Mignolet worries - part deux

[Spaghetti Legs]

I'm not worried. Yes he has some areas he needs to develop but that is doable.
Great shotstopper, which is the most important thing in the end, and has improved his distribution.

Still young for a goalkeeper and in his first year at a top club. He'll get some time from me to develop and will of course make some mistakes a long the way.
Being 4th and in with a shout of the title I've got other worries...

He has to improve/develop in every area, theres no point tippy toeing around it, even with his shot stopping which we all know is his best attribute by a mile.

Don't see no reason why he can't improve and be a top class goalie, the potential and talent is there but at this point in time he has some way to go to be one.

 

[tony]

Thought Jones played well today and certainly is not worried about leaving his line. Seemed to command the box better than Ming has at any stage since we signed him. He's no worldbeater I know but I wouldn't be annoyed to see him on the teamsheet for Swansea

 

[gkmacca]

Jones is unreliable at coming out for crosses. He does it more often than Mignolet, but you might ask well as the cat whether that's a good thing from one instance to the next. Sometimes he does okay, sometimes he misses the ball completely. The fact is, though, he has not, is not, and never will be a first choice keeper, and that OUGHT to mean he doesn't get a game merely due to Buggin's turn. If Mignolet is first choice he should play in every game. If he isn't, buy someone who is. Not in any outfield position would rational people say, 'Oh, I know, for today's match, we should play someone who hasn't had a single competitive game for ages, not even for the reserves. And I don't rate him. But, you know: it's his turn'. Why this fecking STUPID habit has developed for shite keepers is a mystery, but end it now!

 

[Red Mullet]

Jones is unreliable at coming out for crosses. He does it more often than Mignolet, but you might ask well as the cat whether that's a good thing from one instance to the next. Sometimes he does okay, sometimes he misses the ball completely. The fact is, though, he has not, is not, and never will be a first choice keeper, and that OUGHT to mean he doesn't get a game merely due to Buggin's turn. If Mignolet is first choice he should play in every game. If he isn't, buy someone who is. Not in any outfield position would rational people say, 'Oh, I know, for today's match, we should play someone who hasn't had a single competitive game for ages, not even for the reserves. And I don't rate him. But, you know: it's his turn'. Why this fecking STUPID habit has developed for shite keepers is a mystery, but end it now!

Little bit of a silly rant. What happens when Mignolet gets injured or sent off? Pays to have your second choice to play a few games in relatively un-important games, no?

 

[Dreambeliever]

Jones was excellent today, very assured.

 

[Halmeister]

I get Macca's point, to be honest - and I share it to an extent. But what if we do need a back up keeper if Mignolet gets injured or suspended? There is an argument for playing him in the cups, but playing him the reserves would be the best way to do that. As far as I can tell he doesn't play for them.

 

[juniormember]

I get Macca's point, to be honest - and I share it to an extent. But what if we do need a back up keeper if Mignolet gets injured or suspended? There is an argument for playing him in the cups, but playing him the reserves would be the best way to do that. As far as I can tell he doesn't play for them.

Yup, should be playing every single game for the reserves.

 

[mark1975]

I get Macca's point, to be honest - and I share it to an extent. But what if we do need a back up keeper if Mignolet gets injured or suspended? There is an argument for playing him in the cups, but playing him the reserves would be the best way to do that. As far as I can tell he doesn't play for them.

It'd be compounded though if he had a poor game, but he didn't, and we didn't exactly chop and change the side, as Macca suggested in the post match thread, we put Agger in for Toure (who's made two big recent gaffs), while Henderson was touch and go because of his op, so we played Allen. Other than that it was pretty much the same side that's been playing, with the inclusion of two players who already know the team well and Jones, who didn't do bad at all. If two players disrupt the side do much, you have to wonder why we bother having a squad. It was just one of those games that could have gone either way and the biggest culprits were players we've relied on upon heavily, so laying blame with the alterations is well wide of the mark.

