Simon Mignolet

[Camble]

Let's be honest, he's not at that too bracket and probably won't ever be. He's a good keeper but I don't think he's a great keeper.

Regarding Neville's comments: The problem is it's a split second subconscious decision to position his body lower. If he stood more upright as Neville suggested and the shot was low he'd have a struggle to save it. It was a worldie fluke.


The goal Ramsey scored last season and Negredo's goal were mistakes in my opinion.

[The_weatherman]

IF we are going to blame someone for that goal I think there was way too much space where the ball went, on the edge of the area and there was noone to pick up the second ball or close down the shot. We have three players in front of Mignolet and three on the right side but no-one to pick up the second ball on the edge of the area.

That's something they should work on, Mignolet can't work on saving that.

[G]

Was Gary Neville right?
By David Preece

CRITICISMS are to goalkeepers as cricket balls are to batsmen. You’re constantly fending them off. Sometimes the criticism’s hit so hard they leave a bruise on your confidence and takes a while to disperse, only massaged away by a combination of steely self-belief and improved performances. Sometimes you’re just playing at 7/10 when what’s required is a 9.
That’s what’s happening at Liverpool now, it seems. Without making horrendous mistakes, Liverpool’s Simon Mignolet has come under scrutiny by many because he isn’t quite making the difference that earns his teams points.
During SKY’s MNF analyisis, both Mignolet and Tim Howard came in for a bit of stick and in retrospect, rightly so but there has to be some leeway given, especially to Mignolet in this instance. There’s no getting away from it, he was beaten by a wonderful strike. Jagielka’s goal aside, Mignolet isn’t at the top of his form. Whether he would admit it’s a confidence issue or not, there is never any smoke without fire.
If there is a dip in confidence, starting positions begin to drop back a yard as you retreat to the safety of your line so as not to involve yourself with through balls and crosses. That small percentage of doubt delays your decision making by the tiniest of fractions, but just enough to fumble that ball you should’ve pushed away. And as much as anything, that lack of confidence spreads to the players in front of you, perhaps not consciously but almost osmotically.
Football - Football League Cup - 2nd Round - Liverpool FC v Notts County FC
So let’s isolate Gary Neville’s criticism of Mignolet. Should he have saved Jagielka’s shot?
It would have been a world class save but let’s break it down, first from the point of the strike. Jagielka hit across the ball making it deviate away from Mignolet, the movement becoming more exaggerated the further it flew. As the ball reaches halfway towards you, you pick up the flight of the ball and decide which hand to go with.
Bear in mind it’s then difficult to react to any further deviation from this point whilst you’re mid-dive.The height the ball is projected to means Mignolet was right to go with his top hand. It’s seen as flashy by many but as your body naturally turns forwards towards the ball, you can gain more height and power to deflect it away.
From hereon in I have to agree with Gary. He made a great point about Mignolet’s starting position, crouched low with his hands almost by his knees. This is where he was perfectly right to criticise. The problem here is fourfold.
Firstly, it takes much more effort and power to push off from this position and when we’re dealing in milliseconds, every minuscule error is costly.
Secondly, from such a crouched position it isn’t as easy to shift your feet quickly and your feet, you might be surprised to learn, are much more important in goalkeeping than your hands, whatever era you played in. Stood in a more “mid-height” position, knees slightly bent, chest forward, he might have got one or two extra steps in that allowed him to dive later.
Thirdly, his low hand position means the split second extra needed to even get his hands where they should have been (hip height) will mean his hands won’t get to the ball. I’ve noticed Thibaut Courtois adopts a similar stance so perhaps it’s something they have been taught from someone like Jean Marie Pfaff. Hands should only be held so low when dealing with one v one situations at close quarters.
And fourthly, as a keeper you are constantly battling to keep yourself in a balanced stance with you bodyweight slightly forward. Theory being you’re in a neutral position so you can react and move in every direction and your dive should always be diagonally forward to cut off the angle of the shot. When your hands are too low, the movement required to bring them up shifts the momentum of your bodyweight slightly backwards, the antithesis of what you try perfecting all week in training. This means your dive will then be slightly backwards making it more difficult to redirect the ball.

