Mignolet: The Gloves Are On

Simon Mignolet has every right to be thoroughly fed up. He has been forced to endure endless criticism from the vast majority of the Liverpool fan-base ever since his first season. His great moments are constantly overlooked, while his errors are scrutinised closely. Any run of consistent form he gets going is disregarded as soon as he makes one mistake. The Belgian stopper has not got fed up, however: he has got his head down. A model professional through and through, he has continued to work hard and concentrate on doing the best he can. Even the signing of a keeper who was surely meant as his medium-term successor did not outwardly faze him, and Mignolet has actually produced his best season for Liverpool to date. He has not undergone a ‘transformation’, as his old vocal critics would have you believe – his class, particularly when it comes to shot-stopping, has always been apparent. However, his game has become more well-rounded and consistent: he is finally managing to garner some respect from the fans who, frankly, have mistreated him.

Mignolet’s finest attribute was very much on show in the invaluable victory against Stoke. He is a truly world class shot-stopper, which is of course the primary prerequisite of any goalkeeper, and he pulled off two frankly remarkable saves. The first came with Liverpool 1-0 down: Charlie Adam was denied brilliantly from point-blank range. The second, coming after the Brazilian duo of Coutinho and Firmino had succeeded in turning the game around to 2-1, was even more spectacular. Saido Berahino received a square ball and was faced with what appeared to be an open goal: not so. Mignolet somehow scrambled back across the goalmouth to deny the striker with his legs – it was reminiscent of Dudek in Istanbul, and combined with his earlier save was responsible for 3 precious points. Even his most ardent critics had to give him praise for such a monumental performance, but they treated it as a flash in the pan. This is far from true: admittedly the Stoke game provided an extreme example, but these are by no means the first exceptional saves Mignolet has produced. Had he played in the Chelsea team for the past three seasons, where the system does not require excessive ball-playing from the keeper and there is a competent defence that provides at least some screening, he would likely be receiving the same plaudits as his compatriot Thibaut Courtois.

This is not to say that Mignolet has done nothing to warrant the criticism he has received: that sort of claim would be entirely unsustainable. His game was littered with stupid errors in his first couple of seasons, reaching a true nadir, at least in my mind, with his concession of an ultimately costly indirect free-kick through holding on to the ball for over twenty seconds. Even the world’s best shot-stopper would not be immune from criticism for some of the mistakes he made – the errors were definitely over-stated to the exclusion of all of his excellent saves, but they were nonetheless there. This is the real area where Mignolet has improved: what many are mistaking for a ‘transformation’ is really just an ironing out of some of the brainlessness that marred his start at the club. He has matured to a point where he puts his defenders under needless pressure much less than he used to, he can judge which high balls to come for, and his handling has improved no end. I have always defended Mignolet, but at the start of this season even I was of a mind that we needed to replace him if we wanted to be consistent title challengers; it is a huge testament to his progress that a significant minority amongst fans (myself included) now do not believe this to be the case.

How he has managed to achieve such growth in a ridiculously hostile environment is beyond me – fans have been slating him relentlessly. Perhaps the vitriol can be partially explained through a reluctance to acknowledge wider issues: it is strangely comforting to pin all the problems on the man between the sticks rather than acknowledge the significant defensive frailty that has plagued Liverpool for years. Is it a coincidence that Mignolet’s upsurge has coincided with the installation of Matip in our back line? Perhaps not. There is still plenty of work to do before the defence is at the level it needs to be, but as improvements continue to be made it may be that Mignolet shines more and more. As such, to my mind, a new goalkeeper is far from a priority in the summer – the money would be better invested in the people in front of the stopper. Whatever happens, we can be sure that the Belgian will take it in his stride like the model professional he is. Some respect for Mignolet is long overdue: if he can thrive this much when everybody is writing him off, maybe it’s about time to find out what he can do when we remember what YNWA stands for.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea: Post-Match Analysis

Liverpool put in a much-improved performance against league leaders Chelsea, but were unable to get the victory. The hosts were the more positive of the teams and created the most chances, but in the end it was Chelsea who came closest to snatching the win, denied only by a penalty save from Simon Mignolet. On balance a draw was probably the fairest reflection of the game – failure to win is undoubtedly a further dent in Liverpool’s rapidly fading aspirations of a title challenge, but the strong showing against the title favourites has at least given fans reason to hope that the recent awful run is coming to an end.