 

[Halmeister]

It'd be compounded though if he had a poor game, but he didn't, and we didn't exactly chop and change the side, as Macca suggested in the post match thread, we put Agger in for Toure (who's made two big recent gaffs), while Henderson was touch and go because of his op, so we played Allen. Other than that it was pretty much the same side that's been playing, with the inclusion of two players who already know the team well and Jones, who didn't do bad at all. If two players disrupt the side do much, you have to wonder why we bother having a squad. It was just one of those games that could have gone either way and the biggest culprits were players we've relied on upon heavily, so laying blame with the alterations is well wide of the mark.

Oh yeah I know. Large, wholesale changes disrupt the side. But I don't think he was saying we lost the game because of those changes was he? I may have missed that? We were very unfortunate to be on the losing side there. We just didn't take our chances.

 

[gkmacca]

I wasn't saying we lost the game because of that, but I just wish people would acknowledge the irrationality of those who welcome playing occasionally (or to be more accurate: very rarely) any player who has zero match sharpness. Just because it's a fashion for keepers doesn't make it rational. For one thing, they NEED games just to be prepared, and that means the reserves, and for another thing, you MUST earn the chance to play for LFC, whether you're outfield or a keeper. Jones has a different style to Mignolet, he makes different decisions in terms of crosses, he makes different decisions in terms of catching or punching. That in itself introduces a degree of anxiety into defenders who play week in week out with Mignolet. Add to that his rustiness, so he's not only acting differently but also more slowly, then I just don't see how anyone can claim it's not a gamble to play him in a big game. And yet still some will be there next time saying, "1. Jones...." I fear some will jump in a glove and hop down the street singing Abba songs if it's declared that "it's how things are done these days". It's a stupid fashion and it never fails to irk.

 

[mark1975]

I wasn't saying we lost the game because of that, but I just wish people would acknowledge the irrationality of those who welcome playing occasionally (or to be more accurate: very rarely) any player who has zero match sharpness. Just because it's a fashion for keepers doesn't make it rational. For one thing, they NEED games just to be prepared, and that means the reserves, and for another thing, you MUST earn the chance to play for LFC, whether you're outfield or a keeper. Jones has a different style to Mignolet, he makes different decisions in terms of crosses, he makes different decisions in terms of catching or punching. That in itself introduces a degree of anxiety into defenders who play week in week out with Mignolet. Add to that his rustiness, so he's not only acting differently but also more slowly, then I just don't see how anyone can claim it's not a gamble to play him in a big game. And yet still some will be there next time saying, "1. Jones...." I fear some will jump in a glove and hop down the street singing Abba songs if it's declared that "it's how things are done these days". It's a stupid fashion and it never fails to irk.

To be honest, it surprised me he played, I just thought you were saying that was the reason why we lost. I get the reasoning re what you're saying about people posting that we should do this and that in cup games, it's not played on paper and you'd think we'd learn our lesson in trying to do it against the lesser teams.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

One issue is the knock-on effects when you decide to play your senior backup keeper in the reserves. There are about 20-odd games a season at that level, with the scheduling rather haphazard in my recollection (you could go a month or so without a game and suddenly 2 or 3 games in a week). If you play Jones in the U-21 games, it then takes away time for the development of the U-21 keeper (Ward). You don't want this chap cold as well, because if your first choice senior keeper is out, he becomes the guy on the bench on match days. You'll have to be a bit unlucky to have to face that situation, but we had that in Kenny's full season when Reina and Doni were both out. If you push Ward down a level to the U-18s, then it takes away time from Crump. And somewhere in between, Fulton needs minutes too - just checked and saw his tweets that since pre-season, he's had a hand fracture followed by a fibula fracture, and is just back to training. No wonder I haven't seen him in the couple of games I've managed to catch this season.

The middle ground I guess, is for Jones and Ward to split time in the U-21 games. When the better of the two U-18 keepers is ready to come up to the U-21 level, we can then add him to the U-21 rotation and decide whoever is the better keeper - Ward or Crump / Fulton - and keep one of them while loaning out / selling / releasing the other.

