said. “It takes so much out of you, emotionally and physically. Eventually they will get their best form but it will take time.”