Simon Mignolet had experienced this before, but not like this; that sinking feeling, that realisation, that your place in the starting line-up is no longer secure. It happened to him at Belgium and Sunderland. It even happened to him at Liverpool, back in December 2014, when Brendan Rodgers was in charge. Back then, his performances had deteriorated enough for the Ulsterman decided to turn to Brad Jones. Just months after coming so close to lifting the league title, he found himself benched for the Australian for four games. This time, at the start of Jurgen Klopp’s first full campaign in charge, he had done little wrong. Doubts and grumbles resided in the stands, as they always had. Mignolet, by his own admission, has battled to convince plenty of outsiders.
On the field however, it had been a steady start. He even saved a Theo Walcott spot kick on the opening weekend at Arsenal. In truth, he only started at the Emirates because Loris Karius, signed earlier that summer from Mainz, had broken his hand against Chelsea in the pre-season tour of the US. But having been given a chance to stake his claim between the sticks, Mignolet grasped it. Then Karius’ bone healed, and Mignolet’s heart was broken. His spirit, however, was not. After completing 90 minutes in the 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, his German counterpart would keep goal in the League Cup win at Derby. He would retain his place for the following game, in the Premier League, against Hull. The pecking order had been established.
“Yeah, inside I got angry,” Mignolet said, recalling that moment. “I don’t think anyone on the planet doesn’t get angry! But I can never show it to the outside world. The minute when he told me there was this sudden rush of disappointment. I didn’t get it. This was the worst moment I had, worse than when Brendan dropped me for Brad Jones. There wasn’t really anything where I could blame myself as before with Brendan you can accept there were points when you could have done this, this or this better. After I was dropped that time, I just kept asking myself ‘why?’ but the only way to deal with it was to put my head down and get on with it. I was determined to show myself in the best possible light. The last few months have given me a lot more settlement here. I understand things now and I can deal with it.”
Mignolet would start just two games – both in the League Cup, both impressive performances against Tottenham and Leeds – before his surprise recall in December. Karius had felt the same pressure Mignolet had been dealing with since arriving in 2013, and produced errors in consecutive games to cost Liverpool vital points. The Belgian would return against Middlesbrough, three days after Karius allowed Dimitri Payet’s weak free kick to slip through his fingers, and would not relinquish the no.1 spot for the rest of the season – cup competitions excepted. The Sint-Truiden-born keeper would play a pivotal, if largely unsung, role in Liverpool’s qualification for next season’s Champions League.
Despite a storming six months back as first-choice at Anfield, he is taking nothing for granted. “You are thinking from the outside world about how it will be,” he added. “You see it as a competition, with Loris getting another chance and Danny Ward coming back. I understand that. Everyone will see the numbers and think I am fighting this guy and this guy. But that isn’t how it is. I’m fighting against Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Joe Hart, Iker Casillas. I know all those names are going to be flying around, I know what I did this season will be forgotten. I’m not fighting against the guys in the dressing room. I’m fighting against myself. There is no point gauging what is going to be around me. I’m never going to look at them if something is going on around me. I have shown that I can deal with it. I’ll be coming back to show it again.”
When asked how his relationship with Karius is, he adds: “It’s fine, I’ve never had any issues with any of the goalkeepers I have worked with. I hope that is still the same! But, no, it’s fine. Alex (Manninger) and John (Achterberg) have always been there too. Listen, I’ve never had hatred for someone if they have taken my place. You can’t keep hatred inside yourself if you are fighting for something. As a goalkeeper, you are on your own and even now, after a solid season, the rumours are starting again with Casillas. I’m 29 now. I know what happens when you are the Liverpool goalkeeper. Whether you have good performances, s*** performances, the scrutiny is always there. Always.”
And what of Klopp, the man who decided to drop him back in September? “I’ve always felt settled with him,” he says. “I know my season has been solid but the strange thing is in the middle of it all I had 10 games sitting on the bench. That was odd but I responded to that and came back strongly from it. That wasn’t the first time I have faced it. I had it in Belgium, I had it at Sunderland. I had to react and it made me better. I have got on with it.”
Goalkeeping, especially at Liverpool, is a testing task. As Mignolet himself has discovered, mistakes are remembered far more than anything else. But his general demeanour, and command of his area, has received widespread praise. His shot-stopping has never been under the microscope, but dealing with physical opponents has often seemed his biggest problem.
