Liverpool new boy Danny Ings believes Dejan Lovren is receiving criticism for his poor display against West Ham United in the side's last league fixture partly because he is a defender.
Lovren endured a difficult time at Anfield last weekend as West Ham ran riot and registered a convincing 3-0 win over the Reds – which was incidentally the first loss of the season for the hosts.
Ings made his debut for Liverpool in the same game when he came on as a substitute for Brazil international Roberto Firmino, although his introduction did not change the hosts’ fortunes.
The Englishman has come to the defence of Lovren, saying that the defenders always have it hard as their mistakes are usually fatal for the team, unlike a lapse from a forward player.
“It’s always hard for defenders”, he was quoted as saying by his club’s site.
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"For example, if myself as a striker miss a sitter, it gets forgotten about, but as a defender you get punished a little bit more from the press and people like that.
“We [as a team] put our arm around everyone who makes a mistake because everyone is human at the end of the day.
“It’s like that in a game because everybody makes them, but we can just look forward now and go from there."
Liverpool have collected seven points from their first four games and are currently sitting seventh in the standings.
They will be up against Manchester United at Old Trafford after the international break.
