Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: Mignolets First Season The Gift The Cur


Guru

Status: Offline
Posts: 164
Date:
Mignolets First Season The Gift The Cur


Imagine being a goalkeeper and you have just been bought by one of the most decorated clubs in Football. When making your debut, a dreamstart would obviously be winning the game, but from an individual standpoint, picture saving a late penalty to cement the victory, well on his Liverpool debut, that is exactly what SimonMignoletdid. His joy must have been unexplainable. Did this savethoughraise the bar too high for the rest of his first season on Merseyside? How exactly has replacing long Mike Clevinger Jersey time Liverpool number onePepeReina distinguishedMignoletsperformances? Lets take a look.The GiftMignoletwas signed for 9 million pounds from Sunderland, a transfer which bemused some Liverpool fans as they adoredlong term first choice,PepeReina.Redsmanager Brendan Rodgers had first indicated thatMignoletwas bought to provide stiff competition to the Spanish International. As subsequent weeks rolled on though, Reina was sent on loan to Italian outfit Napoli. This move reunited him with former Liverpool managerRafaBenitez and his old goalkeeping coach and friend,Xavi Valero.Reina had done his Liverpool future harm by openly flirting witha move back to Barcelona;a situation that prompted him to write a letter to the fans once the move failed to materialise.Reina wanted to clarify tofans,the fact he would only leave Liverpool to return to the Catalan giants, otherwise he was more than happy to stay on Merseyside. Now,to add to the extreme pre sure thatMignoletfaced on starting his Liverpool career, he knew any mistake he made would be highly scrutinized, especially by those who did not want Reina to be replaced regardle s of his off field antics.On debut,Mignoletnot only saved a JonathanWalters penalty, he reacted superbly to also thwart the rebound, triggering a raucous reception from theAnfieldcrowd. Mignoletcontinued to look good with clean sheets in the following games against Aston Villa (Away)especially, and Manchester United (Home), respectively. His great shot stopping ability which we already knew,from his time at Sunderland were clearly evident.Roll ontheMerseyside DerbyinNovember, andwe witne sedarguablyMignoletsbest performance in a Liverpool shirt so far Brandon Guyer Jersey . Despite concedingthree goals in the most entertainingderby for many a year,Mignoletproduced a plethora ofsaves to denyRomeluLukakuand Everton from grabbing three welcome points.Playing against city rivals,the timing could not have been more perfect.Come March,andin succe sive away wins against Southampton and Manchester Unitedrespectively,Mignolet madetwogreatstops;both with Liverpool leading the games 1-0, to help pavethe road to victory. In the Southampton game it was a superb one handed stop to deny Jay Rodriguez. At the timethe home sidewere dominating the game and who knows what could have happened had that effort gone in.On the stroke of half time at Old Trafford,he did well to prevent Wayne Rooney from levelling with an effort from the edge of the box. Though United had been outplayed, goals change games,and this could have bolsteredasub standardteamto play better.At home to Manchester Cityin April, inwhatat the time was Liverpools most important game of the season(on the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster),Mignoletproduced a sublime save to haltFernandinhofrom pulling a goal back when Liverpool were two goals ahead in the first half. City Jose Ramirez Jersey controlled the second half and as Liverpool eventually won the game 3-2, the importance of this particular saveis self-explanatory.Every saveMignoletmade helpedbit by bit try topersuade fans thathe was ready to replace Reina and be Liverpools first choice keeper for years to come, as at 26 he is still relativelyyoung.The CurseThoughMignoletsshot stopping heroics were clearly evident throughout the season, he actuallyonlykeptten clean sheets in the League in his first campaign. I say only as he had three shut outs in his first three games, so he followed this up with 7 in 35 appearances. When you analyse that Liverpool came just a couple of points shy of their first Championship since 1990, the fact they conceded 50 League goals was fartoo exce sive. Despite Reina making some bad mistakes in his first two seasonsin England, in the Spaniards first season in 2005/06, he Tyler Naquin Jersey actually broke the record for consecutive clean sheets by a Liverpool keeper in theLeague with six. He went on to have 20 clean sheets and scooped the prestigiousGolden Gloves award.To pinpoint certain moments in which question marks can be placed againstMignolet, we only have to travel back toSt James Parkin October.In this 2-2 draw, Mignoletwas at fault as a 35 yardhailMary effort from Yohan Cabaye which somehow founditsway inexplicably past a slow movingMignoletinto the back of the net.Back to back away games with title challengers Manchester City and Chelsea over the Christmas periodalso found Mignolet wanting. In the first game at 1-1, Alvaro Negredo totally fooled Mignolet by feigning to blast a shot but instead deftly chipping the ball that the Belgian only managed to parry leading to the inevitable deciding goal.With the score at one all again two days later at Stamford Bridge,Mignoletcould only palma tameclose range SamuelEtooeffort into the net; again a goalwhich proved to be thegame clincher.Luckily for Liverpool,Mignoletsbiggest errors came in gamesthat they somehow did not lose. In Januarystwo all draw with Aston Villa atAnfield,Mignoletmade a terrible hash,of a GabrielAgbonlahorcro s, allowing Christian Benteke to slot into the unguarded net putting Villa 2-0 up. Easter Days 3-2 away victory at Norwich sawMignolet fumble a cro s that was tucked in by Gary Hooper, putting Norwich back into the game. These errors were overcome, but at the highest level with Liverpool back in Europes elite competition, these mistakes have to be eradicated for Liverpool to not be embarra sednext season.Now to pin the criticism all on Belgiums number two would be extremely harsh. As superb and exhilarating as their attacking play became, Liverpools defending at times this season was imprudent and to be honest,that is being polite. Of course one also appreciates this was a defensive unit with four new additionswho all madeatleast 15 League appearances;Mignolethimself,MamadouSakhofrom PSG, Aly Ci sokhoon loan from Valencia andKoloToureon a free transfer. This constant rotation of players (for whatever reason) could not have helped the cohesivene s of the back five.Now if we look at Lonnie Chisenhall Jersey Reina, he helped Napoli to 3rdin theSerieA table, and helped them to win the Italian Cup. Reina played in 30 League games for Napoli in 2013/14 and made 41 appearances in all competitions. Reina also had 11



__________________
John Short, Jr
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard