Simon Mignolet Player Thread: > Club Bruges

Yesterday's game was actually the first time i have seen him so dominate in the air. He really has been great since returning to the first team. I really am starting to question whether we should be looking into buying a keeper in the summer now.

He is not world-class but he is a good keeper when he has confidence in his ability. As I said in Firmino's thread, confidence brings confidence. He needs to keep going because he is playing for his place. Karius will try and push him this Summer. I think that at the moment, Karius needs to step it up a lot to drag Simon to the bench.

I think that Klopp will not buy another keeper. I honestly think that only a proven world class keeper should we buy because we already have some decent/good ones.

The issue with Mignolet is, sometimes, even when he's high on confidence, he still tends to do something stupid that would undo all the confidence that he achieves in the previous games.
If he continues this form in our remaining 5 games then that could make me change my mind. But for now I'm still far from being completely convinced that we don't need to buy a world-class keeper in the summer.
Also when people say Mignolet has a good game, I think they tend to compare him to his usual standards. If you watch the likes of De Gea and Courtois you might feel different.

Still doesn't discount the fact that he saved our asses in our last 2 games. So, well done Mig and keep it up.

The issue with Mignolet is, sometimes, even when he's high on confidence, he still tends to do something stupid that would undo all the confidence that he achieves in the previous games.
If he continues this form in our remaining 5 games then that could make me change my mind. But for now I'm still far from being completely convinced that we don't need to buy a world-class keeper in the summer.
Also when people say Mignolet has a good game, I think they tend to compare him to his usual standards. If you watch the likes of De Gea and Courtois you might feel different.

Still doesn't discount the fact that he saved our asses in our last 2 games. So, well done Mig and keep it up.

Agreed. This season he has saved 1.36 shots per 1 goal, that is a terrible statistic. If he can put in a good run in the next 5 games like the last 2, then we can start to consider that fact he could be improving. There is quite a bit of knee jerking about Mignolet at the moment.

Mignolet has definitely improved this season. His shot stopping has always been pretty good, but his kicking has been poor since he arrived - until this season. He's definitely been working on it, and its been solid since the summer. I only saw the highlights against W Brom, but from that he was even coming and punching well off his line. If he can keep that up, he'll be a genuinely good keeper.

Should we go in for another goalie in the summer then? I would still say yes, but mainly cos Karius gives me the heebie-jeebies when he's in goal. Jürgen knows him a lot better than we do, so I suppose it comes down to what he sees in training ( plus his past form, which statistically seems decent). But just based on my subjective judgement of what we've seen of Karius in games, I'd be bringing in somebody else ( Begovic maybe, or Butland) as competition for Mignolet ( and maybe loaning Karius out).

Mignolet to me is a good second choice goalie, with the possibility of being a good first choice one. But I'd like better competition for the no1 spot than I think we have now.

2 good games where has has finally justified being in the team for a change and it seems people are suddenly thinking he's good enough. Form is all it is, I don't doubt for a second that another howler is just around the corner.

He's rightly being praised for his last 2 games, not taking these last 2 games away from him in the slightest but it doesn't hide the fact he's still not good enough. Was only a few games ago he played a massive part in us becoming a nervous wreck vs Bournemouth.

The last two games he has been exactly what we want him to be - the bare minimum for a club of our stature. But the honest fact remains is that De Gea and the likes put in performances like that EVERY week. That it is standard for them but excellent for Mignolet highlights the problem. I may sound harsh but the very least he owes us is a good enough effort that will see us get back in the Champions League.

The last two games he has been exactly what we want him to be - the bare minimum for a club of our stature. But the honest fact remains is that De Gea and the likes put in performances like that EVERY week. That it is standard for them but excellent for Mignolet highlights the problem. I may sound harsh but the very least he owes us is a good enough effort that will see us get back in the Champions League.

The only question I have is looking out at the world of keepers with the exception of 4-5 in Europe nobody strikes me as being the end all be all, so who exactly is it we bring in to replace him that does not have issues.

The only question I have is looking out at the world of keepers with the exception of 4-5 in Europe nobody strikes me as being the end all be all, so who exactly is it we bring in to replace him that does not have issues.

For me, I would say Jack Butland. But, will he be the same after being out for a year+ with the ankle injury.

2 good games where has has finally justified being in the team for a change and it seems people are suddenly thinking he's good enough.
Form is all it is, I don't doubt for a second that another howler is just around the corner.

He's rightly being praised for his last 2 games, not taking these last 2 games away from him in the slightest but it doesn't hide the fact he's still not good enough.

Was only a few games ago he played a massive part in us becoming a nervous wreck vs Bournemouth.

For me, I would say Jack Butland. But, will he be the same after being out for a year+ with the ankle injury.

Yeah, but the issues is we want a top top keeper but in all honesty with the exception of 3-4 across Europe there is no sure-fire top top keeper out there, anybody we bring in will have question marks.

I think this year has been Mig's best since he joined; however the baggage he carries from previous years will always haunt him...if we had gotten him last Summer we would probably be saying he was a good buy based off of this season.

if we had gotten him last Summer we would probably be saying he was a good buy based off of this season.

He's been no better than Karius but Karius has been slated despite being younger and having arrived in the summer. In fact Karius was really starting to up his game.

Just think the last 2 games is making people suddenly think Migs has been a lot better than he has this season. He's still been at fault for goals, been a nervous wreck and had woeful distribution.

The only question I have is looking out at the world of keepers with the exception of 4-5 in Europe nobody strikes me as being the end all be all, so who exactly is it we bring in to replace him that does not have issues.

I'd say many outside the top 4-5 keepers are significantly better than Mignolet. You have to look at his Liverpool career across these past 4 years and for me he's cost us more than he's saved. As mentioned his saves per goal ratio is appalling and I can remember at least three drawn home games last season where he was directly culpable for allowing the other team in. He's been good these past two games and he will hopefully be good for the remainder of this season but it's a case of too little too late for me.

Who is a good keeper who will come here?

Problem with Migs is he's had a good game that's kept us in the hunt for champions league football but with 5 games to go, there's always the possibility he could revert back to being Mignolet and cost us it.

How many goals have we conceded in the league this season? 40 in 33 games averaging over a goal per game. (I know Karius played 10 league games conceding 12), so in the 23 other games Migs conceded 28.

So both Migs and Karius are pretty much conceding at the same rate.

They both have their faults and weaknesses and I think our tactics and how we set up has exposed their faults and weaknesses at some point or another.

However Migs in my opinion has had long enough to establish himself as our undroppable number 1, we can and should do better than him.

Another Top performance from Migs despite Deeney with his thuggish challenges.

Competition from Karius seems to have done him the world of good.

Saves per goal conceded ratios don't tell you much about a keeper, but plenty about how a team defends.  We don't actually concede that many efforts on our goal that need saving, so therefore Migs doesn't have to make that many saves!  Most goals we concede are from corners and free kicks (or 2nd ball situations as a result of those), and from crosses.  In those situations, defending is a very much a team responsibility, yet we heap scorn on our keeper.   

We actually defend pretty well, as a whole team, until we get tired and edgy towards the end (usually) and then collective and individual mistakes creep in.

Who would be to blame for the goals we conceded against Palace, Stoke, Everton or Bournemouth recently?  Mignolet?  I don't think so.  In any case, JK's ethos is that we defend (and, by implication, concede) as a team. Why pick on the one player who's confidence WE NEED to be high? 

As others have said, there's De Gea, Courtois, Loris (Hugo) on his day, Neuer, and one or two others, but other than those, who is a reliable CL quality keeper who doesn't make goal-conceding errors?   Burnley's and Sunderland's keepers get plenty of praise but how can you really compare them to Migs when they play in such poor teams?  Butland always looked likely to become an international keeper, but isn't there yet, even before his injury.  Forster looks good at times but I've seen him commit some right howlers.  The only keeper in the Prem we'd have a chance of getting who might improve us, in my opinion is Schmeichel, but I can't really see him going anywhere but Man Utd (in his dad's footsteps) after De Gea heads for Spain. 

I used to get concerned that the defence don't seem confident in front of Migs, but I'm not convinced that's his fault either, any more, but more down to a collective lack of communication and poor zonal awareness/responsibility-taking.

If JK wants to replace him, I won't complain, but until then I'm not overly concerned.

I sort of agree with you but it is Mignolet of late.  He looks confident and is not spreading panick towards the entire defense.  In the past he would make silly mistakes minor and that would lead to major.  One thing that use to wind me up the time he used to take to get rid of the ball.  I agree at this moment of time there isn't many keepers that will become available to us worth replacing him.  He has had a couple of good patches of good form in the past.  But this time it is the confidence thing which has me thinking he has finally cracked it.  Like you say mistakes happen it happens to the best.  He came in as a young keeper has he finally cracked? Hopefully!

Still had a couple of moments where he needed to be more vocal, let the defence know he's got it covered. Just a couple of near collisions that, if he'd made his intentions clear, wouldn't have occurred. 

Still had a couple of moments where he needed to be more vocal, let the defence know he's got it covered. Just a couple of near collisions that, if he'd made his intentions clear, wouldn't have occurred. 

But recently his won the ball or punched it far enough instead of just flapping at it, which for me has made all the difference. He seems a lot now comfortable leaving the line now.

The Klopp effect?

https://twitter.com/AIUnderPressure/status/860030642981150722

The Klopp effect?

Quite possibly but as we were quick to blame [to varying degrees] both Achterberg and Migs, when he was poor; maybe [if we are being fair like] we should give them both a little credit for when Migs has been good? 🤔

Either way... he has definitely improved this season. 👍

Migs has improved massively this season to be fair.

If he can improve his distribution he will be an excellent keeper for us over the next few seasons.

Maybe Klopp knew what he was doing bringing in Karius. Competition should make them both better.

One things for sure,  I'd  have to say GK is lower on the priority list of summer signings for me. Well done Simon.