The quick start was reminiscent of the Liverpool side we saw in the first half of the season. Chelsea barely had the ball in the first ten minutes, and when they were in possession they looked rattled by the high press. Clear-cut chances proved elusive, however: the organised back three repeatedly forced Klopp’s men wide, and as usual the crosses didn’t carry all that much threat. Nonetheless, it was a start that gave reason to be hopeful for a breakthrough; this made David Luiz’s opener on 24 minutes all the more frustrating. It was the visitors’ first shot of the game, and it came from a highly dubious free kick – Hazard and Lallana clashed legs and the Belgian threw himself down. To be fair to Luiz it was a wonderful free kick, flying over the wall and in off the post from a fair distance out. The circumstances, though, were almost comical – Mignolet was still trying to organise his defence when the ball was struck, and had barely had time to look at the ball before it was in the back of the net. This was undoubtedly an error on his part, but it is hard to see why the referee blew the whistle while the keeper was so patently not ready; it was also Mignolet’s first significant error of the entire season, and he certainly atoned for it later on.

This left Liverpool with a big task. The team has been struggling for goals all month, and now faced the challenge of finding a way through one of the most organised defensive units in the league. They continued to push after going behind, but for the rest of the first half were unable to create anything of any real quality. After the break, however, they came out with almost tangible determination. The game slowly but surely started to open up, with some quick passes creating space that hadn’t been available in the first period. One such pass found Firmino in vast space in the box, but the Brazilian panicked, took it first time and blazed it well wide. Not too long afterwards Liverpool were in again, and this time they took the chance. Jordan Henderson played a lovely first time ball to James Milner, whose header across the box was met emphatically by Gini Wijnaldum. At this point the momentum was firmly with Liverpool, who continued to push – it would have been nice to get Mane on at this point, but having played 120 minutes so recently it isn’t hard to understand why he was only given fifteen minutes.

Although Liverpool were firmly in the ascendency, Chelsea had begun to look dangerous on the counter. Hazard was replaced by the rapid Pedro, and at times the hosts’ back line looked stretched. Were it not for Jordan Henderson, Conte’s men would surely have retaken the lead – substitute Fabregas looked to be clean through, but a last gasp sliding challenge from the captain dispossessed him. Matip had less luck with his tackle – faced with an onrushing Diego Costa, the Cameroonian centre-back stuck out a leg and brought him down. It was probably the right call to give a penalty, but it was undoubtedly soft – it would have been a kick in the teeth to lose to goals from a dubious free kick and penalty. Step forward Simon Mignolet. The keeper has a marvellous penalty-saving record at Liverpool, dating back to his dramatic 90th minute stop against Stoke on his debut, and he pulled out another one at this crucial moment. Usual taker Hazard had been substituted off, and Costa’s effort wasn’t good enough to get past the Liverpool stopper.

So, a point gained or two lost? There was certainly a feeling of frustration after the game, but it was coupled with a begrudging recognition that a draw against Chelsea represented a decent point. It is agonising to see yet another title challenge seemingly fade away, but the realistic aim for Klopp in his first full season was always going to be to get us back into the Champions League. In any case, with fifteen games to go, anything could still happen – after the game the manager urged fans and players alike to keep believing and keep pushing, and this is definitely the right attitude.

The performance certainly gave reason for renewed belief: the three central midfielders in particular put in much-improved performances. Mane’s return is also bound to be a big boost, and Coutinho is slowly getting back up to pace following his long lay-off. January is over now, and there is a feeling that Liverpool can now leave their horrible form behind them. Nobody wanted to crash out of both cups, but what the team is left with now is a clear run. Fifteen games to make the fans proud – let’s keep believing.

Seeing is Believing: Liverpool 3-2 Spurs

As has been the trend in modern times, Liverpool vs Spurs once again treated us to a multitude of goals. The reds have developed a nice habit of comfortably cruising past Tottenham of late, but that was never going to happen in this match – as the two sides on the best form in the league, this was always going to be a cracker. It did not disappoint; Spurs came back from behind twice but were eventually beaten by a goal from Mario Balotelli of all people.

The whole game felt like it had been scripted for maximum entertainment value. Right from the off the game had an exceptionally high tempo to it, with both teams eager to press the ball and stop their opponents from gaining the upper hand. Liverpool looked the better of the two sides though; their pace on the break made the side look very dangerous indeed, and chances were coming thick and fast thanks to multiple sloppy passes from Spurs in dangerous areas. 15 minutes in the reds opened the scoring – Lazar Markovic received the ball after Daniel Sturridge had done well to hold it up, then fired across Lloris (who should probably have done better) to get his first Anfield goal. Two excellent chances for Sturridge followed soon after, but the striker looked understandably rusty and the hosts failed to extend their lead. Barely 10 minutes after the Markovic goal it was level again; Harry Kane decided to get his obligatory goal out of the way nice and early, slamming it through Mignolet’s legs.

