Reds fans were surprised to hear former keeper Simon Mignolet’s comments on Liverpool’s current number one Alisson, with many fans comparing the two.
Mignolet left Liverpool to join Club Brugge in the summer in the search of first-team football and admitted that he was frustrated by Alisson’s squad status. Mignolet said (Het Belang van Limburg, via Independent): “If I could really fight for my place, I might have stayed. But if I had ended up in goal if Alisson picked up injury, then Alisson could immediately claim his place again. And even if he pushed the ball into his own goal, he would still retain his place.”
Alisson joined Liverpool from Roma in 2018 and has been in superb form for Jurgen Klopp’s side ever since; recently winning the FIFA Men’s Best Goalkeeper award. The 27-year-old quickly forced out Mignolet, who made 204 appearances for the Reds; keeping 66 clean sheets in the process and he opted to move away from the club after their Champions League win in the summer.
Reaction from Reds fans to Mignolet’s comments can be seen in the tweets below.
Mignolet used to do that every week and kept his place hahaha
— ? (@Tom_watson8) November 18, 2019
Mignolet here explaining the difference between a rare error in pushing the ball into the net – and a consistent level during his Liverpool career of pushing the ball into the net.
— Stephen Drennan (@babuyagu) November 18, 2019
Mignolet isn’t even good enough to lace Alissons boots
— Modio Sane (@ModioSane) November 18, 2019
Hmm he had plenty of opportunities to make a name for himself. Even preseason this season he dropped clangers.
— Luke Dodds (@Doddsy488) November 18, 2019
Not klopps fault. That would only cause more goalkeeper hassle which he went through with karius and mignolet. He had to go with a bold decision which has obviously paid off
— Karan_66 (@karankk88) November 18, 2019
Jealous
— belotti (@mehdibelotti) November 18, 2019
Reds fans were clearly not impressed with Mignolet’s comments about Alisson but seem to respect his decision to leave the club.
What do we think?
Mignolet made a number of mistakes during his six years with the club and it was always going to be difficult to keep up with a ‘keeper of Alisson’s quality. Mignolet probably made the right decision to return to his native Belgium, where he can enjoy regular first-team football until he retires.