Mignolet needs to up his game (ESPN article)

[tlw content]

by Dave Usher for ESPN

 

The goal Liverpool conceded in the final minute of Tuesday's Champions League group game against Ludogorets was not a direct result of one individual error; it could have been prevented in numerous ways, and several players should be feeling they could have done better.

 

For example: Raheem Sterling might have released the ball a little earlier, and Alberto Moreno will surely be ruing his overeagerness to get forward when it simply wasn't necessary. Additionally, the three midfield players should be asking themselves how they were all bypassed by one simple pass, while Dejan Lovren needs to realise that allowing strikers to run in behind him and through on goal is not usually going to end well. That was the third time in five games he's let that happen. Sergio Aguero and Dani Abalo made Lovren pay; Emanuel Adebayor didn't, but the Croatian is being exposed too often.

 

Perhaps the greatest concern, however, was the ease with which goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was beaten once again. The Belgian came rushing off his line when there was no real need to do so. Had he stayed put, Lovren would not have had to dive in and may have been able to force Abalo a little wider, which would have made the chance considerably more difficult (especially since Liverpool's Javier Manquillo was also coming around on the cover). It would have taken a fine strike from the Ludogorets' front man to find the back of the net, but instead he was able to go around the overcommitted keeper with ease and roll the ball into an empty net.

 

It was reminiscent in many ways of the goal Sergio Aguero scored against the Reds at the Etihad a few weeks back, when Mignolet's positioning was so poor he may as well have been sat in the stands watching. Aguero had half the goal to place his shot into; it was ridiculous.

 

Mignolet often stays back when he should come out, and he comes out when he should stay back. Decision-making appears to be a real issue for him. It's beginning to look as if goalkeeper may be a problem position for Liverpool.

 

Read the full article here.

 

Click here to view the article

[sir roger]

Starting to feel a bit sorry for Mignolet.

 

He isn't perfect but he has already saved us on numerous occasions & has been playing behind an absolute circus since he got here.

 

Decide on the back 4 & stick to it , maybe go wild & have the odd midfielder tackle an opponent instead of waving them through and then maybe Simon ( and Sakho & Lovren ) can start to work on his / their weaknesses rather than fire fighting every game.

 

We could afford to play 'next goal wins' last season with you know who here , but we can't this season so we need to pay more attention to our set up.

[Section_31]

Can anyone think of a keeper who's not absolute shite? Been the case for years, dunno why, changes to training, the ball, tactics or the way they're expected to play, who knows.

 

In the 90s there were at least half a dozen top class keepers in the Prem and half of them were English, these days Hart is England's number one.

[Pureblood]

Mignolet has too many weaknesses and is too error prone.  Needs replacing, imo.  Hopefully this Valdes thing will come to fruition.  

[fredo49]

Whatever weaknesses Reina may have had in recent seasons, and whatever the story with Barcelona may have been, he is clearly a better keeper than Mignolet, but for some reason Bodgers didn't fancy him. No way Reina should have had to put up with sitting on the bench behind a clearly inferior team mate, so who can blame him for clearing off. He was shabbily treated in my view, but more to the point we have simply got rid of our best keeper in favour of one who is much more error prone....

[Boss]

I don't rate John Achterberg to be honest, Reina was great under Valero and it all seemed to go to pot since he left, if you look at the lesser clubs in Spain like Lavente and Deportivo the level of goalkeeping coaching far exceeds what we do in this country.

 

Levante

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_uDWhNDTfg

 

Deportivo

[Boss]

Then look at ours

 

 

 

It's pedestrian in comparison, what we need is the finished article (Valdes) someone that's done it all before and just uses the training to keep his sharpness because this policy of buying young goalkeepers and improving them doesn't work for us, i don't think we've really improved a goalkeeper from the moment he's arrived in years, maybe Pepe but that was Valero.

[sir roger]

I loved Pepe,  but he was terrible in his last 2 seasons. I just assumed the opposition were going to score every time they had a shot. Not sure whether it was him bulking up but he barely made a notable save in that period.

[Josef Svejk]

Repped, Boss, for outstanding nerdishness.

[moof]

Whatever weaknesses Reina may have had in recent seasons, and whatever the story with Barcelona may have been, he is clearly a better keeper than Mignolet, but for some reason Bodgers didn't fancy him. No way Reina should have had to put up with sitting on the bench behind a clearly inferior team mate, so who can blame him for clearing off. He was shabbily treated in my view, but more to the point we have simply got rid of our best keeper in favour of one who is much more error prone....

Hmm... First post. Hates rodgers. Loves Pepe. If I were the suspicious type...

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Whatever weaknesses Reina may have had in recent seasons, and whatever the story with Barcelona may have been, he is clearly a better keeper than Mignolet, but for some reason Bodgers didn't fancy him. No way Reina should have had to put up with sitting on the bench behind a clearly inferior team mate, so who can blame him for clearing off. He was shabbily treated in my view, but more to the point we have simply got rid of our best keeper in favour of one who is much more error prone....

Welcome back.

[Dr Nowt]

I wish the debate over whether or not Mignolet is good enough for us could be had just once without it coming back to point scoring over Reina.  Aren't people bored of stating the same positions that have already been covered ad nauseam over and over?  It's a dead subject, he's gone get over it, etc etc etc.

 

Reina had more than proven he was no longer good enough for us over a matter of seasons, his wage just added insult to injury as Johnson's does now, but clearly the key fact was the management not thinking he was up to it anymore.  That it was time for both parties to move on remains the case irrespective of Mignolet's subsequent mistakes, and will do even if we then look to cut him loose next summer, as currently seems likely. 

 

I note Reina was available for a nominal sum this year, yet the only team prepared to stump up the cash were Bayern Munich for him to by and large sit on their bench, despite 'Bodgers' and co being happy to accept only £2M for a keeper of his previous status; having attracted bids from Arsenal in excess of £20M, 4 years ago.  Obviously, if it was such a poor decision on our part to sell him - as some apparently think, motivated solely by the manager's thin skin and ego - then one of the many wealthy and significant clubs in Europe would have ripped our arm off to sign him as their main man for such a low fee.  Why did that not happen? 

 

None of that's to denigrate Pepe, he was a great keeper here at his peak, probably our best since Clemence, but the idea that if Mignolet doesn't improve this season and nail down the position it was the wrong decision to bring him in specifically due to losing Reina doesn't hit the target.  That he was a poor choice over x y or z other keeper we could have brought in to replace Reina instead, fine, not only is that up for debate but it's fresh and not the same tiresome conversation over and over again, which references a player who is in all honesty in semi-retirement now as a full-time back-up, despite still being a young age for a keeper.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Whatever weaknesses Reina may have had in recent seasons, and whatever the story with Barcelona may have been, he is clearly a better keeper than Mignolet, but for some reason Bodgers didn't fancy him. No way Reina should have had to put up with sitting on the bench behind a clearly inferior team mate, so who can blame him for clearing off. He was shabbily treated in my view, but more to the point we have simply got rid of our best keeper in favour of one who is much more error prone....

Absolute unadulterated bollocks  Yet sounds ever so familiar.