Far too many goals have been down to errors made by the goalkeeper in recent years.
It seems that there is going to be some sort of change when it comes to Liverpool’s goalkeeping situation next season, whether Simon Mignolet is going to be given more of a challenge for his place in the starting XI, or whether the imminent signing of Loris Karius from Mainz will usurp him as the number one keeper – with the 22-year-old on Merseyside for a medical, according to the Liverpool Echo.
Mignolet has been the man charged with keeping the Reds’ goal for the past three seasons, and there has been consistent criticism of his performances, with some suggesting that he has been culpable for a lot of Liverpool’s bad results during the Belgian’s time in charge of the gloves.
The statistics below – which covers all three Premier League campaigns and Liverpool’s brief spell in the Champions League last season – shows that Mignolet has indeed been costly:
| Position | Team | Error Lead To Goal | Appearances | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Mignolet | GK | Liverpool | 12 | 114 | 10,244 |
| Emre Can | MF | Liverpool | 3 | 59 | 4,655 |
| Dejan Lovren | DF | Liverpool | 3 | 54 | 4,293 |
| Martin Skrtel | DF | Liverpool | 3 | 96 | 8,528 |
| Alberto Moreno | DF | Liverpool | 2 | 65 | 5,132 |
| Kolo Touré | DF | Liverpool | 2 | 48 | 3,188 |
The fact that Mignolet has made four times as many errors that have led to a goal than any other player in the Reds squad is alarming. Of course, you’d like to see no errors leading to goals, but over the course of a season and longer some are inevitable.
There are other errors aside from in the Premier League and Champions League that Liverpool fans will think of. Holding on to the ball for too long against Bordeaux which led to the French side scoring from an indirect free kick, while there is the error that led to Manchester City’s opener in the League Cup final against the Reds, which Liverpool ended up losing on penalties.
There are other problems at the back for Liverpool – regularly conceding around 50 goals a season – but they need a calming presence as their last line of defence. Whether that can be provided merely be fresh competition or a different individual remains to be seen, but that stability in goal is certainly needed if Liverpool are to be a solid unit next season.
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