Mignolet..

[Hansern]

Mignolet has made a total of 8 saves for us in two games so far. Pepe made 8 in total in the first 5 games last season, conceding 10 goals.
Now, the team in general is in much better shape then last season but Mignolet has so far done his job when called upon.

 

[gkmacca]

He's so far shown he's an upgrade on Reina in terms of shot stopping. Still needs to improve as a footballer in general, as the defenders look nowhere near as comfortable passing the ball back to him as they were with Reina, and often end up choosing the more difficult riskier option instead.

What he needs to work on is his throwing. It's hard to improve a keeper's kicking accuracy - Clemence, for example, worked on that aspect for years and years and was never that good, but he improved dramatically at bowling the ball out early and quickly, which had the consequence that the whole team became much sharper and pacier at starting new attacks. Mignolet can improve his throwing pretty quickly, and using that rather than punting upfield ought to slot very neatly into Rodgers' approach. If defenders are disinclined to pass back then hopefully that will end the awful tippy tappy faffing about at the back, ending with the keeper surrendering possession via a hopeful punt up field. Good riddance!

 

[dmishra]

What he needs to work on is his throwing. It's hard to improve a keeper's kicking accuracy - Clemence, for example, worked on that aspect for years and years and was never that good, but he improved dramatically at bowling the ball out early and quickly, which had the consequence that the whole team became much sharper and pacier at starting new attacks. Mignolet can improve his throwing pretty quickly, and using that rather than punting upfield ought to slot very neatly into Rodgers' approach. If defenders are disinclined to pass back then hopefully that will end the awful tippy tappy faffing about at the back, ending with the keeper surrendering possession via a hopeful punt up field. Good riddance!

I think his throwing was quite decent yesterday. I do agree that he's never going to great with the ball at this feet, but that's not necessarily THAT important.

What I'm most concerned about is his ability on crosses, where he's been quite shaky so far.

One thing he'd to well to learn from Pepe is positioning. Reina was positionally one of the best keepers I've ever seen - his ability to read a situation, come of his line, and close angles were absolutely top drawer. People who've been berating Reina's lack of match-winning saves just need to look back at how frequently he saved situations just by quick thinking and smart positioning.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

It's really odd, because if I remember correctly, Mignolet had one of the best stats last season in collecting crosses. Did we show him tapes of David James during training or what?

 

[Judge Jules]

Just shows how iffy stats can be IMO. Mignolet's a good keeper who will get even better, but collecting high balls was the one weakness I could see during his time with Sunderland, so TBH his occasional problems with that so far this season don't totally surprise me.

 

[juniormember]

What he needs to work on is his throwing. It's hard to improve a keeper's kicking accuracy - Clemence, for example, worked on that aspect for years and years and was never that good, but he improved dramatically at bowling the ball out early and quickly, which had the consequence that the whole team became much sharper and pacier at starting new attacks. Mignolet can improve his throwing pretty quickly, and using that rather than punting upfield ought to slot very neatly into Rodgers' approach. If defenders are disinclined to pass back then hopefully that will end the awful tippy tappy faffing about at the back, ending with the keeper surrendering possession via a hopeful punt up field. Good riddance!

I do agree with you, great point, but the way Rodgers has us setup means there are tons of back passes, and gone are the old days of being able to pick those up. They need to put him in an intensive program of constantly working with the ball and hopefully after a year of constant work and game experience in our side he'll get more comfortable with the ball. I do hope he also becomes more commanding with crosses too. Still looks very suspect with his decision making in that area. I have absolutely no complaints though with his shot stopping. Brilliant. Earned us 4 points already. But I hope the coaching staff are working on those other vital areas. Have we got a new goal keeping coach since last year?

 

[juniormember]

I think his throwing was quite decent yesterday. I do agree that he's never going to great with the ball at this feet, but that's not necessarily THAT important.

What I'm most concerned about is his ability on crosses, where he's been quite shaky so far.

