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Jamie Carragher insists Liverpool must “persist” with the most expensive defender in their history.

Dejan Lovren, a £20m signing from Southampton in the summer, was brought in to help shore up the Reds’ leaky defence that shipped 50 league goals last season.

The 25-year-old Croatian defender has struggled to make an impact at Anfield and Liverpool FC continue to be plagued by problems at the back.

But Carragher believes manager Brendan Rodgers has to keep faith with big-money buy Lovren and is convinced that the former Lyon man will recapture the form that made one of the stand-out centre-halves in the Premier League last term.

Carragher says the Reds may need to tweak their approach in order for Lovren to flourish and for the side to tighten up at the back.

But the Reds great says they spent too much money on Lovren to give up on him.

“I thought he was excellent for Southampton last season and that is the reason Liverpool bought him but every manager has a different way of doing things,” said Carragher.

“Liverpool’s full-backs are more offensive and so are going to leave you more exposed, that could be something to look at because Brendan Rodgers likes his full-backs to get forward.

“Alberto Moreno likes to get forward, Lovren is on that side and at times he does find himself in the left-back position with and without the ball.

“Maybe that is something he has either got to get used to or if he is struggling with that then Liverpool have to curtail it and change the small details of how they set-up slightly because you want to get the best out of him.

“He is proven in the Premier League last season and showed he is a very good centre-back, he showed that a lot, but it is difficult for him at the moment – it is difficult for them all – but they will come through it.”

Rodgers’ side have only kept two clean sheet this season, but Carragher added: “Eventually they will start keeping clean sheets, they have to, whether that means them changing a few small details about the set-up of the team, I don’t know.

“But when you pay that much money for a centre-back you have to persist with it and get him through it.

“Get Lovren to learn your values but it is also about getting to know him and playing to his strengths and weaknesses.”

Carragher was in Madrid to watch a much-changed Reds side lose narrowly to Real in the Champions League.

Kolo Toure, handed only his fourth appearance of the campaign, was excellent in the Bernabeu and Carragher says he was unlucky not to retain his place for the visit of Chelsea last weekend.

But Carragher, who made 737 appearances for Liverpool, says Lovren, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho are the “future” of Liverpool’s defence.

“Kolo Toure came in and had a really good game at Real Madrid,” he said.

“He did really well but at his age now you have got to look at the other three for the future and for right now.

“He was unfortunate not to play against Chelsea but in the long-term you have to look at Sakho, Skrtel and Lovren and they have to be fighting it out between themselves.

“Sakho is out injured but is closing in on fitness and if Liverpool keep conceding goals then you have to look at him.

“But I still think both signings (Sakho and Lovren) probably haven’t shown their true form and whatever we think of them at this time, they are better players than they have shown.

“But if Liverpool are still conceding goals then you have to look at Sakho.”