International Football - Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup - Qualifying Group A - Wales v Belgium
As for Carragher’s point about Tim Howard, he was spot on. A basic goalkeeping rule is that you should never bounce as the ball is being hit. Jimmy Montgomery taught me that 20 years ago yet many keepers have done it and still do. Mentor to Edwin van der Sar and Manchester United’s new GK coach, Frans Hoek, would actively teach the movement of a small jump so your landing coincided with the moment the ball was struck and it works because you can generate more power when you push off. I did and it wasn’t until I was coached by Tom Sterebo at Odense, Denmark that I adopted more of a pitter-patter American football players style when he’s preparing to move off. The theory was your feet were never off the floor long enough to be caught mid-hop like Howard.
In short, Gary was correct in his analysis. In a perfect world he might have got got closer to the ball but you also have to give credit where it’s due and wonder whether the criticism is justified. One thing I will say though, his point about Neuer hold no grounds. Neuer’s technique and hand position isn’t exactly textbook at times. Just as we talk about the pre-shot hop, Neuer swings his arms backwards and forwards wildly as the shot is taken. Again, not technically correct but something that works for him and that’s important to remember. A keeper’s style has to suit him. What is right for one may not necessarily be right for another.
The intricacies and minutiae of goalkeeping are often boiled down to whether the spectator thinks they could or couldn’t have stopped the shot, but there’s so much more to it than just catching or saving a ball.

David Preece is a professional Goalkeeper with a Hodgsonesque 20 years-plus experience and has played in England, Scotland, Denmark and Iceland, he is currently first team goalkeeping coach for Lincoln City.

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2014/09/mignolet-was-gary-neville-right/?wt=4

[Daniel 7]

David Preece was also the worst goalkeeper I have ever seen play for Aberdeen. He was ****ing atrocious.

Edit: dig the edit

[Muddled]

Mignolet had the same low down stance during his time at Sunderland and he has continued it with us, it's nothing new. Of all the things Mignolet could be picked up on this season, not saving Jagielka's shot is not one of them.

Is that too many 'nots'?

[G]

David Preece was also the worst goalkeeper I have ever seen play for Aberdeen. He was ****ing atrocious.

Edit: dig the edit

What edit?

Anyway, How does he fare in comparison to the great John Actherberg?

[wavydavy]

We finished 2nd last season and aspire to go top 4 this season yet we have someone between the sticks who I don't believe is a top 4 keeper. I reckon there's close to ten keepers currently playing elsewhere in the Premiership better than Mingalot. Some teams actually have second choices better than him. Not good enough.

[Kenneth]

We finished 2nd last season and aspire to go top 4 this season yet we have someone between the sticks who I don't believe is a top 4 keeper. I reckon there's close to ten keepers currently playing elsewhere in the Premiership better than Mingalot. Some teams actually have second choices better than him. Not good enough.

He's no worse that the keeper who won a league winners medal last year. He is not the reason why we are ****. We came second last year with him in goal.

[ChesterDave]

We came second last year because we scored 102 ****ing goals. Absolutely nothing to do with the quality of out goalkeeper!

[baitman]

i noticed mig was more vocal tonight.

for a free kick he was shouting and screaming at the line of defenders who were ignoring a guy who was unmarked on our right wing, manq should have picked him up, but no one was listening.
maybe players instinctively 'think' in native language and the shouts in english just become background noise.

[danperkins]

Don't rate Mig but was very unlucky for the goal. The kicker is that if he had of missed it Enrique would have cleared it off the line.

[Leyton388]

I wouldn't trust Enrique to clear his nose.

[baitman]

Don't rate Mig but was very unlucky for the goal. The kicker is that if he had of missed it Enrique would have cleared it off the line.

thats a big assumption.
enrique would be more likely to get his shirt off and take a selfie with the ball in the back of the net.

[danperkins]

thats a big assumption.
enrique would be more likely to get his shirt off and take a selfie with the ball in the back of the net.

I wouldn't trust Enrique to clear his nose.

[BobTheCharmer]

Made some good saves today, came and clattered skrtel which was promising and his kicking was on the whole very good despite some awful passes back to him.