One thing he'd to well to learn from Pepe is positioning. Reina was positionally one of the best keepers I've ever seen - his ability to read a situation, come of his line, and close angles were absolutely top drawer. People who've been berating Reina's lack of match-winning saves just need to look back at how frequently he saved situations just by quick thinking and smart positioning.

Absolutely spot on. Even when people (including myself) were raving about Pepe, I never considered him a great shot stopper, like his rival Cech. But his positioning was supremely good, and the way he mostly never went to ground when one on one (Like Schmeichel's handball style goal keeping) saved us on numerous occasions. He really was great.

 

[King Binny]

Save vs Benteke

 

[King Binny]

"You always say that a good goalkeeper will save you up to 10 points a season," Rodgers said. "Last week he saved us two points with the penalty and against Villa he's made a terrific save at the end, so if you want to count that as another two, he's up four points already in the first two games. I think it's so important you've got a top keeper and we've got one at 25 now who's really hungry and really wants to play and improve."

 

[localny]

Definite comparison to comfortable pepe there

 

[King Binny]

 

[Hansern]

Rodgers needs to stop forcing him to play it short on days like today. We were putting ourselves under pressure with some awful passing at the back.

 

[Red Mullet]

Rodgers needs to stop forcing him to play it short on days like today. We were putting ourselves under pressure with some awful passing at the back.

Hoofing it is not the answer. It just comes straight back.

 

[Gary25]

Hoofing it is not the answer. It just comes straight back.

Time and a place springs to mind.

 

[Red Mullet]

Time and a place springs to mind.

True, but there's another way. Get better at passing it along the back. One way to do that, by keep on doing it.

 

[Squiggles]

I'm sick to death about reading about distribution. It's tha keepers job is to stop shots, and I can't but feel we're overcomplicating it.

It's the job of the fullbacks, when picked, along with the defensive midfield to present an easy option for the keeper and then to move the ball upfield. When that option isn't there, the keeper should be comfortable in booting the ball 80 yards when he needs to, which is something Mignolet and Rodgers need to chat about.

 

[King Binny]

[article=http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11096/8935277/rodgers-tough-lesson?]Simon Mignolet proved his shot-stopping ability with some fine saves to prevent Southampton extending their lead, but the keeper's poor passing was again an issue as Saints sensed the Belgian's anxiety with their high pressing. Mignolet's average pass completion rate stands at a lowly 45% in his first five matches - 14th out of all regular top-flight No 1s - compared to Pepe Reina's impressive average of 71% last season.

Mignolet might argue that his settling-in period hasn't been aided by the changes in front of him, with Rodgers picking four different defensive combinations in the first five matches.[/article]

 

[Gary25]

I also couldn't give a fuck about his distribution.

It's unfortunate it's even a talking point because it's overshadowing his contribution for us thus far. He's quality.

 

[Whirly]

[article=http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11096/8935277/rodgers-tough-lesson?]Simon Mignolet proved his shot-stopping ability with some fine saves to prevent Southampton extending their lead, but the keeper's poor passing was again an issue as Saints sensed the Belgian's anxiety with their high pressing. Mignolet's average pass completion rate stands at a lowly 45% in his first five matches - 14th out of all regular top-flight No 1s - compared to Pepe Reina's impressive average of 71% last season.

Mignolet might argue that his settling-in period hasn't been aided by the changes in front of him, with Rodgers picking four different defensive combinations in the first five matches.[/article]

Would say Reina's is a bit inflated because our central defenders last season seemed to love playing 1-2's with him instead of turning around, even if the pressure was lacking. Mignolet seems to have less patience for that sort of thing.

 

[Ossi]

Reina short passing wasn't very good when he was under pressure. He could kick it long accurately though.

 

[mark1975]

I'm sick to death about reading about distribution. It's tha keepers job is to stop shots, and I can't but feel we're overcomplicating it.

