Has Simon Mignolet saved his place in this Liverpool team?

Simon Mignolet has had a tough season. Very few players in the Premier League have been subject to similar degrees of scrutiny. The Belgian battler has been placed under a microscope week-in and week-out and he’s been expected to perform on each occasion.

Unfortunately he hasn’t quite been up to the challenge in recent weeks, which helps to explain why he’s had so many eyeballs placed on him and so many barbed words flung in his general direction.

When he first arrived at Anfield from Sunderland, he looked like the real deal. On his day he’s an excellent shot-stopper, he makes smart decisions, reacts quickly to danger and communicates well with his team-mates. Unfortunately, these qualities have been missing from his game over the last 12 months.

Indeed, Brendan Rodgers even decided to drop him last December, for an ‘indefinite period’. That’s got to have had a major affect on his confidence, right?

In a way, Mignolet’s been rather lucky. His main competition for the number one jersey at Anfield is Brad Jones, who’s just as error prone and jittery. It wasn’t long before the Belgian was back in action. It also looks like he’s got a new attitude. Check out these quotes from the player himself:

“My missus and I were having dinner. And she said to me: “Simon, are you sometimes over-thinking stuff?”… At the time, I didn’t really give a response. But the next day, I went into training, and we analysed the game, and went through that particular moment, and I got the same response from the coaching staff.”

Mignolet goes onto suggest that it’s better to, ‘play what you see, because actually you don’t have that time to think. Sometimes, it’s better to make the worst possible decision, but to make the decision quickly, rather than to see what’s happening.’

This realisation certainly seems to have helped. Simon Mignolet has certainly been better over the last month or so. In fact, he’s enjoyed some of his best performances of the season. It remains to see whether he can stay consistent, but the signs are good.

I’m still hoping that The Reds will sign a new goalkeeper in the summer, but I’m growing more and more confident that Simon Mignolet is a capable number two. Either way, it’s going to be interesting to watch this situation play out.

What’s your take? What does the future hold for Simon Mignolet?

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