Legend blasts: €12m star 'hasn't improved' and is 'bad' for Liverpool. Agree?

Earlier this season, Everton legend Neville Southall laid into Liverpool's Simon Mignolet, claiming that he is not good enough to be the Reds' number one goalkeeper. Since that time, €12m-rated Mignolet has resurrected his flailing Anfield career, but Southall still insists that the Belgian lacks the quality associated with the Reds' best 'keepers.

In November, Southall told Paddy Power:

"When you think of the great Liverpool goalkeepers like Lawrence, Clemence, Grobbelaar, Reina, Mignolet [is not] capable of hitting those standards. His shot-stopping is good, his distribution is decent, but he isn't the best on crosses."

Six months later, and Southall is still singing the same tune. On Wednesday, he claimed that Mignolet 'is not a Liverpool goalie' and doesn't 'look like he's in command of everyone'. He further scathed:

“He [Mignolet] doesn't look like he can go a full game without making a mistake. He can have all the coaching he wants, he hasn’t improved. His fundamental thing, his decision making, is bad.”

I'm not the a huge fan of Mignolet, and I've argued many times that he should be replaced at the end of the season, but Southall's claim that he 'hasn't improved' is simply wrong.

Since the turn of the year, Mignolet has exponentially improved, and the fact that he's currently leading the race for the Golden Gloves award is undeniable proof of that.

The stats also show Mignolet's significant improvement over the last five months:

Pre-Drop

* P23 W8 (35%) D6 (26%) L9 (39%)
* Goals conceded: 29 (1.3 per game)
* Clean Sheets: 4 (1 every 5.7 games)

Post-Drop

* P29 W17 (59%) D6 (21%) L6 (10%)
* Goals conceded: 22 (0.7 per game)
* CS: 14 (48% | 1 every 2 games)



Whatever way you slice it, Mignolet has performed well in the second half of the season, and he deserves credit for working hard to overcome his weaknesses.

That said, Mignolet still needs to be replaced. It should've happened last summer, but Rodgers failed to act, and Liverpool consequently suffered. The manager surely won't make the same mistake again, especially now that he himself is expendable.

Mignolet has a long record of conceding lots of goals (at both Liverpool and Sunderland), and his current purple-patch is the exception, not the rule.

Can he be relied-upon to reproduce his current form for the majority of next season? Would you put your mortgage on the Belgian stopper consistently producing excellent performances for an entire season?

I wouldn't, and in my view, it's a major risk for Rodgers to put his faith in Mignolet next year.

Rodgers recently made the ludicrous claim that Liverpool can challenge for the title in 2015-16, but what happens if Mignolet has another dodgy spell in the first half of next season? With the increased (self-imposed) expectations, it could cost Rodgers his job.

Ruthless objectivity is required in the transfer market this summer. It's great the Mignolet has stepped up, but Liverpool can't rely on that; the Reds need to bring in a goalkeeper who is capable of ousting him and becoming the club's number one.

Author: Jaimie K