 

[Red Mullet]

I wasn't saying we lost the game because of that, but I just wish people would acknowledge the irrationality of those who welcome playing occasionally (or to be more accurate: very rarely) any player who has zero match sharpness. Just because it's a fashion for keepers doesn't make it rational. For one thing, they NEED games just to be prepared, and that means the reserves, and for another thing, you MUST earn the chance to play for LFC, whether you're outfield or a keeper. Jones has a different style to Mignolet, he makes different decisions in terms of crosses, he makes different decisions in terms of catching or punching. That in itself introduces a degree of anxiety into defenders who play week in week out with Mignolet. Add to that his rustiness, so he's not only acting differently but also more slowly, then I just don't see how anyone can claim it's not a gamble to play him in a big game. And yet still some will be there next time saying, "1. Jones...." I fear some will jump in a glove and hop down the street singing Abba songs if it's declared that "it's how things are done these days". It's a stupid fashion and it never fails to irk.

Surely Jones trains with the first team so the defenders know his style of play and he knows theirs? Since there's only 1 game a week (possibly 2 when we were in the cup), he would spend more time with the first team and their substitutes than the actual team that plays in the games. The only thing he'll lack is the match day experience. I would've thought playing him in the reserves is a must and in not-so-important games so he's prepared to jump in if something happens to Mignolet.

 

[Brizzle]

I agree with Macca - I don't understand why it is done just to give them game time. If they want game time - earn it by outperforming the 1st choice keeper in training. The argument about staying sharp in case of an injury.. well that doesn't really fly when there are only say 5 or 6 cup games a season and you would need Mignolet to get injured in the next game, otherwise that spell of 2-3 weeks means sharpness is already lost.

This was a big game for me to see Mignolet build some understanding with the CB pair that he will be organising against Swansea and he has now missed that. Lets hope we don't see any misunderstanding between him and Agger against the Swans now..

 

[gkmacca]

We do need competition for our first choice keeper, but it bemuses me when managers bring in someone saying that's what they'll do, when what you actually do is take a potential competitor out of contention by leaving them to stagnate on the bench. The only pressure they can put on the first choice keeper from there is the memory of how good they used to be when they were playing regularly for another club. It wouldn't be so bad if our actual reserve team keepers looked like they were genuinely close to coming into contention themselves, but I think it's fair to say none of them look anywhere near to being ready for a senior game. So we have one senior keeper who isn't getting any practice, and two or three young keepers who are getting lots of practice without much obvious progression. I'm not sure how to solve it, except to look to send our young keepers out on loan to play for lower league senior teams, and put our number two keeper as the regular reserve team keeper.

 

[SummerOnions]

Ideally you'd have the kid on the bench if he was good enough. And he'd play for the reserves

 

[gkmacca]

Yes. We've got Danny Ward (who's about 21 I think), but he himself needs to get out somewhere and play. He's rated quite highly but I'd be pretty scared if he had to set up for the odd senior game at this stage.

 

[willby]

The Belgian keeper's form has come under the microscope lately as Liverpool continue to leak goals.

Simon Mignolet started off his season at Liverpool in promising fashion. Even though he had his shaky moments, he is remembered for his double save to deny Stoke City a draw at Anfield on the opening day of the season, and give Liverpool the best possible start.

But Mignolet’s form has come under the microscope somewhat since then – more so over the Christmas period when errors against Manchester City and Chelsea ended up costing Liverpool. An error against Stoke City and confusion involving himself and Glen Johnson against Aston Villa led to Christian Benteke easily heading home in a 2-2 draw have also led to some question marks hanging over him as to whether he is the top-class goalkeeper Liverpool need.

There are other criticisms of Mignolet: that he doesn’t come for the ball enough, that his distribution isn’t the best and that he doesn’t look comfortable on the ball. These accusations couldn’t be levelled at his predecessor Pepe Reina, who performed the role of ‘sweeper keeper’ to a very high standard, which helped the Spaniard to three golden glove awards during his time on Merseyside.

There have been several reasons cited for Liverpool’s leaky defence this season – Mamadou Sakho being absent is one of those which we have analysed – some will say it is because the amount of times Liverpool’s back-line has changed this season.

But let’s have a look at Mignolet’s performances in particular. The Belgian has appeared in every Premier League game this season for the Reds and is undoubtedly Brendan Rodgers' number one for this season.