Showings against Stoke, West Brom, Watford, West Ham and Middlesbrough have quietened the critics, although he admits goalkeeping will always offer a ‘but’, even during a good run of form. He adds: “You just have to accept it. The buts have gone away over the last few months because I changed that myself. You have to be ready because the teams that play us either go for counter attack or set pieces. In the games with the set pieces, they are the ones where you have to put down a marker. Those are the hardest games. You don’t have much to do but then there might be one corner or a free-kick and you have to be there.
“I don’t want to go into the details but that was one of the things that the gaffer said to me. John spoke to me about getting more aggressive and I think I’ve learned that through the season. All credit to him for working on that and helping me through it. Then there is Alex. I spoke to him over a few drinks in Sydney and I told him I had to thank him for everything he did. As a keeper, you can’t really go and speak to anyone in detail about what you are going through. Let’s be honest - I can’t go and speak to Joel (Matip) or Dejan (Lovren) or Studge (Daniel Sturridge) or Gini (Wijnaldum) about what I’m going through. You can’t do it with the guy you are competing with either. But Alex understands me and he has got the ideas. He’s got a similar character to what I have, so it was refreshing to speak with him. He’s played with top keepers through his career. He gave me that opportunity to bounce ideas off him when we were in a the gym. You wouldn’t necessarily do that with your coach and you certainly wouldn’t do it within outfield player. This has been my best season for Liverpool but I am still taking things on board.”
================
Simon Mignolet has revealed the moment which turned his Liverpool career around – and made him finally see himself as an Anfield’s no.1 goalkeeper. The Belgian’s career on Merseyside has been mixed since arriving from Sunderland in 2013, with bother former manager Brendan Rodgers and current boss Jurgen Klopp dropping him from the starting line-up. After his most recent setback earlier in the 2016/17 campaign, losing his place to Loris Karius, Mignolet returned in the 3-0 win over Middlesbrough in December. The 29-year-old emerged as an unsung hero for the Reds, keeping four consecutive clean sheets in the final four games of the season, to help steer his side to Champions League qualification. But it was a fixture earlier in the run-in, away to Stoke, which gave Mignolet the moment he had waited four seasons for. At 1-0 down and with top four hopes in grave danger, the goalkeeper produced a stunning stop from Charlie Adam. Then, with his side leading 2-1, he would deny Saido Berahino from four yards out to hand his side the three points.
Klopp would hail the second save as one of the best he’s ever seen, and it is something Mignolet admits proved a turning point in his career. “There was a reason why Stoke was so important to me,” he said. “As a goalkeeper, you don’t stand out much. It’s not the same as being a striker when you can score a goal and everyone notices what you have done. I had that moment in the first game of my Liverpool career when I made the penalty save against Stoke. But there is another thing about saving a penalty and that is people will always say ‘oh, he’s guessed the right way’. As a goalkeeper at Liverpool, you don’t get worked that much. So I needed a game to come along again and show what I could do. Everything about that came at such a great time. We were losing 1-0, the spirit wasn’t the best because everyone was thinking ‘here we go again’ and people would have thought it was a sign we were going to miss out on the Champions League. So this was such a changing moment, for me and for the club. I had a chance to show what I could be for this team. It’s changed my career a bit.”
Liverpool’s win at Stoke came after a demoralising midweek draw with Bournemouth at Anfield, plunging their top four credentials into doubt. The win at Stoke began a run of five wins from their final seven games, taking 16 points from a possible 21, to finish a point ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal. After being one of the big contributors to that achievement, Mignolet says he now feels like he belongs at Anfield after years of uncertainty and doubt, knowing he played his part.
Asked if he finally believes he is a Liverpool goalkeeper, he said: “That’s fair. There always seemed to be something happening around, a rumour here, someone saying something about me there. It all adds up and it never allowed me to have the basis to act like Liverpool’s no.1. But those things aren’t happening now. I’m much more settled now. Before the season there were things that I knew I needed to change: I wanted to be more consistent and make myself more important for the club. If I look back now, I can sit here and say with belief that I have been more consistent. I know there were mistakes, like against Stoke (at home) and the Chelsea goal (v David Luiz) but I have made important saves throughout the season against Stoke, Watford, West Brom, Chelsea. I can even think of ones against Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham (from Toby Alderweireled). I’m happy with what I did and this year I know I can go away on holiday happy. I have been important.”
