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Football News: Liverpool Goalkeeper Strength Review

Liverpool Goalkeeper Strength Review
Image from: zimbio.com

I was asked to put together a report on the strength in depth of each position at Liverpool running down to the U18s. Big ask! So I am breaking it down by position, starting at the back with goalies:

Goalkeepers:

First team:
Simon Mignolet
Adam Bogdan
Danny Ward

Reserves/Youth:
Andrew Firth
Kamil Grabara
Shamal George
Caoimhin Kelleher
Owen Wheeler

Out on loan is:
Lawrence Vigouroux
Ryan Fulton

A bunch of youngsters and Mignolet and Bogdan. Not sure it can be considered strength in depth, there is little strength more weakness in depth. Most clubs have a first choice, a quality back up, a veteran to cover, then youngsters. We have an average back up, a guy with butter on his fingers and lots of youngsters. Unless Klopp decides one of the youngsters is good enough, then this is definitely an are the club need to look at improving.

 

Klopp's options are extremely limited, Mignolet is not good enough to be first choice. He showed that once again against Leicester, being caught yards off his line for absolutely no reason at all. In fact, it beggars belief to me that no one has been questioning this. The clear thing for a goalkeeper in that position to do was retreat onto his line. There was no possibility of beating Vardy to the ball, so Migs should have ensured he was in position, rather than standing watching the game slack jawed like he was Moreno's slightly less bright big brother.

If his time was not up before last night, it has to be up now. Ok he made a couple of saves, but nothing about them was special, as usual, they were saves you would have been furious if he had not made them. It is clear that whatever boost he got from his penalty save in the cup, it is not going to translate to improved performances on the pitch. Klopp may have defended him, even calling him intelligent, but his tongue must have been in his cheek.

 

Bogdan is not good enough to even sit on the bench of a Championship team, let alone a Prem one. Looking at him and Migs just makes one thing clear, our scouts are useless, utterly and completely useless. You can blame the coaching for not improving these players, but they were given such dross to begin with that even an improvement would only make them lower league quality (at best). It is difficult to even see anything about Bogdan that could attract a club to spend money on buying him, or even why a club would want him on a free.

The only possible reason for his existence at Liverpool can be to make Migs look better, because that is the only thing he has done. Migs flaps at crosses, Bogdan makes flapping look like a skill beyond him. Migs has no command over his area, Bogdan has no command over himself.

 

So that leaves him with Danny Ward, who did extremely well on loan, and a bunch of untested kids at the club currently. Not one of the kids has stood out enough to suggest they are ready for the role, they will need to either go on loan or move on to prove themselves. Basically what it has come down to is Mignolet, who is clearly not good enough and Ward, who might not be ready or good enough.

Ward did well in Scotland but against lower quality opposition, so might not be good enough either, but many former goalkeepers have said, and I have no reason to doubt them, that it is actually easier being a keeper in the top flight. According to what they have said, you get more protection from officials and shots are hit truer, so you can at least get an idea where they are going. Whereas in the lower leagues, you can get roughed up and shots tend to be mishit, meaning they can literally go anywhere once the boot connects, making it impossible to anticipate. Is that true or not? I have no idea, but it does make sense of a kind.

 

All in all Jurgen Klopp's biggest test is dealing with this, he has to fix this or Liverpool will never win the biggest trophies. This position does not have strength in depth, more a case of weakness in depth. This is one area of the pitch that Klopp will have to buy someone, there is no other way to deal with this issue. A better keeper must be bought.

Written by Tris Burke February 03 2016 07:32:53