Simon Mignolet

[Harv]

Yep, he's pure wank.

Cant remember ever seeing such a complete fanny of a keeper. He's petrified of contact despite the fact he's built like a brick ****house and has a face as though he's been smacked several times by a shovel. And the less said about his kicking and foot skills the better. A 3 year old has more hand-eye coordination.

Bogdan deserves the chance to claim the spot. ****'s had plenty of chances, the Klopp blowing smoke up his arse treatment hasn't worked. **** him off pronto and get someone decent in that actually grasps the idea of commanding his area.

[Rich]

So, in the past two PL games we’ve allowed three shots on target and conceded four goals. But at least Mignolet’s a great shot-stopper, with that 0% save percentage.

I guess that’s harsh, given the purposefully-small sample. But on the season as a whole he’s got a 59% save percentage, a full 10% behind the PL average of 69% and joint-bottom in the league among regular starters. We're bottom of the league in saves made and second-bottom of the league in save percentage. Given all this, it's fair to say that Mignolet's shot-stopping is the worst in the league right now, or at least among the worst two or three.

And that’s the thing he’s good at.

I guess you could argue that he actually is a good shot-stopper, but he's just not showing it because we hardly allow any shots (third-best in the PL) and hardly allow any shots on target (fewest shots on target allowed in the league, if you can believe that), so it gets skewed by a small sample size. But that’s exactly my point: shot-stopping is overrated in a goalkeeper due to its randomness, especially if you've got a really good defence (because then he's rarely tested). Which, contrary to conventional wisdom, we do. So the only thing Mignolet's (supposedly) good at is the one thing he rarely does, with a small enough sample size that it gets completely washed by noise anyway. What good is it having a world-class shot stopper if, through half a season, he gives you the same production you could expect from literally the worst shot-stopper in the league?

Note, by the way, that there's a flipside to this: given the random nature of shot-stopping, if Mig keeps getting picked he'll go on a tear at some point. He'll have a few stormers, save a few worldies, and everyone's going to say he's back to his best and a really good shot-stopper and we should keep him. No. We shouldn't. Because that's unsustainable and before long you end up back here, with an average, flapping keeper with below-average distribution and one skill at the thing he's least asked to do, which is also heavily random and therefore nearly useless.

Klopp seems determined to salvage whatever he can from the current squad, bless him, and maybe he'll keep waiting it out with Mignolet to see if he can't squeeze some form out of him, because despite how **** I think he is, he's not this bad and that storming form is coming, unless he gets too far inside his own head again. But sooner or later he has to be replaced. For all the hand-wringing about Benteke and the midfield, Mignolet is by far the weakest link of the squad.

Timo Horn's got a £6.5m release clause. Just do it and be done with the whole thing.

As usual from you, nail on head. You're right.

[Maxiedge]

Mignolet seems to be the unspoken element out of the big clubs. I think rival fans are quietly jolly with the thought of this joker between the sticks for us but, at the same time, don't want to make a song and dance about it so that it doesn't comt to the fore and he's not replaced.

I'm 100% convinced we will go for a keeper in January and Mignolet has nothing to complain about as he's had plenty of opportunities to prove his worth.

He was really never that outstansding even at Sunderland. **** signing really all things considered.

[Kenneth]

Mignolet seems to be the unspoken element out of the big clubs. I think rival fans are quietly jolly with the thought of this joker between the sticks for us but, at the same time, don't want to make a song and dance about it so that it doesn't comt to the fore and he's not replaced.

I'm 100% convinced we will go for a keeper in January and Mignolet has nothing to complain about as he's had plenty of opportunities to prove his worth.

He was really never that outstansding even at Sunderland. **** signing really all things considered.

meanwhile, in the real world..

[Phoenix07]

I don't think we have money in January, simply because of what we spent in the summer, and that doesn't include the Ings tribunal fee, and then we got rid of Rodgers, O'Driscoll, etc.

Also, bringing in a new goalkeeper in a high-pressured environment, midway through the season without time to settle may not be the best thing. I'd only try that with a top keeper, or someone with a bag load of experience.

[paulg]

I agree totally, I didn't understand why we replaced Reina with someone who was no better but cost £10m. It can only have been Rodgers playing politics.

Also, weren't we supposed to be fixing our goal keeping coaching problems when we finally binned Corrigan all that time ago? Why do we still have **** GK coaches?

[Fredo]

Heavily absolved of any blame by Klopp again yesterday.

[McDermotX]

Heavily absolved of any blame by Klopp again yesterday.

Publicly anyway. Nothing wrong with that.

Klopp still has to work with what he's got. We'd all love for him to have got started in the summer, but it didn't happen.

[Fredo]

So if he sticks with him until the rest of the season you're all gonna be happy in the certainty that he will get rid? From what I have read he is gonna be given a new contract.

[dww]

So, in the past two PL games we’ve allowed three shots on target and conceded four goals. But at least Mignolet’s a great shot-stopper, with that 0% save percentage.

