After SIMON MIGNOLET'S mistake against Norwich yesterday some supporters are calling for his head. Pepe Reina was loaned out when Mignolet came and some supporters were not happy with Brendan Rodgers for replacing Pepe Reina. Goal keepers make mistakes especially under pressure like that of yesterday.. In your candid opinion do you think Pepe Reina would have kept more clean sheet this season?. Vote:
I voted no. My reasons: -A goal keeper is only one part of the defense. -Reina has made his fair share of silly mistakes in the last few years (I heard he made a mega howler recently in Italy). -Reina hasnt look happy at LFC lately and as a result his form dropped. Mignolet is only 23. Very young for a top keeper. He could be one of the worlds best in a few years if he continues to learn and work hard.
Reina is the better keeper that's for sure. Mignolet started very well but he's a flapper, that will always be his downfall, maybe he'll make a De Gea-like improvement but he needs to start getting the basics right. His shot stopping is very good but again he is prone to knocking the ball in to the wrong areas, plus his kicking is dreadful. I do think with the system we play we need a commanding keeper who is willing to sweep up, in the Reina/Lloris mould. Have the bridges been burnt? Would Rodgers swallow his pride?
I love(d) Pepe, on the ball theirs few better in Europe. Shot stopping he was great (most of the time) But agree, he was prone to a few blunders.. Rodgers as decided to go with Ming, Ming is younger, just as good a shot stopper, if he continues to develop, may become better at ball distribution, he'll still may blunders (all keepers do) but hopefully they'll be few and far between.
frankly... mingolet did little wrong in the game but generally speaking pepe could have dropped that clanger but he's 10 times better on the ball. mingolet is not good rushing out so it hurts our ability to keep a really high line. flappy your point on age is good but he is 26 not 23. i am the biggest reina defender on here... but i think we are giving mingolet too much abuse here. he stopped some shots and made on mistake that he was too eager to come for. I say back the guy on that. i still maintain reina is a worldie and so it was foolish and motivted by money nothing more
migs just needs decent competition and it isnt brad. city had a problem with Hart at one point but their backup goalie was good enough that they didn't really miss him so he had to get is form back, will migs ever be dropped even if he ****s up? considering brad is the backup big risk to take at the mo. he needs comp for his place, we have said similar with Johnson in he doesn't really have a threat to his position either, however ****e he has been.
Correction: Pepe was always dodgy on crosses. I tend to agree with MITO that we are bashing Ming too much. Pepe burnt his bridges so it's not a question of Rodgers swallowing his pride. Either Pepe crawls back or he walks.The gap between the two goalies is not that great and Pepe's best days are behind him. So the true question is what do we do about our goalkeeping situation. Just how many goals that we've conceded can you truly ascribe to a Ming mistake? Other areas of his play do need improvement but that's up to Rodgers, his trainers and the player. If they don't think he can improve then we add another goalie to out want list - but probably nor Pepe unless he comes back as the acknowledged number 2 with Jones at 3.
I think a big issue has been communication. Reina is very vocal. He will always make his defenders know what they are doing or tell them what to do. Carragher is very vocal. He always took the lead. Agger and Skrtel are used to being lead by Carra and Reina, so this season has in some part been about adjusting this season.
I put yesterday down to nerves. He came for cross and mucked up leading to goal he then refused to come leading to a goal. He deals with crosses about as well as our CB's...and our FB's are rubbish at preventing crosses, even if not stranded up the pitch after giving the ball away so, like when Reina was here it is a collective defensive team problem. Reina has the same ego attitude that Johnson has, like Suarez he butted heads with the manager so like Suarez he can put his head down and do as he's told because UNLIKE Suarez he's not vital to our team. Not sure if BR has the expertise to fix it or if he even sees it as an overall problem at the back. If he doesn't fix it IMO at FB he'll find a point when we can't outscore the opposition, especially in the CL but after fixing what he has so far I'll trust that he'll bring in the players to fix this too. But this year, just keep going, not going to change now, might as well enjoy the rollercoaster lol....
