I said the other day that the first thing which goes amongst fans when things aren't going well is the ability to reason. They start running around blaming all and sundry, clamouring for someone who they can remember having a good game once to be included, calling for the managers head and all sorts of nonsense. They jump to the wrong conclusions about what has caused the demise, often addressing the symptom rather than the cause of the problem. It happens with players too, which is why managers by and large go to experienced players in times of crisis, cool heads who can see the woods from the trees. The next thing to fall by the wayside amongst fans is their memory. They forget that such and such a player has had dips in form before and yet has still come back to be their player of the season, they forget that the same player has played well in a certain position many times. They also forget the manager that only a few months ago had the team purring, they crave change as if change in itself will change fortunes.
Mignolet is a classic case in point. Peoples reason has gone as far as he is concerned, each mistake highlighted to the nth degree, each miskick put under the microscope. Their memory has gone with Mignolet too. They forget both the world class save which won us the points against Stoke, and they forget exactly how bad Brad Jones is. Aside from his calamitous pass which he got away with last night, Mignolet did alright. He was very unlucky with the goal (a few seconds earlier he had actually pulled off a fine save) and he has conceded one goal in the last two matches.
Now is not the time for knee jerk, it's the time for calm heads and confidence. Those who advocate the changing of the non injured goalkeeper mid match via a substitution have never played football to a serious level before. They have no idea how much pressure this would put the rest of the team under. Similarly, those who advocate the changing of a goalkeeper while you are trying to rebuild the confidence of a teams defence aren't being serious either. Brucie was a good goalkeeper in his day and he had more than his share of detractors and calamities. He should afford Mignolet the same consideration and sympathy as well as no small measure of belief that the Kop gave him.
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