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Lovren: Psychologically I am struggling with the effects of lockdown

As fans we crave the return of Football as the Covid -19 pandemic puts everyday life on hold for the foreseeable future.

But spare a thought for our idols who we see take to the pitch every week.

As we know, athletes are finely tuned beasts and are sticklers for routine no matter how repetitive it can be at times.

And therefore this unprecedented halt to proceedings has thrown them off-track and into a world of uncertainty.

Reds defender Dejan Lovren has given a fascinating insight into his thoughts on the current situation which was reported by The Mirror via Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti. 

“We have been locked in homes for [over] 46 days!

“We didn't go out anywhere. Psychologically, I am struggling with myself. 

“The hardest thing to do is go through psychologically.

“When it comes to training, I work alone. I'm really a worker, it's not a problem for me to train on my own. But it's totally different when you train alone than when you train on a team.

 

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Lovren says that he has devised some workouts that he has done on a regular basis, but without the motivation of fitness staff and teammates of teammates it can be challenging.

“You are locked in the house, every day is one and the same.

“I have training devices, I try to maintain myself in various ways. 

“For example, I run up and down stairs, so I do exercises on them. I try to invent exercises, something. 

“We got a training plan from the club, but it's hard.

“There is no one to help me when it is hardest for me, when you work alone, the story really has other outlines. I motivate myself as I know it.

"For example, sometimes when I wake up in the morning I say to myself 'I'm going to break up today'.

While the veteran central defender is trying to keep his body fine-tuned , he admits that nothing compares to the physical training he is used to.

“Not that I am paying special attention, but I do watch what I eat.

 

 "My legs lost weight the most.

 

"When we are on a training session with the team, you work 90 minutes, that time they constantly work their feet.

"I can't work my feet for 90 minutes. Nothing can make up for team training. 

“Absolutely nothing. You can maintain your physical capacity by working independently, but let's say, explosiveness, it's done in training, in matches.

"At home, it's different to train. I'm fit now, but, I say, I miss working on my feet. 

But the 30 year-old says that once the OK is given for normal duties to return, things will become instinctive again.

“When I return to the field from the team, it will automatically return.

 

"For example, this is the same situation as when I return from the summer holidays. 

“I'm starting over again."



 

Edited by TLW

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Fair play to him for being honest. 

 

He's no different to the rest of us. 

 

I find I have 1 or 2 bad days every week. 

 

My missus works on her laptop upstairs, so she's on calls for most of the day. I'm downstairs with the two children (4 and 1).

 

I find Monday to Wednesday in fine, then Thursday I'm miserable. But come Friday I'm grand again. 

 

It's human nature isn't it. 

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That's a good insight into what it's like for the players. Not so much the mental stuff, that's similar for everyone, not just footballers. It's probably worse for them in that they're used to being around a large group, having a laugh and enjoying the cameraderie. They'll be missing that the most I expect. 

 

I work from home all the time, the only difference for me currently is that the wife and kid are here with me, so I'm the opposite, I miss the solitude!

 

What was interesting about that was the fitness stuff. Presumably when footy returns they won't get much of a pre-season as it's going to be a bit of a rush job, but based on what Lovren is saying there then we shouldn't expect much in terms of the quality of play.

 

These are finely tuned athletes and doing a bit of yoga and running up and down stairs is no substitute for training with a ball, against world class players, every day of the week.

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Got to say, if I was a PL footballer I'd have a massive garden, size of half a footy field.  And I think a lot of them do.

So I'd be out there with a ball all day, knocking around, doing some sprints, twatting the ball around.

That said, it's probably difficult as a defender to train like that.  There's no utility in practising taking free kicks, or your finishing, because it's not your game.  

So, how do you practice tackling, or competing for a header, you need mates.

 

Perhaps the club should have looked at expanding their coaching team and assigning a coach to each player, to keep motivation up, to provide a partner for competition element of training. 

 

Or...fuck it off. Fly the players and their families out to some tropical paradise and let them train together in a complex, and go surfing.  Lockdown my arse, money talks. 

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Mental health doesn't discriminate but no one's going to give two fucks at the moment when everyone's in the same boat and his situation will be 99.9% better than most.

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As a millionaire footballer you can afford a home gym,a massive garden and pretty much anything money can buy. Mentally they will be a bit bored but millions are much worse off so just suck it up and shut up.

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Just shut the fuck up. People are dying, people are o the bones of their arse, people are really really in a bad place. Your struggling to keep up a fitness plan that our employer who pays you £100,000 a week to do because no-one is there to tell you to do it??? You fucking tit. Fuck off with this. I hope he never plays for us again. 

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He just cannot keep his gob shut Dejan can he, as Stig said millions are in far worse a state. People are worrying about their future, paying mortgages hoping jobs will still be there, this cunt and others like him need to shut up.

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13 hours ago, TLW said:

As fans we crave the return of Football as the Covid -19 pandemic puts everyday life on hold for the foreseeable future.

But spare a thought for our idols who we see take to the pitch every week.

Read the italcised as 'idiots' on first scan. Dejan Lovren a Liverpool idol? What an ill-judged article.

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“We didn't go out anywhere. Psychologically, I am struggling with myself. 

 

i bet he has been watching re runs of his performances over the last year 
 

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11 minutes ago, andyj said:

“We didn't go out anywhere. Psychologically, I am struggling with myself. 

 

i bet he has been watching re runs of his performances over the last year 
 

No wonder he’s struggling.

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I see we have a number of people giving the same cunt replies that I've seen on twitter. If it was another player nobody would say shit. 

 

I mean we all know that being rich stop any mental issues that occur from being locked into your house, no rich people can suffer with depression, 

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He's pretty obviously not going to come out and say he's depresses, but he isnt just saying it's training that's the problem. 

 

We have been locked in homes for [over] 46 days!

“We didn't go out anywhere. Psychologically, I am struggling with myself. 

“The hardest thing to do is go through psychologically.

 

 

People are giving him shit cause he's Lovren

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