But with Liverpool playing such a high pressing game at times it is surprising that out of all the first-choice goalkeepers in the league, only Swansea City's Michel Vorm and Manchester United's David De Gea sit below him in the statistics when it comes to playing the 'sweeper keeper' role - though Vorm has spent a spell on the sidelines through injury.

full story: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/02/25/ib-is-criticism-of-simon-mignolet-fair/

 

[Mamma Mia]

Keepers usually can't be afforded much time to settle in and improve while taking on instruction. Luckily this season we have been scoring enough to get away with it.

I think, or rather hope, we will see a huge improvement in a year from now if we persist with Mignolet.

 

[Hansern]

He'll be a very good player for us if we give him time, and I think Rodgers will do that.

 

[dmishra]

He may well improve loads. Let's see.

My random reason for not having much faith in him - top keepers ooze confidence and personality.

Mignolet looks like the most boring cunt in the squad, quite like Westerveld.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Its sounding like he will be lucky to get next season with these other goalkeeper rumours around, if he does get next season and doesn't improve that'll be it.

 

[dmishra]

Let me develop that completely random point into a shit theory:

1. Cunts with personality/leadership and confidence – Kahn, Casillas, Buffon, Reina, Schmeichel – top keepers
2. Eccentric cunts – Barthez, Dudek, Chilavert, Lehmann, Rustu, Higuita – often brilliant, but unreliable on the whole
3. Boring cunts but unflappable – Cech, Neuer, van der Sar, Friedel, Given, Jaaskelainen – steady and consistent
4. Boring cunts with no confidence – Westerveld, Kirkland, Sorensen, Carson – shit keepers

Obviously, you want your keepers to be in categories 1 or 3. Mignolet’s not going to be category 1 ever. He might end up being category 3, but could well be category 4.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Where would you put De Gea and Lloris, Dmishra?

De Gea 3 Lloris 2?

 

[dmishra]

No idea, I really haven't watched enough of either.

 

[Spaghetti Legs]

Lo, fair enough.

 

[irishred]

I think Mignolet's a fantastic prospect. Earlier in the season he was magnificent and saved us a lot of points with Carra singing his praises in the media. He made a few of clangers, most notably at Sunderland, Man City and Aston Villa, but on the whole I think he's been unfairly castigated. For example some were blaming him for Toure's moment of madness against West Brom and Skrtel's bizarre back kick lay off for Richardson vs Fulham. I think every top team in the premier league (bar maybe Chelsea) are having goalkeeping issues for one reason or another. Some are saying all he does is save shots, what else do you want him to do?! Possibly the only goalkeeper i'd be happy replacing him with is his compatriot Courtois but I highly doubt Chelsea would be willing to do business with us. Here's my view on the goals we've conceded this season (those in bold being the major culprit(s) for the goal in my opinion, Mignolet doesn't feature too often):

17th Aug Liverpool 1-0 Stoke City - Clean Sheet

24th Aug Aston Villa 0-1 Liverpool - Clean Sheet

1st Sep Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd - Clean Sheet

16th Sep Swansea 2-2 Liverpool - Shelvey goal (Calamity of errors, Gerrard turns his back to the oncoming shot initially and doesn't chase back, Sakho stood like a statue like he was 43 not 23 and Shelvey used both feet well in the situation.).
Michu goal (We sat far too deep, it's weird looking back at this goal because I doubt we'd do that now, Shelvey had acres of space in the middle, passed it into Bony who in turn dragged Sakho out of position leaving a massive hole for Shelvey to run into with not one of our midfielders picking him up as he ran 40 yards unattended before flicking the header into the path of Michu to finish.).

21st Sep Liverpool 0 -1 Southampton - Lovren goal (From a corner Lovren had Agger going round in circles and finally falling to the floor, embarrassingly poor from a centre half, then Gerrard attempted a last ditch clearance off the line to no avail.).

29th Sep Sunderland 1-3 Liverpool - Giaccherini goal (Mistake on the part of Mignolet against his former club. Although it travelled through Skrtel's legs, he should've handled the long-distance effort from Ki better instead of parrying it into Giaccherini's path.).