The rest of the first half continued in much the same vein – both teams looked properly up for it, and the game was very much end to end. However, it wasn’t until eight minutes into the second half that Liverpool struck again. It was from the penalty spot: Gerrard just managed to squeeze it into the corner beyond Lloris after Sturridge had been brought down by a clumsy challenge from Danny Rose. Phil Dowd, who had an awful game, did his best to deny us the pretty blatant penalty kick – fortunately the assistant was competent, and flagged for the foul. Sadly the same cannot be said of the other linesman, who’s error cost us a goal just nine minutes later. The first mistake came from Phil Dowd; Gerrard won the ball cleanly and fairly, but the referee blew for a foul. The resulting

free kick was taken brilliantly by Eriksen, but the Dane was denied by an excellent save from Mignolet, who had a brilliant game. The ball then fell to Kane, who was standing in an offside position – this was missed by the assistant referee, and the subsequent Dembele goal stood.

Credit must go to Rodgers for the response to this second equaliser. His three switches were an unmitigated success. Firstly, Gerrard (who had a slight hamstring issue) was taken off for Lovren, allowing Can to move into midfield. The German was already a man of the match contender for his performance in the back three, but was arguably even better in his preferred role in the centre of the park. After this, with 15 minutes to play, Sturridge – who still isn’t quite ready for a full 90 – was replaced by Mario Balotelli. This change was quickly followed by a tactical switch that saw Markovic make way for Lallana. It was Balotelli and Lallana who combined for the winning goal: with seven minutes to play, Ibe showed immense skill to beat his man and then flick it into Lallana. The ex-Southampton man then drilled it across the box with excellent precision, and then the fairytale moment that has been threatening to happen for so long finally came to fruition. Balotelli made a nice run in behind his man, and coolly guided the ball into the far corner of the net from close range. What a moment.

The result is great for Liverpool, as it sees us move to within a point of Tottenham and just three points of fourth place (although United and Southampton wins tonight would increase that to a gap of five). However, just as pleasing as the result was the performance. Everyone played well, but there are a few main positives that I want to highlight. The first is the exceptional performance of Jordon Ibe – despite being just 19, I voted him my man of the match for the second game running. He terrorised Danny Rose throughout the match, and showed great positivity with his multiple cut-ins and direct runs. The fact that his performances are good enough to prompt people to draw comparisons with Sterling says it all; whether or not he does have equal or better potential to Sterling is of course debatable, but he certainly has a very bright future ahead of him. The second positive was the performance of another young player, Emre Can. He made a couple of vital blocks and tackles while in defence, and then showed his exceptional power and pace with some bursting runs from midfield. He was voted man of the match by LFC fans on Twitter. For me, he’s the most exciting of our summer signings – he has all the hallmarks of a potentially special player. Thirdly, Sturridge is closing in on a full 90 minutes; although he wasn’t at his sparkling best in this game, he still managed to get two assists. If you can do that on an off day, that pretty much says it all. Fourthly, Balotelli! He’s finally got his first Premier League goal for Liverpool, and at a wonderful time. Hopefully that will give him confidence, and also give Rodgers the motivation to reintroduce him to the team regularly – I’d love to see him given a chance up top with Sturridge. Fifth, the first Anfield goal for Markovic: he’s another summer signing with huge potential, and hopefully he can kick on having scored his first home goal against one of the league’s best keepers. Finally, Mignolet deserves a special mention. I’ve been defending him all season – although he had a definite dip in form, he was never the root of our problems – but now he doesn’t need me to defend him. He’s drawing praise from even his most ardent of critics by not only continuing to show off his excellent shot stopping abilities, but also suddenly showing confidence and authority when claiming crosses. It’s a big claim, but I think he’s been one of the league’s best goalkeepers since Christmas.

To sum up, this win is huge for Liverpool Football Club. As well as properly putting ourselves into the intensely close race for a top four spot, the multiple amazing individual performances were extremely encouraging. Even if we do miss out on fourth place this season (which, for the record, I don’t think will happen), we’re certainly building a formidable outfit for the near future. Don’t be surprised to see us back competing for the title next season – for now, let’s get that Champions League spot.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Aston Villa 0-2 Liverpool: Post-Match Analysis

In a fairly tame affair at Villa Park, a quietly efficient Liverpool eased through to a comfortable 2-0 victory. Although concentration seemed to be lost for a period at the start of the second half, the second lowest scoring team in all of Europe’s top five leagues were unable to convert any of the chances presented to them.

