Just finished watching this clip and I have to say that is some brilliant analysis by Neville. To think if Ming had not crouched he may have saved Jags shot. The question then becomes is the coaching faulty or its the player?
We've only had one extra game so far this season from being in Europe. I can't believe that one game could have thrown our entire season out of balance so far. We've also had one fewer league cup game from finishing higher in the table- starting in round 3 instead of 2. So- we've had the same # of games we would have had last season.
Brendan is confused, as is this board. Pace or slow kill, 433 or diamond or pentagon, Coutinho or Lallana, Sterling on the flank or at the tip, Henderson forward or back, Gerrard on it or over it, Lucas of no use or no trust, Sakho or Skrtel, new fullbacks or old fullbacks, Ming good or bad, Balo lazy or not, Can groomed for DM or CM, and finally... Allen, saviour or meh? Answering "it depends on the opposition" to this question is facile. Approach and first team need cementing bar one or two positions. Tinkering is a recipe for disaster in 9 out of 10 cases.
I saw this and the only thing that made me doubtful was that when jumping, you get more height if you crouch. Try jumping while standing up tall and then compare to when you crouch. You get more spring = more height. That's a flaw in Neville's theory that he can't get as high as he's crouching down. Now, I'm not an expert so he may very well be right but thin it's a bit harsh to compare him to Neuer, the best keeper in the world and also only show a couple of instances (especially when the Jsag shot went about 3 foot away from him and kept curving and the ones showing Neuer were straight at him). I'm sure you could find a few occasions where Mig has pulled off very good saves in similar situations. He uses the same technique in 90% of the clips on the below video. Some of which you can see go high and he gets to them, especially the one towards the end v United that he tips over. [video=youtube;sd0h_YR1tdI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sd0h_YR1tdI[/video]
Also, I think of cricket when watching that. Players in the slips, and wicket keeper stay low and then rise up if needed. It's much easier to be low and come up if the ball is high than stay high and go down low if the ball is low. How many times do we see keepers miss a ball that is a yard away from them but on the floor because they can't get down quick enough? I'm actually never sure why they don't just stand there and kick the ball rather than try dive down that low and close to them but that's another point. Maybe Mig stays low in anticipation of a shot being low and then if it's high it gives him the chance to leap up, using the crouch to get extra spring in his jump.
Which would make Mig's technique of getting low in his initial stance a good one for getting down to low efforts.
I've said it many times, Gary Neville is a Grade A prick but you can't fault is punditry skills, there is no one better IMO and he is spot on with this. I hadn't noticed it to such detail and I hadn't noticed it in those three goals either but I had picked on his low stance before, just never thought anything else about it. What I find more revealing beyond Neville's superb analysis there is that Jamie puts the boot in (as much as he can) too. It'll be interesting to see if the Liverpool coaching staff and more importantly Migs himself listens to this. Edit: Jamie got it slightly wrong at the end though, Migs HAS won us points. Sunderland penalty save at the start of last season anyone? Jamie even mentions the start we had last season at the start of that clip!
I think what Carragher was saying was a load of crap. Mignolet won us plenty of points last season, especially early on. Even this season he made a brilliant save against Southampton when it was 1-1 (I think?) and against Chadli when it was 1-0 at White Hart Lane. It seems Mignolet and Gerrard are the new scapegoats this season.
I don't think there is a flaw in his theory. I think he talks about it in terms of time it takes from crouching to reaching and saving. He would possibly get more spring from being lower but the point is, it takes too long and the goal is already scored.
Low stances are good to get the spring in your jump to get higher. But that's in a vacuum scenario. When the ball's hurtling towards you as fast as Jagielka's shot was, you don't have time to get low and then spring up. I think that was what Neville was aiming towards. You need to give yourself the best chance of reaching a shot. Being too low (or not on the balls of your feet like Howard for Gerrard's freekick) sets you back straight away and it takes you that split second longer to close the gap.
Strikers study keepers in preparation for games. I think teams are also realizing Mignolet's weaknesses this season and attacking them.
He means a big game as one we must win, he used the Demba Ba example (which is pretty harsh given the circumstances) the games people have mentioned aren't really big games. Say Basel come to Anfield and we are winning 1-0 and that win qualifies us for the next round, if Ming does a last minute save to win us the game he wins us the points in a big game. The games he has turned up really haven't been crucial for us.
No chance are all our problems down to the keeper, yes he is part of the problem but to put the whole issue at his door is nonsense!