5th Oct Liverpool 3-1 Crystal Palace - Gayle goal (Free-kick delivered in from their left-hand side, Gayle drifts in front of Gerrard at the edge of the six-yard box and nods it into the far corner.).

19th Oct Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool - Cabaye goal (Superbly taken goal. Ran from the half-way line unmarked, unpressurised and struck from at least 40 yards dipping just before Mignolet. Mixture of goalkeeper should've got something on it and non-existent defending.)
Dummett goal (Another set-piece. A great delivery from Cabaye as Skrtel and Toure got in each others way trying to deal with Williamson. Sakho and Cissokho ball-watched as the youngster Dummett intelligently bent his run and anticipated the flick on, sneaking in at the back post to finish first time like he'd been doing it all his life.)

26th Oct Liverpool 4-1 WBA - Morrison penalty (Very, very soft penalty to give away. Billy Jones drove into the box and is then crowded out as Lucas wins the ball. Ridiculous decision. Perhaps Cissokho gave him the slightest nudge. Mignolet was given no chance as the penalty was expertly struck by Morrison.)

2nd Nov Arsenal 2-0 Liverpool - Cazorla goal (Cissokho is tracking Sagna as he whips in a half-decent cross into the box with not one midfielder following Cazorla as he heads against the post and it somehow rebounds straight to his feet to blast it in the net.)
Ramsey goal (Our players were drawn to the ball like a moth to a light particularly Lucas, and then we (Toure) stood off Ramsey as he took a touch, steadied himself for 3 bounces before firing over the grasp of Mignolet.)

9th Nov Liverpool 4-0 Fulham - Clean sheet.

23rd Nov Everton 3-3 Liverpool - Mirallas goal (Set piece delivered by Baines from around the middle third not dealt adequately enough by Skrtel or Henderson initially, before the ball is nodded down towards Mirallas who was more alert than Gerrard.)
Lukaku's 1st goal (Poor marking all round, Lukaku had a free-kick well saved by Mignolet seconds before as Everton passed it around with their attacking players free to do as they wanted. Shambolic defending.)
Lukaku's 2nd goal (Another set-piece. Inswinging corner from their left-hand side as Lukaku was initally being marked by Johnson jumped ahead of the unaware Flanagan and powered it in the top corner. What on earth was Johnson doing marking Lukaku!?).

1st Dec Hull 3-1 Liverpool - Livermore (Moses stupidly loses the ball in our third, Credit to Hull they played a great one-two between Livermore and a team mate as his strike took an almighty deflection off Skrtel and drifted over Mignolet.).
Meyler goal (Long ball into the 18-yard box is flicked on uncontested by Curtis Davies to Sagbo but yet again Skrtel tries to win the header with another Liverpool player (Toure) and it drops to their feet. Toure's weak clearance only reaches Meyler at the edge of the 18-yard box whose initial effort is blocked but, unfortunately for us, falls nicely in the same players path again.)
Skrtel own goal (As we chased an equaliser they broke on the counter and Sagbo dribbled towards Skrtel and Toure into our penalty area, unpressurised by the Slovakian, Sagbo simply waited for support to arrive and it did in the shape of Huddlestone whose shot was going wide before Skrtel intervened and wrong-footed Mignolet.).

4th Dec Liverpool 5-1 Norwich - Bradley Johnson goal (Glen Johnson isn't tight enough on their left-winger as he easily inswings the ball right-footed as Agger is caught napping in the middle. Fantastic header from Johnson though.)

7th Dec Liverpool 4-1 West Ham - Skrtel own goal (Nolan in the attacking third on their right-hand side lays it off to Demel who feigns to cross and a whimpish attempt at a block from Flanagan allows him all the time in the world to cut inside and cross to the back post were Jarvis was waiting as Johnson for some reason decided it'd be a better idea to tuck inside and heads across goal and even more bizarrely Skrtel puts his leg out and misdirects it into his own net.)

15th Dec Tottenham 0-5 Liverpool - Clean sheet.