Gritty hard work was the order of the day in yesterday’s match – a solid performance from the defence for the majority of the match ensured that there weren’t many serious scares at the back. Sakho and Can in particular were excellent – Can demonstrated the advantages of having a ball-playing centre back on multiple occasions, frequently cleverly working his way out of tight spots. Sakho’s highlight was a perfectly timed sliding tackle on the edge of the box to deny Villa a clear-cut opportunity which even they might have managed to convert. Going forward, Liverpool showed good signs in the first half. Sterling didn’t quite look at the races, but Coutinho continued his good form of late and Moreno and Markovic posed a threat going forward. Henderson, too, was playing very well; it was his exquisite pass that led to the opening goal on 24 minutes. He clipped it into the middle of the box, just far enough away from Guzan, and Borini was on hand to guide it skilfully into the corner. Sadly, this moment of quality from the Italian was the anomaly of the game – his performance was largely underwhelming.

After this first goal went in, a multitude of half-chances followed for the visitors. The best opportunity fell to Sterling – he capitalised on a defensive error and ran clean through on goal, but he tried a clever chip over Guzan that ended up an easy catch for the keeper. Had he simply blasted it, Liverpool would surely have doubled their lead. As it was, they went into the break with just a one goal advantage. Once the second half got underway, it looked like we may be made to rue all of the missed chances. Villa upped their game; Benteke was only kept out by an excellent double save from Mignolet, and Baker missed a glorious opportunity. On the subject of Mignolet, I feel obliged to once again jump to his defence. Contrary to what many fans would have you believe, he is by no means our biggest problem. In fact, I would rate his overall contribution to the team as neutral; the semi-regular stupid errors he makes are cancelled out by the number of times he’s bailed us out with excellent saves.

He certainly helped us out in this game – had Villa managed to score, it is hard to imagine that the recovering but still frail Liverpool side would have managed to take the lead again. As it was, LFC weathered the storm. By the last 15 minutes Villa had tired themselves out through their efforts to equalise, and Liverpool were able to get on top again. This second period of pressure was marked by a goal from Rickie Lambert. After a poor pass from Delph was cut out by Sterling, Lambert turned smartly and unerringly found the corner with a shot from just outside the box – although he’s much too slow and reliant on crosses to fit into our team, his technique is undoubtedly good.

This goal all but killed the game, and the final few minutes were a formality. It was a performance that Liverpool can be very satisfied with. The defence were, on the whole, respectable – they guided the team to their third consecutive away clean sheet, a feat we haven’t achieved since the 08/09 season. The midfield can also be satisfied with the number of chances they created; once Sturridge and Balotelli are back up top rather than Borini or Lambert, these chances will surely be finished off on a more regular basis. The combination of a passable defence and high chance creation is a very promising one, and, if sustained, may well be enough to see us finish in the top 4.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool: Post-Match Thoughts

Having predicted a scoreline of 5-1 Real Madrid prior to the match, I’m coming out of this game feeling extremely positive. We played very well for the majority of the game, made hardly any defensive errors (yep, you read that correctly) and managed to prevent Madrid from scoring two goals or more in a match for the first time since mid-September. We even managed to create a few promising attacks of our own, and although Casillas wasn’t tested very much at all we were at least working good chances. The only real negative is the fairly major one that we lost the game, but the performance was certainly encouraging.

The headline news in the lead-up to the game was that Brendan Rodgers had selected a second string team to face the reigning European champions. Balotelli, Coutinho, Sterling, Gerrard and Henderson all found themselves on the bench, with Lovren not even making the matchday squad. Many fans were up in arms about this, with the ‘Rodgers Out’ crowd on Twitter becoming more vociferous than ever before. However, Brendan had the last laugh. All of the players he selected were hungry to prove themselves and earn a permanent place in the first team, and consequently they worked exceptionally hard. Borini chased down every ball, Emre Can and Lucas seemed to be in the right place to make a tackle whenever Real came at us and Kolo Toure had the game of his life. Lazar Markovic also showed some promising signs, and even Skrtel looked more solid than usual. Despite going behind after 26 minutes through a Benzema goal, there was no point where the game looked beyond us. This is a testament to our performance; we arguably deserved a draw against one of the best teams in the world.

The statistics, predictably, were very much in favour of Real. They had more possession and lots more shots – a team of their calibre playing at home nearly always dominate the game, so this was unsurprising. Mignolet was called into action a lot, and he rose to the challenge magnificently. He had one of his best games in a Liverpool shirt, showing confidence when coming for the ball and making some excellent saves. Our chances came through playing Madrid at their own game: we staged multiple rapid counter-attacks, with Markovic utilising the frequency with which Marcelo was out of position. The final ball was never quite there, but there were definitely dangerous moments. There were two instances where decent crosses would surely have resulted in a goal, and Lallana fashioned a decent chance for himself which he put just wide of the far post. The pattern of absorbing pressure well then springing counter attacks continued right until the end of the match; we never looked totally out of it.

