Simon Mignolet had some big shoes to fill when he turned up at Melwood last summer. Reina had his critics, but he was a long-time servant of the club and his replacement would always have a great amount of pressure and expectation heaped on him. Fortunately, Mignolet dealt with that expectation well.
Mignolet’s key moment of the season came with his penalty save in the first game, at home to Stoke. It was arguably a key moment for the team as a whole as well; hanging on to win 1-0 gave us a confidence boost that proved we could win ugly, and that knowledge carried us through the next couple of games. If we’d drawn, there’d have been a sense of “same old Liverpool” in that we’d got a deserved lead in a game only to be pegged back and denied three points by one of our own errors. Mignolet’s heroics ensured that never happened.
The young Belgian proved himself to be an excellent shot stopper this season; there were countless times when his saves rescued a number of points for us when our fragile defence often became exposed or made an error. Most importantly, a lot of his saves were ones that I’m not confident Pepe Reina would have made had he remained between the sticks for us.
However, one area Mignolet didn’t quite match up to Reina in was his delivery. Though it did improve throughout the season, his delivery was never as accurate as Reina’s often was; too often he hoofed balls up the field that ended up well wide of their intended target.
He also suffered from hesitation at times. At the beginning of 2014, after committing a handful of errors that lead directly to goals against Man City and Chelsea among others the previous month, Mignolet went through a dip in form where he seemed reluctant to move from his line.
This, combined with a relative weakness in the air, meant he often wouldn’t come for crosses into the box. This created its own problems, as defenders didn’t know whether to leave it for the keeper or go to it themselves. After a few weeks, it seemed evident that Rodgers of the goalkeeping coach had had a word with him and he started to come off his line more, except this time he often made the wrong call and came off his line at the wrong times when he was better off leaving it to the centre halves.
He overcame this rough spot and continued to make outstanding saves that helped us win an incredible amount of matches towards the end of the season. His delivery and aerial strength still needs some work – and at only 26, he has plenty of time and scope to improve on that – but overall this was a very positive debut season for the young Belgian goalkeeper. He has the potential to become one of Liverpool’s greatest keepers ever, and I look forward to seeing him do it.
I’d rather have Mig than Reina. Reina was going through the motions his last few years, looked like he was happy to pick up his wages like Johnson and Lucas.
I agree on most of what you say but not all.
Lucas has never been a player ‘just going through the motions’. His lack of pace, injuries, and unfamiliarity with his new position had meant his performances haven’t been at a high enough level, but his commitment I think has been very good. He’s been desperate to get into the Brazil squad, so had a huge incentive to do his best.
I agree Johnson hasn’t had his best season, niggling injuries at the beginning perhaps affected form, but he’s been injury free since. Given he had a good season last year, and a season when most were poor, this season has been particularly dissapointing. The contract situation and salary cut perhaps has preyed on his mind.
I agree with you on Pepe. But Reina may be reinvigorated after some time away, shame he’s burnt his bridges. Mignolet has been erratic. A great shot stopper (better than Reina) but poor distribution, doesn’t organise the defence, and hesitant in commanding his area. Key errors cost us dearly as the article says. However at 24/25 he’s like a 22 year old outfield player as keepers tend to mature much later (Courtouis and De Gea are exceptional for their high level so young). So I’m sure he’ll be better next season.