Liverpool won their last game against Middlesbrough rather easily but the main talking point was about the goalkeeping situation. Loris Karius was replaced by Simon Mignolet between the sticks after the former received a lot of criticism for his performances from former players.
Karius had signed for the Reds from Mainz in the summer but the 23-year-old has not looked confident in goal for Liverpool and was dropped after poor performances against West Ham and Bournemouth. While Klopp defended the young goalkeeper by lashing out at Gary and Phil Neville, the German keeper was replaced by Mignolet at the Riverside.
Mignolet too was dropped from the starting XI for the 23-year-old keeper and had some words of advice for the under-fire keeper.
“The goalkeeper position is not an easy one,” Mignolet was quoted by the Telegraph. “No individual is more important than the club and the only important thing is the club. Obviously, for Loris, it won’t be nice, but he is capable and professional enough to learn from it.”
The Belgian keeper also stated that the role of a goalkeeper isn’t the same as that of an outfield player and that professionalism is key to having a good team to work with in the long run.
“You have to be mentally strong to deal with it. In football things can change very quickly, with an injury or illness. You have to stay professional, keep your head down and work hard on and off the pitch. Stay focused, which is not always easy, especially as a keeper.
“As a striker you can come on to help the team as a sub at certain moments, but as a goalkeeper, you normally have to wait for your chance [to start] and just try to be ready.”
A dilemma for Jurgen Klopp
While Klopp had dropped Mignolet for Karius, the Belgian actually didn’t fare all that badly for the Reds this season. The lack of the first team action had prompted Mignolet to contemplate his future at the Merseyside club but he will be pleased getting back into the starting lineup.
This does lead to a major problem for Klopp as bringing back Mignolet into the team would not have been the solution for Liverpool’s goalkeeping views. Dropping Karius does shield him a bit from the media but it also questions the signing that Klopp made in the first place.
Liverpool faces Everton on Monday and the derby will certainly be a test since the Toffees defeated Arsenal in their last match. The Reds are six points behind Chelsea at the moment and cannot lose any more ground as they look to win the Premier League title for the first time ever.