Whilst this stellar performance certainly vindicated Rodgers, it has also caused him some problems for Saturday’s game against Chelsea. If he plays the same team that he fielded against Madrid, questions will have to be asked if we get anything other than a victory. Obviously playing Chelsea is an extremely tough game, but it is winnable; as such, if Rodgers benches his star players again then fails to get a result, he will have to take some blame. On the other hand, the so-called reserves made such a good account of themselves that it seems harsh to drop them – the Real game was one of our best performances of the season. Personally, I would go for a happy medium. Toure should definitely retain his spot in defence, as he was solid throughout and arguably our man of the match. Can should also start – he was excellent, and deserves a run in the starting eleven. However, I would start Borini, Markovic and Lucas on the bench: whilst they all had fairly good games, none of them were good enough to keep Balotelli, Sterling and Henderson out of the team for such a big game. That said, if Rodgers did name an unchanged side then he couldn’t be blamed.

In conclusion, this is the most positive I’ve ever felt after a Liverpool defeat. We played with pride, and Real didn’t completely outclass us. We retained our goal threat until the final whistle, and never let the Spanish giants relax. Our defence was also uncharacteristically good, aside from an error apiece for Skrtel and Lucas. If we can maintain that level of performance against Chelsea at the weekend, we have a good chance of getting a result.

-James Martin

Out with the old bunch- Is Rodgers Creating a new Core?

When we look back on the Rafa era, we automatically think of a core group of players who were integral to our success. Stalwarts and club legends such as Gerrard, Carragher and Alonso are inextricably linked with Rafa’s time at the helm, in which Liverpool Football Club enjoyed great success. With Carragher retiring at the end of last season and Pepe Reina, who was signed by Benitez in 2005, looking likely to leave, the core members of Rafa’s elite squad are exiting Liverpool in their droves. Were Reina to leave the club, Gerrard would be the only remaining member of the team who won the 2006 FA Cup Final in such dramatic fashion. The question is, can Rodgers create his own ‘golden group’ of players?

Since arriving at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers has shown a clear preference towards signing young talent. He has brought in Fabio Borini (22), Philippe Coutinho (who recently turned 21), Daniel Sturridge (23), and most recently Iago Aspas (25) and Simon Mignolet (24). He has also nurtured the talents of younger players in the team, most notably England under 21’s captain Jordan Henderson, who this season became a regular in the starting 11. As well as this, he is rumoured to be after Tiago Ilori (20) and Kyriakos Papadopolous (21). Combined, these players cover a wide range of positions, and are good enough to either make the first team already, or else break into it in the near future. Along with academy players that are slowly being introduced to the starting 11, such as Jordan Ibe and Raheem Sterling, it is clear that Rodgers is building a team for the future.

Steven Gerrard is still going strong, and was arguably one of our best players last season. He is also a great role model to the younger players, fiercely loyal and committed to Liverpool. However, his illustrious career will at some point have to come to an end, and if Rodgers is to build an elite band of players that remains largely unchanged for long periods of time, he will need someone else to step up to the plate, and fill the role of leader. Seemingly the perfect candidate for this is Daniel Agger. At 28 years of age, he probably still has a lot of playing time left in him, and he has shown passion for the club since the moment he joined. Despite lots of interest from Champions League clubs, he has chosen to stay at the club he loves. He even has ‘YNWA’ tattooed on his knuckles. Agger has the potential to be the leader that all of Rodgers’ promising youngsters look to. If they rally around him in the same way the players of Rafa’s heyday rallied around Gerrard, the new generation of Liverpool starlets could well go on to achieve great things.

There has been a lot of worry in recent times that Liverpool are no longer able to attract ‘big names’ to the club. Although this is frustrating in some ways, it is also in some aspects a good thing for us. In a way, it allows us to start afresh, as Rodgers is forced to look to the young talent pool, rather than to those who have already established themselves as greats in the footballing world. Because of this, we aren’t simply replacing players if and when they leave or retire, we are building a whole new generation of players. This safeguards our clubs future, and allows us to build a squad that could potentially remain a tightly-knit unit for years to come. Obviously transfers sometimes have to be made, but as a general rule a team that remains largely unchanged will work better as a unit, and consequently play better football. Players such as Coutinho, Sturridge, Mignolet and Aspas, if all goes well, could remain at the club for years to come, and be the defining players of the Rodgers era.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013