---
title: "Liverpool cannot progress with Simon Mignolet in goal"
canonical: "https://readliverpoolfc.com/articles/liverpool-cannot-progress-simon-mignolet-goal/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ben Smith"
section: "Articles"
published: "2015-12-14T16:31:50Z"
modified: "2015-12-14T16:48:15Z"
---

# Liverpool cannot progress with Simon Mignolet in goal

“I see the team and think everything is good,” [said Jurgen Klopp](https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/610959/Jurgen-Klopp-Liverpool-Cristiano-Ronaldo-Lionel-Messi), upon his arrival at Liverpool. “We have some problems and we have to solve them.”

Well, there is one problem at Liverpool that sticks out like a sore thumb. If Klopp had been watching the Reds prior to his appointment and thought everything was fine, he mustn’t have been paying attention to Simon Mignolet.

Klopp has instilled belief into the Liverpool side, and several players who looked lost last season – and early on this term – have stepped up and now look worthy of wearing the famous red.

Alberto Moreno, while still not as competent at defending as fans would like him to be, has improved drastically.

![Alex Livesey/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readliverpoolfc.com/readliverpoolfc/2015/12/4988524301.jpg)

Dejan Lovren, who most had given up on, is actually beginning to look something like the player we thought we were getting in 2014. Craig Gardner’s fierce challenge on the Croatian on Sunday would’ve been greeted with cheers a few months ago – instead, it was met with outrage.

Jordon Ibe is brimming with confidence. Divock Origi has a newfound swagger. Adam Lallana, another former Saint who had previously been scapegoated, epitomises Klopp’s *gegenpressing* mantra.

But there is one man in the Reds’ squad who has reached the point of no return. Mignolet is as big a problem for Liverpool now as Brendan Rodgers ever was.

You don’t need me to explain the importance of having a capable stopper between the sticks. It’s as clear as day. If Mignolet doesn’t make a hash of Chris Brunt’s corner on the half-hour mark against West Brom, Liverpool win the football match. And this sort of thing is happening way too often.

![Clive Rose/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readliverpoolfc.com/readliverpoolfc/2015/12/4950860821.jpg)

The holding onto the ball incident against Bordeaux showed a complete lack of awareness. His tame palm straight towards Scott Dann cost the Reds a point against Crystal Palace. He fluffed his lines to gift Norwich City an equaliser back in September. The list of mishaps goes all the way back to the early days of his Liverpool career – and enough is enough.

The Reds challenged for the title two seasons ago in spite of the goalkeeper. His mistakes during that campaign were overshadowed by the dynamite at the other end of the field.

It’s not just the two centre-backs that are nervous wrecks with Mignolet behind them. The anxiety around the ground is palpable as soon as the opposition prepare to take a set-piece. The same can be said when the Belgian has the ball at his feet in his own penalty area. Never has any man looked so uncomfortable in any situation.

Klopp can – and as far as I’m concerned, will – bring the good ol’ days back to Anfield. There has been enough evidence already to suggest that he is re-establishing the sacred relationship between players and supporters at Anfield, and he is converting Kopites from “doubters to believers” [as promised](https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/incoming/we-must-turn-doubters-believers-10227184).

![Ian Walton/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readliverpoolfc.com/readliverpoolfc/2015/12/4950879881.jpg)

But there’s only so much a manager can do with any given group of players. Rodgers, perhaps rightly or wrongly, after an unprecedented 2013-14 campaign, thought he could make Mario Balotelli work at Liverpool. We tried to believe him. We tried to believe in Balotelli. But ultimately it was a lost cause.

Whilst Mignolet’s attitude is completely different to that of the Italian striker’s, and the two cases aren’t perhaps compatible, it would require the same naivety from any manager to believe that he can turn his Liverpool career around.

Jurgen Klopp is a better football manager than Brendan Rodgers. He is a better man-manager, and an all-round better bloke. But he mustn’t let his principles get in the way of something that undoubtedly needs to be done. Simon Mignolet needs to be ousted from the Liverpool line-up. Because if he isn’t, the [target of winning the league in the next four years](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/jurgen-klopp-believes-liverpool-will-win-the-title-in-the-next-four-years-and-describes-himself-as-a6687446.html) is an unrealistic, if not impossible, one.