It's the job of the fullbacks, when picked, along with the defensive midfield to present an easy option for the keeper and then to move the ball upfield. When that option isn't there, the keeper should be comfortable in booting the ball 80 yards when he needs to, which is something Mignolet and Rodgers need to chat about.

A big problem yesterday was the fullbacks, when Skrtel or Agger got the ball, the outlet was too narrow to them, the ball came back and it resulted in a hurried clearance/pass and invited pressure. This was largely due to not having natural fullbacks, although Toure did well to a degree, neither he nor Sakho were assured when they got the ball wide. I tend to agree with Mullet, he needs to just fucking work hard at it. The problem was two-fold, his hoofing towards the end of the game cost us because we weren't winning anything in the air and we weren't maintaining possession, the problems earlier in the game stemmed from our inability to get the ball out from the back, they pressed us high up the pitch and it worked.

 

[Hansern]

They pressed us high up the pitch at St Marys aswell, it shouldnt have come as a surprise...

 

[mark1975]

They pressed us high up the pitch at St Marys aswell, it shouldnt have come as a surprise...

I know Rodgers said the injuries to Johnson and Enrique hampered his preparations, but surely there was some thinking that four centre backs would stem their aerial threat. So it's ironic that we let in such a soft goal, as he said.

 

[The Slugmonster]

They pressed us high up the pitch at St Marys aswell, it shouldnt have come as a surprise...

Yeah this is a point that hasnt been stressed enough over the last two games imo. Its one thing to say his distribution is bad and although I do agree it must improve I think it should be noted that both Southampton and Swansea press quite high so it was to be expected that we'd be under pressure. Similar to how Maureen eventually played Barcelona, in those later games Madrid would press high early on forcing valdes, pique and puyol (a settled defence) into mistakes and to concede. The new signings will take time to settle, as they did last season and I do expect to by Christmas to see Mignolet more comfortable in finding team mates. The high pressing also makes it harder from someone like lucas to drop deep and take the ball off him in games like yesterday and Monday.

 

[FreshRed]

I hear the concerns about distribution, but his triple save yesterday (especially getting up for the last punch) was one if the best saves I have seen in a long, long time and kept is in the game. He has already secured us several points this season. He is top notch. Unfortunately, our back line has looked really suspect with the ball under pressure that past two games and we do not have great long options to relieve pressure.

I think Gerrard/Lucas need to drop deeper to collect the ball when our back four are under pressure. Opponents can't pressure everyone up top without leaving themselves open at the back.

 

[gkmacca]

I hear the concerns about distribution, but his triple save yesterday (especially getting up for the last punch) was one if the best saves I have seen in a long, long time and kept is in the game. He has already secured us several points this season. He is top notch.

True. He does the essential things really well, and he'll work on the rest.

 

[localny]

Delighted we signed him. Great save yesterday on the stretch - one of many so far. Pepe would still be on his feet. Definitely a shot stopping upgrade

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

I've really grown to like him after being a bit weary of the signing.

He seems to inspire the back four with confidence. Almost like they can feel free to attempt a tackle or challenge instead of being passive bc they know their keeper can help them out.

 

[localny]

Yes, I have few doubts on this one. And you can see the determination. Watch that shot he stopped on Sat at a stretch. Loved how he was adjusting, adjusting, moving the feet positioning real quick and it saved him.

 

[Silver Sean]

I think his throwing was quite decent yesterday. I do agree that he's never going to great with the ball at this feet, but that's not necessarily THAT important.

What I'm most concerned about is his ability on crosses, where he's been quite shaky so far.

One thing he'd to well to learn from Pepe is positioning. Reina was positionally one of the best keepers I've ever seen - his ability to read a situation, come of his line, and close angles were absolutely top drawer. People who've been berating Reina's lack of match-winning saves just need to look back at how frequently he saved situations just by quick thinking and smart positioning.

I defy any keeper to improve when they have Acterburg as their coach. We're in a similar situation as when Corrighan was here destroying decent keepers year after year. Reina is back with his old one at Napoli and back to top form.