=============
My only comment is that maybe we should keep Manninger at the club as a coach, because apparently he was the one who more than anybody else helped Mignolet to sort out his psychology and decision-making, especially in that period when he was out of the team. Bringing him on last summer as the 3rd GK proved out to be much more important than most of us had realized.
On the field however, it had been a steady start. He even saved a Theo Walcott spot kick on the opening weekend at Arsenal. In truth, he only started at the Emirates because Loris Karius, signed earlier that summer from Mainz, had broken his hand against Chelsea in the pre-season tour of the US. But having been given a chance to stake his claim between the sticks, Mignolet grasped it. Then Karius’ bone healed, and Mignolet’s heart was broken. His spirit, however, was not. After completing 90 minutes in the 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, his German counterpart would keep goal in the League Cup win at Derby. He would retain his place for the following game, in the Premier League, against Hull. The pecking order had been established.
“Yeah, inside I got angry,” Mignolet said, recalling that moment. “I don’t think anyone on the planet doesn’t get angry! But I can never show it to the outside world. The minute when he told me there was this sudden rush of disappointment. I didn’t get it. This was the worst moment I had, worse than when Brendan dropped me for Brad Jones. There wasn’t really anything where I could blame myself as before with Brendan you can accept there were points when you could have done this, this or this better. After I was dropped that time, I just kept asking myself ‘why?’ but the only way to deal with it was to put my head down and get on with it. I was determined to show myself in the best possible light. The last few months have given me a lot more settlement here. I understand things now and I can deal with it.”
Mignolet would start just two games – both in the League Cup, both impressive performances against Tottenham and Leeds – before his surprise recall in December. Karius had felt the same pressure Mignolet had been dealing with since arriving in 2013, and produced errors in consecutive games to cost Liverpool vital points. The Belgian would return against Middlesbrough, three days after Karius allowed Dimitri Payet’s weak free kick to slip through his fingers, and would not relinquish the no.1 spot for the rest of the season – cup competitions excepted. The Sint-Truiden-born keeper would play a pivotal, if largely unsung, role in Liverpool’s qualification for next season’s Champions League.
Despite a storming six months back as first-choice at Anfield, he is taking nothing for granted. “You are thinking from the outside world about how it will be,” he added. “You see it as a competition, with Loris getting another chance and Danny Ward coming back. I understand that. Everyone will see the numbers and think I am fighting this guy and this guy. But that isn’t how it is. I’m fighting against Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Joe Hart, Iker Casillas. I know all those names are going to be flying around, I know what I did this season will be forgotten. I’m not fighting against the guys in the dressing room. I’m fighting against myself. There is no point gauging what is going to be around me. I’m never going to look at them if something is going on around me. I have shown that I can deal with it. I’ll be coming back to show it again.”
When asked how his relationship with Karius is, he adds: “It’s fine, I’ve never had any issues with any of the goalkeepers I have worked with. I hope that is still the same! But, no, it’s fine. Alex (Manninger) and John (Achterberg) have always been there too. Listen, I’ve never had hatred for someone if they have taken my place. You can’t keep hatred inside yourself if you are fighting for something. As a goalkeeper, you are on your own and even now, after a solid season, the rumours are starting again with Casillas. I’m 29 now. I know what happens when you are the Liverpool goalkeeper. Whether you have good performances, s*** performances, the scrutiny is always there. Always.”
And what of Klopp, the man who decided to drop him back in September? “I’ve always felt settled with him,” he says. “I know my season has been solid but the strange thing is in the middle of it all I had 10 games sitting on the bench. That was odd but I responded to that and came back strongly from it. That wasn’t the first time I have faced it. I had it in Belgium, I had it at Sunderland. I had to react and it made me better. I have got on with it.”
Goalkeeping, especially at Liverpool, is a testing task. As Mignolet himself has discovered, mistakes are remembered far more than anything else. But his general demeanour, and command of his area, has received widespread praise. His shot-stopping has never been under the microscope, but dealing with physical opponents has often seemed his biggest problem.
Showings against Stoke, West Brom, Watford, West Ham and Middlesbrough have quietened the critics, although he admits goalkeeping will always offer a ‘but’, even during a good run of form. He adds: “You just have to accept it. The buts have gone away over the last few months because I changed that myself. You have to be ready because the teams that play us either go for counter attack or set pieces. In the games with the set pieces, they are the ones where you have to put down a marker. Those are the hardest games. You don’t have much to do but then there might be one corner or a free-kick and you have to be there.
