16 Jan 2016

'Not Good Enough': Ex-Red blasts £60k-a-week Liverpool star for causing 'big problems' in defence

Despite more glaring mistakes against Arsenal on Wednesday, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp continues to defend beleaguered Reds 'keeper Simon Mignolet. Klopp's blind faith isn't pulling the wool over peoples' eyes though, and Reds hero Stephane Henchoz is the latest former player to publicly criticise Mignolet's faltering performances.

Speaking to TalkSport on Friday, Henchoz noted:

"Conceding three goals is too much. He [Mignolet] has big problems dealing with corners. He is good on his line, but when he has to come out and deal with crosses or corners, he is not good enough".

This appears to be obvious to everyone except Jurgen Klopp, who continues to argue that Mignolet - reportedly on £60k-a-week - is beyond reproach for his mistakes.

Defending players is fair enough, but there's a double-standard at play, here. Klopp is willing to publicly criticise Christian Benteke (a match-winner for LFC this season), but Mignolet - who is far more detrimental to Liverpool's results - is given a free pass.

The same applies to Firmino. After his two-goal showing against Arsenal, Klopp insisted Firmino must do 'much much better, and more often', yet he defended Mignolet to the hilt, despite the fact his mistakes arguably cost Liverpool three points.

As I said, double standards; and to add insult to injury, Liverpool are set to hand Mignolet - who, over the last three years has made more goal-creating mistakes than *any* Premier League player (goalkeeper or outfield) - a new 5-year contract, which will include a hefty pay rise.

In what other industry do employees get so handsomely rewarded for perennial failure? If you or I made comparable job-related mistakes (in a relative sense), we'd have been sh*tcanned already, not rewarded with a passive pay increase, and long-term job security.

The mind boggles, it really does.

As for Stephane Henchoz - or 'Sir Handball Henchoz' as he was affectionally known back in the day - what a player. His partnership with Sami Hyypia was superb, and superior (IMO) to Carra/Hyypia.

If Liverpool had Henchoz and Hyypia in defence right now, the Reds would probably be top of the league.

Author: Jaimie K


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