What's wrong with Simon Mignolet?

Few players have started their time at a new club better than Simon Mignolet. 

The £9 million summer signing from Sunderland heroically saved a penalty from Stoke’s Jonathan Walters in the dying stages to secure a 1-0 win for Liverpool on his debut at an electric Anfield on the opening day of the Premier League season.

Mignolet grabbed the headlines with his penalty save on the opening day

In the process, he instantly adhered himself to Kopites, many of whom had initially been sceptical as to whether Rodgers had made the right move in shipping out fans’ favourite Pepe Reina on loan to Napoli and replacing him with the 25-year old Mignolet.

The Belgian’s performances during the first half of the campaign seemed to confirm that Rodgers had made the right decision. An excellent shot-stopper, Mignolet kept a clean sheet in each of Liverpool’s first three League fixtures and consistently impressed as the season progressed, despite an unstable and below-par back four arguably preventing him from significantly adding to his tally of shutouts.

Since Boxing Day, however, Mignolet has suffered a noticeable and worrying dip in form. In the space of four days, goalkeeping errors from Mignolet arguably cost Liverpool crucial points against their rivals for a top four finish.

First, Mignolet made a hash of Negredo’s tame effort to give Manchester City a vital lead on the stroke of half time, which they didn’t surrender in the second period. Then, he could only manage to push Samuel Eto’o’s effort into his own net at Stamford Bridge when he really should have done better.

Both goals were eminently preventable and turned out to be the decisive ones which determined that City and Chelsea would take all three points, leaving Liverpool with nothing to show from their trips to the Etihad and Stamford Bridge over the festive season.

In the last two matches, Mignolet has also been at fault. At the Britannia Stadium, his failure to save Walters’ fairly weak strike could have set up a nervy conclusion to the contest had Sturridge not gone up the other end soon after and bagged a fifth to finally kill off Mark Hughes’ side.

Moreover, versus Villa his feeble attempt at punching away Agbonlahor’s cross proved insufficient, allowing Benteke a simple headed finish into an empty net from close range to double the Villains’ advantage.

The question is then, what’s wrong with Simon Mignolet?

Inextricably linked with that question is another one, namely; what’s wrong with Liverpool’s defence? This is because there is a symbiotic relationship between a goalkeeper and their defence. Without a well-functioning stable defence, there’s only so much a goalkeeper can do to keep a clean sheet. At the same time, without an in-form goalkeeper behind them, the back four are inevitably going to struggle to keep opposition strikers out.

The relationship between the goalkeeper and the defence is thus of the utmost importance, since together they are responsible for preventing the opposition scoring and providing a solid foundation which the midfield and attack can build on in their pursuit of goals.

Everybody knows that Liverpool’s attack has been in red hot form this season, with Manchester City the only team in the Premier League- if not the world- possessing a more potent and powerful strike-force right now. However, their goals have arguably been masking what is a worryingly weak backline.

At right back, Liverpool fans would like to see the real Glen Johnson turn up on a match day, since the enterprising and adventurous yet defensively capable England international we know and love seems to have been replaced by an ineffectual and mistake-prone imposter.

On the opposite side, Cissokho has hardly proven an adequate replacement for long-term injury casualty Jose Enrique. At the heart of the defence, Rodgers doesn’t seem to have found his first choice centre back partnership. Frequent injuries to the likes of Sakho and Agger haven’t helped matters, either.

It wouldn’t at all be surprising if the defensive instability in front of him has finally begun to detrimentally affect Mignolet’s form in recent weeks. Add to that a drop in confidence brought about by decisive mistakes at important points in big matches, and it’s easy to see why Mignolet’s form has gradually eroded.

What is the solution, then?

Unfortunately, unlike Manchester City, who could take Joe Hart out of the limelight and temporarily replace him with Costel Pantilimon when the England international was out of form, Liverpool can’t really rest Mignolet since Brad Jones probably wouldn’t be able to make the step up necessary to adequately replace him.

In addition, it would be a bit harsh on Mignolet to drop him after only a few mistakes. After all, outfield players make a similar number of mistakes, it’s just goalkeeping errors are much more obvious to spectators and pundits and therefore receive far more attention.

Jones may appear in the FA Cup

Nonetheless, Saturday’s lunchtime encounter at Bournemouth in the FA Cup may be a good time for Jones to take over between the sticks.

Ultimately, I’m still convinced Mignolet is the right choice for Liverpool’s number one in the long term. The only area of his game he really has to work on is his distribution and footwork. Other than that, he is a superb keeper with the potential to build a decent career for himself at Anfield.

In the short run, however, it’s important that Rodgers settles on a stable back four and that that defence gels together and starts performing well.

That could be the key to Mignolet regaining confidence and thus the form he was in at the start of the season.

YNWA