“I don’t want to go into the details but that was one of the things that the gaffer said to me. John spoke to me about getting more aggressive and I think I’ve learned that through the season. All credit to him for working on that and helping me through it. Then there is Alex. I spoke to him over a few drinks in Sydney and I told him I had to thank him for everything he did. As a keeper, you can’t really go and speak to anyone in detail about what you are going through. Let’s be honest - I can’t go and speak to Joel (Matip) or Dejan (Lovren) or Studge (Daniel Sturridge) or Gini (Wijnaldum) about what I’m going through. You can’t do it with the guy you are competing with either. But Alex understands me and he has got the ideas. He’s got a similar character to what I have, so it was refreshing to speak with him. He’s played with top keepers through his career. He gave me that opportunity to bounce ideas off him when we were in a the gym. You wouldn’t necessarily do that with your coach and you certainly wouldn’t do it within outfield player. This has been my best season for Liverpool but I am still taking things on board.”
================
Simon Mignolet has revealed the moment which turned his Liverpool career around – and made him finally see himself as an Anfield’s no.1 goalkeeper. The Belgian’s career on Merseyside has been mixed since arriving from Sunderland in 2013, with bother former manager Brendan Rodgers and current boss Jurgen Klopp dropping him from the starting line-up. After his most recent setback earlier in the 2016/17 campaign, losing his place to Loris Karius, Mignolet returned in the 3-0 win over Middlesbrough in December. The 29-year-old emerged as an unsung hero for the Reds, keeping four consecutive clean sheets in the final four games of the season, to help steer his side to Champions League qualification. But it was a fixture earlier in the run-in, away to Stoke, which gave Mignolet the moment he had waited four seasons for. At 1-0 down and with top four hopes in grave danger, the goalkeeper produced a stunning stop from Charlie Adam. Then, with his side leading 2-1, he would deny Saido Berahino from four yards out to hand his side the three points.
Klopp would hail the second save as one of the best he’s ever seen, and it is something Mignolet admits proved a turning point in his career. “There was a reason why Stoke was so important to me,” he said. “As a goalkeeper, you don’t stand out much. It’s not the same as being a striker when you can score a goal and everyone notices what you have done. I had that moment in the first game of my Liverpool career when I made the penalty save against Stoke. But there is another thing about saving a penalty and that is people will always say ‘oh, he’s guessed the right way’. As a goalkeeper at Liverpool, you don’t get worked that much. So I needed a game to come along again and show what I could do. Everything about that came at such a great time. We were losing 1-0, the spirit wasn’t the best because everyone was thinking ‘here we go again’ and people would have thought it was a sign we were going to miss out on the Champions League. So this was such a changing moment, for me and for the club. I had a chance to show what I could be for this team. It’s changed my career a bit.”
Liverpool’s win at Stoke came after a demoralising midweek draw with Bournemouth at Anfield, plunging their top four credentials into doubt. The win at Stoke began a run of five wins from their final seven games, taking 16 points from a possible 21, to finish a point ahead of fifth-placed Arsenal. After being one of the big contributors to that achievement, Mignolet says he now feels like he belongs at Anfield after years of uncertainty and doubt, knowing he played his part.
Asked if he finally believes he is a Liverpool goalkeeper, he said: “That’s fair. There always seemed to be something happening around, a rumour here, someone saying something about me there. It all adds up and it never allowed me to have the basis to act like Liverpool’s no.1. But those things aren’t happening now. I’m much more settled now. Before the season there were things that I knew I needed to change: I wanted to be more consistent and make myself more important for the club. If I look back now, I can sit here and say with belief that I have been more consistent. I know there were mistakes, like against Stoke (at home) and the Chelsea goal (v David Luiz) but I have made important saves throughout the season against Stoke, Watford, West Brom, Chelsea. I can even think of ones against Leicester, Arsenal and Tottenham (from Toby Alderweireled). I’m happy with what I did and this year I know I can go away on holiday happy. I have been important.”
=============
My only comment is that maybe we should keep Manninger at the club as a coach, because apparently he was the one who more than anybody else helped Mignolet to sort out his psychology and decision-making, especially in that period when he was out of the team. Bringing him on last summer as the 3rd GK proved out to be much more important than most of us had realized.
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