21st Dec Liverpool 3-1 Cardiff - Mutch goal (Another set-piece, this time an inswinging free-kick from their right-hand side to the 2v1 in Cardiff's favour at the back post as Sakho was blocked off by the guy he was marking, leaving Mutch with a free header. Kelly and Skrtel marking the same man 5 yards away but I believe it was an error on Kelly's part as he came on at right-back.)

26th Dec Man City 2-1 Liverpool - Kompany goal (Yet another set-piece. Corner on their left-hand side with Kompany out jumping Skrtel and Lucas, despite Skrtel's best WWF efforts.).
Negredo goal (City counter-attacked and we looked utterly shapeless, bypassing our midfield and Cissokho with one ball towards the right as it was played to Navas who threaded a precise ball between Skrtel (who should've stayed where he was) and Sakho (who should've stayed with his marker, the man who went on to score). Ultimately, the blame falls on Mignolet's shoulders as the shot was poor).

29th Dec Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool - Hazard goal (Some neat passing in a congested midfield from Chelsea to set Oscar free, and he bears down on our goal before Sakho tackles but the ball falls for the Belgian to finish like a man of his quality does. Unfortunately for us, whilst Oscar is dribbling towards our goal, Joe Allen seemingly decides to let Hazard run on off-the-ball and we were severely punished.)
Eto'o goal (Oscar slides a low-pass across the six-yard box rather fortunately between Sakho's legs and Skrtel is on the wrong side of Eto'o as the ball is knocked back in. The media go on about the 'Terry position', Skrtel should've been there.)

1st Jan Liverpool 2-0 Hull City - Clean sheet.

12th Jan Stoke City 3-5 Liverpool - Crouch goal (Began the madness in terms of the sheer amount of goals we've been leaking recently. Their left-winger had far, far too much time to put the ball in, Johnson and Suarez weren't quick enough to close him down and Crouch beat the non-jumping Toure with ease on the penalty spot.).
Adam goal (Henderson gave the ball away to Adam with an attempted back pass to Gerrard who slipped on the surface, leaving him to drive at our defence and Skrtel backed off and backed off until it was too late and the ball was sailing between his legs into the corner of the net.)
Walters goal (Lucas nips in and lays it backwards straight to Arnautovic on their left-wing, crossed it in first-time to Walters unpressurised, as Johnson was 10 yards further up field. Then Toure may as well have said 'there you go have a free shot' the way he defended for this goal, as he had acres of room to pick where he wanted to place it.)

18th Jan Liverpool 2-2 Aston Villa - Weimann goal (Our defence was stretched as the ball was played into the channel for Agbonlahor. Toure was drifting deeper and deeper into the danger area as Agbonlahor used his acceleration to full effect and then found Weimann in the six-yard box after a lung-bursting run which was not followed by Gerrard.).
Benteke goal (Cross from their right-hand side which could easily have been prevented with a Johnson header but there was obviously a lack of communication as Mignolet came out and flapped at it and it deflected square on the head of Benteke. Perhaps this is why he's become very hesitant about coming off his line of late.).

28th Jan Liverpool 4-0 Everton - Clean sheet

2nd Feb WBA 1-1 Liverpool - Anichebe goal (Toure had a couple of options, play it where it came from or hoof it up field and then blame the rest of the team for the lack of options. Instead he did the thing you're taught as a schoolboy not to do. A further option which Ryan alluded to was Gerrard's position in the middle, or lack of positioning. Had Gerrard been in the middle, he would've supplied another option and not been in Anichbe's eyeline as Toure foolishly passed along his own goalmouth. But Toure had been making crazy decisions all day and it didn't surprise me.)

8th Feb Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal - Arteta penalty (Gerrard's clumsy tackle on Chamberlain as he veered down a blind alley wasn't a moment the captain will look back on too fondly.)

12th Feb Fulham 2-3 Liverpool - Toure own goal (Well what can you say about this goal that hasn't already been said? Apart from the massive cock-up from Toure, the supply should've been cut off initially as Gerrard simply allowed Richardson to travel on to the through ball to knock it tamely across the six-yard box. Bizarrely, it resembles a similar incident recently which happened to the league's best defender against the very same opponents, so Toure is in elite Kompany.).
Richardson goal (Quick thrown is taken and a cross delivered into the six-yard box from the right-hand side and I don't think even Skrtel knows what he was doing. Laying it on a plate for Richardson. Very preventable goal had Flanagan or Mignolet communicated, but Skrtel is experienced enough to know you don't mess about there.).

