I know I’ll have to prove it all over again
Mignolet faces Anfield battle, despite last season’s heroics
THE end of season party had finished just a few hours earlier and now the time had come for the weary travellers to unwind.
Liverpool’s players were drained but they would head home from their whistle-stop trip to Australia content their prime objective had been achieved. Over coffee in a plush hotel on the banks of Circular Quay, however, one man was already peering into the future.
Simon Mignolet had been an unsung hero in helping Liverpool secure a top-four spot, keeping five clean sheets in the last six matches. His form had never been better during four years at Anfield, yet all he could do was think about what now lies in store.
‘As a goalkeeper, you are on your own,’ he says. ‘Even now, after a solid season, the rumours are starting again with (Iker) Casillas. I know what happens when you are the Liverpool keeper. Whether you have good performances, s*** performances, the scrutiny is always there. Always.’
There is a difference, though, in how Mignolet will now deal with the situation. For years he had to contend with hearing that he was not good enough or how Liverpool needed a new No1; even when he played well a ‘but’ would be added as a derogatory caveat.
It says everything about the improvement in the Belgian’s form, then, that ‘but’ has now gone. Mignolet, finally, is starting to act and speak like a man who believes he justifies being at an elite club.
‘There always seemed to be something happening around, a rumour here, someone saying something about me there,’ he says. ‘It all adds up and it never allowed me to have the basis to act like Liverpool’s No1. But those things aren’t happening now. I’m much more settled now.
‘I understand things now and I can deal with it. I know all those names are going to be flying around, like Casillas, Joe Hart and (Marc-Andre) Ter Stegen.
‘I’m not fighting against the guys in the dressing room. I’m fighting against myself. There is no point gauging what is going to be around me. But I have shown that I can deal with it. I know what I did this season will be forgotten. I’ll be coming back to show it again.’
Mignolet’s season highlight came at Stoke City in April when he spectacularly denied Charlie Adam and Saido Berahino but there was more — thwarting Toby Alderweireld at Tottenham and penalty saves from Chelsea’s Diego Costa at Anfield and Theo Walcott at Arsenal. Those interventions add up to six points.
‘There was a reason why Stoke was so important to me,’ he says. ‘As a goalkeeper, you don’t stand out much. It’s not the same as being a striker when you can score a goal and everyone notices.
‘The thing about saving a penalty is people will always say “oh, he’s guessed the right way”. So I needed a game to come along again and show what I could do. Everything about that came at such a great time. We were losing 1-0 and the spirit wasn’t the best.
‘Everyone was thinking “here we go again” and people would have thought it was a sign we were going to miss out on the Champions League. So this was such a changing moment, for me and for the club. I had a chance to show what I could be for this team. It’s changed my career a bit.’
It is a far cry from 12 months ago when Loris Karius arrived with the intention of usurping him. The German was given Mignolet’s place by manager Jurgen Klopp in September but he lasted just two months and now finds himself as the one with everything to prove.
‘Inside I got angry,’ Mignolet says. ‘But I could never show it to the outside world. The minute when he (Klopp) told me there was a sudden rush of disappointment. I didn’t get it. This was the worst moment I had here.
‘There wasn’t really anything where I could blame myself. After I was dropped last time, I just kept asking myself “why?”
‘The only way to deal with it was to put my head down and get on with it.
‘I’m happy with what I did. This year I know I can go away on holiday happy.’