I guess that’s harsh, given the purposefully-small sample. But on the season as a whole he’s got a 59% save percentage, a full 10% behind the PL average of 69% and joint-bottom in the league among regular starters. We're bottom of the league in saves made and second-bottom of the league in save percentage. Given all this, it's fair to say that Mignolet's shot-stopping is the worst in the league right now, or at least among the worst two or three.

And that’s the thing he’s good at.

I guess you could argue that he actually is a good shot-stopper, but he's just not showing it because we hardly allow any shots (third-best in the PL) and hardly allow any shots on target (fewest shots on target allowed in the league, if you can believe that), so it gets skewed by a small sample size. But that’s exactly my point: shot-stopping is overrated in a goalkeeper due to its randomness, especially if you've got a really good defence (because then he's rarely tested). Which, contrary to conventional wisdom, we do. So the only thing Mignolet's (supposedly) good at is the one thing he rarely does, with a small enough sample size that it gets completely washed by noise anyway. What good is it having a world-class shot stopper if, through half a season, he gives you the same production you could expect from literally the worst shot-stopper in the league?

Note, by the way, that there's a flipside to this: given the random nature of shot-stopping, if Mig keeps getting picked he'll go on a tear at some point. He'll have a few stormers, save a few worldies, and everyone's going to say he's back to his best and a really good shot-stopper and we should keep him. No. We shouldn't. Because that's unsustainable and before long you end up back here, with an average, flapping keeper with below-average distribution and one skill at the thing he's least asked to do, which is also heavily random and therefore nearly useless.

Klopp seems determined to salvage whatever he can from the current squad, bless him, and maybe he'll keep waiting it out with Mignolet to see if he can't squeeze some form out of him, because despite how **** I think he is, he's not this bad and that storming form is coming, unless he gets too far inside his own head again. But sooner or later he has to be replaced. For all the hand-wringing about Benteke and the midfield, Mignolet is by far the weakest link of the squad.

Timo Horn's got a £6.5m release clause. Just do it and be done with the whole thing.

I've always felt that Mignolet's big weaknesses relative to other keepers are his concentration and decisiveness (the latter leading to many of his distribution issues). In a way I think that it is the fact we are not leaking shots that is leading to his under-performance. That's not to say I think we should aim to allow to opposition more but that Mignolet is a keeper suited to less good teams.

I guess an important question is whether there is anything that can be done training-wise to improve him (at least short term). My feeling is that very few keepers have improved in these respects. They were the same issues that dogged David James for example and he mitigated them somewhat but never overcame them.

[Maxiedge]

meanwhile, in the real world..

I don't think you get my point. He lies right on the line of uncertainty..is he a good keeper? ..is he a poor keeper?

He looks that part but the truth is that's he's bang average and it never seems to get mentioned in footballing discussions as no-one wants to discuss average...just the **** and the good.

[G]

So if he sticks with him until the rest of the season you're all gonna be happy in the certainty that he will get rid? From what I have read he is gonna be given a new contract.

I fully expect him to continue to big him up and to stick with him until the summer unless he can get better than him in January. I'd be very disappointed if he wasn't replaced in the summer though.

The coaching thing is something that can maybe be looked at before then if he really is **** at his job as would seem to be the case. None of our keepers have improved since he joined.

[Lecter]

So if he sticks with him until the rest of the season you're all gonna be happy in the certainty that he will get rid? From what I have read he is gonna be given a new contract.

Brendan was given a ton of money to spend last summer

Didnt stop us getting rid though did it

[Hemingway]

So if he sticks with him until the rest of the season you're all gonna be happy in the certainty that he will get rid? From what I have read he is gonna be given a new contract.

I have no idea what Klopp will do, personally. It's worth remembering that he never really had a top-drawer keeper at BVB. Maybe he's just not bothered. With the jury supposedly still out on almost everyone, though, I'd surprised if Mignolet was the one player he'd decided definitively is good enough, which should cast some doubt as to the value of the rumoured contract extension.

Like I said earlier, he is certainly going to try to use whatever's here, which explains publicly backing Mignolet (who's a confidence player to begin with) and the contract extension, which preserves his value should we eventually decide to move on. I don't know if that actually means anything or not. Anyway, he's still not very good.

I've always felt that Mignolet's big weaknesses relative to other keepers are his concentration and decisiveness (the latter leading to many of his distribution issues). In a way I think that it is the fact we are not leaking shots that is leading to his under-performance. That's not to say I think we should aim to allow to opposition more but that Mignolet is a keeper suited to less good teams.

I guess an important question is whether there is anything that can be done training-wise to improve him (at least short term). My feeling is that very few keepers have improved in these respects. They were the same issues that dogged David James for example and he mitigated them somewhat but never overcame them.

This is completely true. I don't know if it's concentration exactly or just noise, or a combination of the two, but for whatever reason making saves can be highly random like that and needs a pretty big sample to really show its value. Hopefully there is something Achterberg can do (or Achterberg gets binned off and his replacement can do something), but I have my doubts too.

[Lecter]

Heavily absolved of any blame by Klopp again yesterday.

Oh come on

You dont think hes gonna come out and say "**** me our keeper is terrible and a complete liability" do you??

Brendan left a few months back you know

We have a manager now who backs his players to the hilt publicly