What better time of year than this for a gift from Simon Mignolet?
[CTRL+C…CTRL+V] Liverpool were absolutely coasting towards a routine victory, only for their goalkeeper to come up with another moment to forget.
Just moments after Mohamed Salah had provided some breathing room for the Reds at the Emirates, adding to Philippe Coutinho’s first-half opener to make it 2-0, Alexis Sanchez headed home to deliver a lifeline for the hosts.
Confidence quickly began showing itself in the positive movement among the Arsenal players and Granit Xhaka took the opportunity to test Simon Mignolet with a long-range rocket which found its way onto the goalkeeper’s glove but skimmed off and into the back of his net.
What's the difference between Liverpool's defence and Santa Claus?
Santa Claus waits til Christmas to hand out gifts!!!!!!
[Also Liverpool's defence don't exist.]
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 22, 2017
It was initially believed that the ball had moved so severely in the air that it left Mignolet with little chance to get behind the shot but replays confirmed that the Belgian should have dealt with it much better.
And Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, who was on commentary duty for Sky Sports, hammered Mignolet for the latest addition to his ever-expanding lowlight reel.
“There is great movement but the goalkeeper has to do better,” Carragher said.
“He gets his left hand on it but he has to do more. I’ve questioned Simon Mignolet for a long time.
“It’s situations like this, big pressure games! He’s got to be stronger and more powerful.
“He knows Xhaka can shoot, he should be setting himself.
“There’s some movement on the ball but you’ve got to do better than that. Shocking from the goalkeeper!”
Carragher went on to claim that Liverpool will never be able to overtake their Premier League rivals until they bring on board a more reliable last line of defence.
“You’ve got to save that and until Liverpool get a goalkeeper of sufficient quality, they won’t challenge the top sides,” Carragher added.
“You look at what Pep Guardiola has done in the summer. Ederson has made as big a difference as anyone with where Manchester City are this season.”
It would be unfair of anyone to slam Mignolet without pointing out the fact that Arsenal’s Petr Cech should definitely have done better with the strike that brought Liverpool to 3-3, when Roberto Firmino hammered an effort goalwards, only for it to pass through the glove of the Gunners stopper.
“We said that one ‘keeper has to do better at one end, Petr Cech has to do better,” Carragher said.
“A very similar situation to Mignolet’s, not a strong enough hand. Mignolet’s was his left side, Cech’s was his right side.”