No. Reina showed in his last 2 years that he is no better at dealing with crosses than Mig is. Everyone knows players suddenly improve when they are no longer in the team (just like Luca did when he was out for 6 months). 4 Main attributes for a keeper in priority order for me. Shot stopping - Mig is far better than Reina. Dealing with crosses - probably on par, both are their weakest points. communication - Hard to really tell but a consistent back 4 infront of you help with that and the 4 at the back this year, 2 are pretty much new signings (Sakho & Flanno) so unlike Reina who always had Carragher and one of Agger/Skrtel infront of him, Mig hasn't had that. Ball at their feet - no doubting Reina is head and shoulders above. Overall, they're pretty equal wit each having their own strengths. I've always maintained that I'd rather have a keeper that can save shots than one that can pass the ball. It's easy to train the team to not pass back to the keeper unless it's a last resort. Reina is going to go at the end of the season. We can't afford, and he won't want to play 2nd fiddle in this team.
i agree with dave that it is reina to crawl not rodgers. i don't agree thought that reina's best days are behind him. I think the one thing we should debate is does rodgers have good enough keeping coaching at the club and could that area be improved? i don't know but our young keepers are all basically not good enough to turn pro... not one. if mingolet can be improved and i will say there has been improvement over that pas 6 months then its up to rodgers to do that. i personally criticized mingolet for trying to catch v west ham in extra time at the end of the half when he should have punched... this time he got his angles wrong on a high punt and got his punch wrong... its small details that cost both goals. if he's hard and takes it on the chin and keeps coming and trying he'll get it righrt more... i would ask however that he'd be coached to sweep more than punch though.. we could have done with a higher line yesterday final point.. rodgers last week said of skertl... he added agression and strength to his game.. hard man jokes aside rodgers has improved skertl from decent prem player to imo top 4 standard and i read with a little amusement the we need a dominant cb beside either him or sahko.... skertl has been trasformed in my eyes from a guy half the prem would target in the air to a guy who's dominated every threat posed this year. if rodgers can work on mingolet this way.... well if he's transformed from a good shot stopper to decent all rounder. .
i would put it this way. shot stopping rushing out crosses passing. i feel having a keeper on his toes rushing out can allow a much higher defensive line and so allow us to dominate more. however... i don't agree on passing. having seen us with brad jones it just ruins our whole game having a shovel foot in goal. we need good all rounder imo.
Since shot-stopping is the most important GK attribute where Mig >> Reina, I'd pick Mig if it were a choice. MITO makes a good point re the defensive line though, which if higher would indeed allow us to dominate more. We normally don't play a high trapping defensive line. Is it because of Mig's shortcomings? Or our CBs? Or Gerrard? Or because Rodgers couldn't be arsed about it this season? I think it's mostly down to BR's counterattacking tactics. Maybe with Ilori (one of the fastest out there) he'll feel pressured to experiment with it, hopefully this summer.
In order to play a high line you need quick defenders as well. Skrtel/Agger/Sakho are hardly lightening (Agger was out paced by Soldado FFS!) and Flanagan for all his strength's isn't a quick full back who can cover. Johnson is probably the quickest of the back 4 (when Enrique isn't playing) but he rarely sprints anywhere these days. I appreciate having a keeper being able to come off his line quickly will help that, but even with Reina in goal, I wouldn't want us to play too high against certain teams which quick forwards due to the speed of our defenders. Because of that, Mig's sweeping abilities isn't a huge concern for me.
I wouldn't class any of our defenders as unfit for a high line (bar Kolo, but he's not going to figure in much). Skrtel is not only fast, but a f*cking manic hound - not many better out there in making a last ditch tackle or clearance. Agger and Johnson are lax more than most are comfortable with, yes, yet fast enough and subtle in their athleticism, not prone to clangers. Flanagan would chase after opponents full of heart and be ready for the meaty challenge, and though he isn't the fastest, he's displayed great timing in the tackle often this season. And Mig, he can make himself big and come out of his line smartly enough, no problem. His main problem is psychological imo and it probably arises when he thinks things over too much - hopefully he shakes this off in his second season.
Migs has one string to his bow, shot stopping, when it comes to all other aspects of goalkeeping, he is woefully poor, his distribution is starting to improve, but he still just sits on his goal line, and in no way commands his area. Can he improve? I doubt it is wise to try and get a goalkeeper to start doing things that he is not comfortable doing. He is happy on his line, and shot stopping, if you force him to come out more to take the strain of his defence, I think he will fall apart and not even do the shot stopping well. The amount of times I've screamed at him to come get a ball that is pinging about the 6 yard box.... But he just stands there on his line, making the defence struggle. I'd have Pepe back in a heartbeat, and stick Mig in the reserves or sell him. Can't remember the last time we had a clean sheet...
I'm reluctant to go back to Pepe because, let face it, he hadn't been playing well for us for a few seasons and was touting to leave leaving us in no choice but to replace him. However, I'm starting to think Minolet isn't the answer, and I definitely believe Reina is still a much better keeper and may relish another go with us performing much better than in his final few years with us. However, this gives us a massive problem with Monolet. What do we do with him? It would be a massive vote of no confidence. He is still very young, but in goal keeping terms so is Reina. Reina is perfect to our style of play. However Reina would need to go squealing to Rodgers too as they clearly have fallen out. Difficult decision.
