Dejan Lovren has certainly had his critics over the years, and plenty of them have been Liverpool supporters.Since moving to Anfield from Southampton in 2014, the centre-back has struggled for consistency.[ad_pod ]The Croatia international has been a far cry from a solid presence at the back for large chunks of his time at Liverpool.However, following Virgil van Dijk's arrival at the club in January, Lovren has looked much more comfortable at the back.[brid autoplay="true" video="255571" player="12034" title="Watch Five outrageous World Cup stats you won't believe are true"]The Dutchman's leadership and confidence has spread through the rest of the back four, and now there is a strong case for Lovren to remain as Van Dijk's centre-back partner this season.The 28-year-old strengthened his position even further on Thursday after putting in a positive performance for Croatia in a 3-0 win over Argentina at the World Cup.Former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise has regularly been critical of Lovren, but he held his hands up in a message on Twitter following Croatia's victory.