Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar has weighed in with his opinion on why Liverpool have dropped their form this season.
The South African told the BBC that he thinks the finger of blame for all of Liverpool’s woes should be laid squarely on the shoulders of the man between the posts, Simon Mignolet.
While he acknowledged that the summer departure of Luis Suarez is a big loss to the team, he argued it is the amount of goals the side are leaking that has been at the root of their poor results.
Any team that lets in 52 goals should never be in second position in the first place and that was brushed over because of the brilliance of Suarez and Sturridge scoring you so many goals.
That’s your problem. You’re going to have to actually get a goalkeeper who’s going to stop, and only let in 25 goals, max, 30 goals a season, because letting in 52, that’s 22 goals you’ve got in your bag that you might get from your striker.
You’ve got to shore up the back (and) get yourself someone in goal who can actually only let in less than 30 goals a season.
When asked if Mignolet was the real problem with Liverpool, Grobbelaar didn’t hesitate to suggest that the Belgian wasn’t good enough for the club. He even compared the keeper to a blood-sucking demon.
I’ve always said that (Mignolet’s the problem). He doesn’t come out of his area. He’s a great shot-stopper.
I was slaughtered by Liverpool fans last year saying I was too harsh on him. I’m not being too harsh on him, not at all. I’ve likened him worse than Dracula because Dracula comes out of his coffin now and then.
He went into further detail about Mignolet’s failings as a number one, and the criticism he shared was unrelenting.
He seems to stay on his line and that’s it. That whole area, not the six-yard, the 18-yard area, is the goalkeeper’s and in this day and age, in modern goalkeeping, if you come out and catch the ball and you get smacked, you’re going to get the foul. That’s not rocket science.
He’s a big lad. As soon as that ball’s in the air, come out, go for it. You’re going to get a lot more fouls for you and less are going to go into the back of the net.
Jesus, Grobbelaar, don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel.
Hat-tip to BBC