23rd Feb Liverpool 4-3 Swansea City - Shelvey goal (During the build-up Gerrard simply allows Routledge to knock the ball over him and run at our defence. Johnson then unchallenged Dyer as he ran alongside the box. But the exquisite finishing from Shelvey was unsaveable, you just have to put your hands together and appreciate the quality of the strike, which the Kop duly did.).
Bony's 1st (Yet another set-piece. De Guzman lofts it into the box from a free-kick just past the half-way line. Agger loses Bony altogether, so much so you could nearly drive a bus between them. Despite taking a ricochet to deceive Mignolet, the uncontested header killed us on this occasion.).
Bony penalty (Skrtel detractors will say this was an accumulation of weeks of wrestling with his opposite number. Very preventable as he didn't need to do it, as Agger had the situation under control.).

Goals conceded from:
Crossing - 11 (Cazorla, Bradley Johnson, Skrtel OG 2nd, Crouch, Benteke, Richardson (5 of which were along the ground: Lukaku 1st, Eto'o, Walters, Weimann, Toure OG))
Long range shots - 7 (Cabaye, Ramsey, Livermore, Hazard, Adam, Shelvey 2nd, Skrtel OG 1st)
Free-kicks delivered into the box - 5 (Gayle, Dummett, Mirallas, Mutch, Bony 1st)
Corners - 3 (Lovren, Lukaku 2nd, Kompany)
Penalties - 3 (Morrison, Arteta, Bony 2nd)
Lofted pass into the penalty area from defence - 2 (Michu, Meyler)
Killer ball - 1 (Negredo)
Opponent ran through defence - 1 (Shelvey 1st)
Goalkeeper spilling the ball - 1 (Giaccherini)
Suicidal defending - 1 (Anichebe)

This illustrates pretty much what a lot of us assumed about our defence. We need to get a lot tighter sooner and be more aerially dominant, whether that's with the current centre-halfs or not remains to be seen (personally, i'm not convinced by Skrtel and Agger), cause we've conceded quite a lot of long range/deflected goals and crosses/set-pieces, whereas on the positive, our players are quick enough not to allow the opponent to run by, or get in behind via a through ball.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Let me develop that completely random point into a shit theory:

1. Cunts with personality/leadership and confidence – Kahn, Casillas, Buffon, Reina, Schmeichel – top keepers
2. Eccentric cunts – Barthez, Dudek, Chilavert, Lehmann, Rustu, Higuita – often brilliant, but unreliable on the whole
3. Boring cunts but unflappable – Cech, Neuer, van der Sar, Friedel, Given, Jaaskelainen – steady and consistent
4. Boring cunts with no confidence – Westerveld, Kirkland, Sorensen, Carson – shit keepers

Obviously, you want your keepers to be in categories 1 or 3. Mignolet’s not going to be category 1 ever. He might end up being category 3, but could well be category 4.

(3) is a good place to be in for Mig. If he makes that, I'm satisfied.

I'm not sure Reina deserves to be in (1) with some of those greats. Him and Cech belong in a bracket like (3a) - more solid that the rest in (3) and not as plain - okay, Cech is dull but he gets points just for that hat. Someone like Bergovic belongs in (3) as well.

 

[juniormember]

I think Mignolet's simply a crap football player, but a good goal keeper, if that makes sense.

I would assume someone like Reina would have been very eager to always play as an outfield player during school breaks, maybe even as a forward, while with Mignolet, it would always be as a goal keeper, if he wasn't in the library studying.

He's not good at reading the play, reading the speed of through balls (thus is more often than not rooted to his six yard box), kicking the ball and throwing the ball.
He enjoys making saves though.

 

[Y1]

I remember early on he was very good shot stopper with very good reflex but very nervous with back passes and poor at distributions.
Lately he is quite confident with back passes and good at distributions. But poor at crosses and poor in coming out and not in communication with our defenders.
Still a good reactive stopper.