EPL 2017-18: Leicester City 2-3 Liverpool - 5 Talking Points

#5. Simon Mignolet saves Liverpool the blushes

Mignolet has saved 7 out of the 15penalties that he has faced since joining Liverpool

Simon Mignolet has come under immense criticism over the last couple of years and deservedly so. The goalkeeper is not vocal enough, is threatened easily with a cross in the box and has a poor range of distribution amongst a host of other minor albeit consequential flaws. However, if there is one thing that Mignolet is perhaps the best at in the league at the moment, it has to be saving penalties.

Leicester had already cut their deficit of 2 goals down to 1 twice and the scoreline read 3-2 when Mignolet looked to have brought Vardy down in the box. The Liverpool defence, which has been the perfect metaphor for hapless amongst footballing discussions, was all over the place as they failed to deal with the threat of Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy and it was believed that it was a deserved moment in the game, especially with Liverpool’s defensive fallacies.

The King Power stadium was buzzing with excitement and it was believed that Vardy would hand the hosts an improbable comeback before Mignolet made the vital save to deny the Englishman from the spot.

Yes, he remains a player that Liverpool can improve upon. But given the fact that Lloris Karius appears more eccentric than the Belgian and Dany Ward has only been with the senior side for a short while, Mignolet is Liverpool’s best option and it is time that the Reds, who have given him a lot of stick over the years give him due credit for getting the side out of the precarious situation at times.