Sign her up Liverpool
It’s the so called ‘most romantic day of the year’ and we’re not sure if that has something to do with the latest revelation from Simon Mignolet or its pure coincidence. Either way his fiancee should be pretty happy that’s he’s name-checked her rather than any of the coaching staff at Liverpool for his recently improved form in an interview in today’s Daily Mail.
The Belgian has been part of a pretty tight rear guard since the turn of the year,who up until this week’s game with Tottenham, had conceded only 6 goals in 10 games.
Some say it’s down to the new defensive system with Liverpool now playing three at the back, but according to the goalkeeper, it’s all down to a woman. Mignolet was dropped before Christmas after a number of poor displays and that led his fiancee Jasmien to sit down with the netminder after the win over Burnley on Stephen’s day to discuss what was going wrong in his game.
Mignolet had come on as a sub in that match for Brad Jones who had started the three previous games, but made one horrific mistake when he left the ball go out for a corner after he misjudged when it had crossed the endline. His girlfriend decided it was time for an intervention,
‘She said “Simon are you sometimes overthinking stuff?” Those were her words. She comes to every game. I said we think about things, but I didn’t really give a response at the time. She knows when to speak about football to me and when to leave me alone. The moment she came up with that and then next day the coaching staff gave me the same words. That was the trigger in my mind that we had to say “look, we have to sort this out.’
Maybe she should get a job at Anfield after her words clearly hit a spot with the goalkeeper, who went into training the following day and decided that he would have to try and work on his poor form. The upswing in his confidence as well as his performances have been noticeable since, as Liverpool have made a charge for fourth in the Premier League, as well as progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup
‘The next day I went into training and again we analysed the game. I was always looking to find best possible solution for situations. I was trying to find the right pass but I had forgotten what the worst solution could be. I have always tended to over think things and that came into my game.’
One of the most vocal critics of Mignolet this season was Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar who compared the €12million signing to Dracula earlier in the season, while Gary Neville and even Tim Howard also had a go. The Belgian says he tries to take the positives out of the negativity,
‘From all the criticism I have had, you pick the things you can take on board and you pick the things you can leave alone. As a footballer the only thing you can do is show what you can do on the pitch and answers the questions on the field. I’ve never reacted when there has been criticism, and I’ll never do that in the future. You learn from that experience. You can become better for it.’
Liverpool fans will be hoping Mignolet can maintain his recent good form when they face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup this weekend.
H/T Daily Mail
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