SPOTTING THE TROUBLE

Mignolet admits that his penalty save masked another rollercoaster defensive display and declared: We know what’s going wrong.. but we will fix it

LIVERPOOL’S thrilling “rollercoaster” victory left Simon Mignolet exhilarated but the keeper would prefer some boring 1-0 wins.

Mignolet departed the King Power Stadium a hero after saving Jamie Vardy’s penalty when the Reds were wobbling.

It helped end a worrying run of four games without a win for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Mignolet was relieved after being exposed at a corner for Shinji Okazaki’s goal which halved Liverpool’s lead to 2-1.

He later raced out and fouled Vardy as Liverpool conceded a penalty.

Mignolet, 29, redeemed himself, however, with his latest impressive spot-kick save. It saw the Reds emerge victorious from a typically swashbuckling display after losing days earlier in the League Cup at the Foxes.

But Mignolet knows all Liverpool’s attacking prowess, even without the suspended Sadio Mane, will be in vain if they keep conceding goals.

The Belgian said: “The way we played in the first half and the third goal, it was quite a rollercoaster.

“It was an up-and-down-thepitch game.

“We don’t want to be that, sometimes we need to do that but I don’t think that’s how we want to play. We want to be solid and stronger and we want to improve.

“We’re working hard to get that.

No one has to tell us, we know inside the dressing room what we have to do and we’ll work on getting better.”

Mohamed Salah’s header and Philippe Coutinho’s free-kick put the visitors in a commanding lead.

But they were pegged back in first-half stoppage time when Okazaki stabbed in. Mignolet was furious as he insisted he was fouled in the build-up. The Belgian also disputed the award of a penalty at 3-2 for his clattering Vardy, who had earlier pulled another goal back after Jordan Henderson netted. But Mignolet felt justice was done with his save after claiming he touched the ball before taking out Vardy. The goalkeeper stayed in the centre of his goal at the penalty and was vindicated, adding: “We always get the information on penalties and we do the most we can.

“He has scored two like that recently.”

It was Mignolet’s seventh save out of the 15 Premier League penalties he’s faced for Liverpool.

But victory did not stop repeated criticism of the team’s defending.

They have let in 10 goals in their last three Premier League away games – the most they have ever conceded over a three-game period on the road in the division.

Klopp (left) assessed: “Usually, I’m a really good defensive coach but obviously that work’s not too good so far but we will be fine.

“The main thing for defending is tactical discipline.

“I don’t know everything about football but I could write a book in the next two hours about which space we have to defend – why, when and where you have to be.

“That’s no problem, but you have to do it.

“I am responsible but I can’t take a car and drive them out of the box. That’s how it is.

“As long as not every player is doing it we will work on it.

“When everyone is doing it I will make sure we are doing it for the rest of our lives.

“I like this team. Maybe nobody else likes it, I really like it, and I want to improve it together.

“Sometimes you need a punch in the face and we have had a few already.

“We were not really on the floor but we always got up.”