This. He had more clean sheets than any other PL goalkeeper last year.

I don't think Migs is the problem myself, if you watch, he spends most of any match screaming at his defence to get into place, mark their player, wake up - whatever. I think our defence at times is abysmal, and were 100% at fault for that goal yesterday - they lost concentration and - bang!

If anything, I reckon he'd make a better captain than Hendo, you can sure as hell hear him, and he does know who should be doing what!

**Waiting for the squeals of horror**

mig still needs to command his six yard box better, although he is better then he was,

also mignolet doesnt make enough of them match winning saves that the likes of chech, de gea, and Courtois do etc etc.

not many GK's are at that elite level so even if we brought in someone new, is he gonna be at that elite level. I doubt it!

Mig will be a good second choice when we bring in somebody new!

Fingers crossed

The issue with Liverpool's set piece problems(other than Mignolet's odd blunders) is that your team is quite a short team. It's very easily bullied by big men in the air. Other than the CBs Mignolet and Henderson who is over 6ft in the starting lineup?

Benteke is but he doesn't fit Klopp's philosophy of high pressing etc and is not a starter anyway. While you're then left with the likes of Coutinho, Lallana, Firmino, and the fullbacks. Sturridge has physical ability but he's injured a lot. You're left with diminutive players which with a keeper that's not very confident that's an issue. In the premier league that can be an issue for sure.

Sinclair can't be relied upon either since he has a contract issue, and the genius that he is appointed Aidy Ward as his agent a couple months ago.

Grudges against agents shouldn't come into it and we won't Knox how good he is unless he gels some game time with quality around him - no wonder he's got contract issues if he feels he's not making any progress. I'm clutching at straws, yes, but I just can't see us scoring enough goals unless Sturridge turns into a player with tie endurance and, er, sharpness of Freddy Krueger. I'm not usually this negative but it's like last January all over again, when too many hoped Stursidge would come back firing and Mario would suddenly give a damn.

Maybe that's why he was offered the contract? To trap him at the club when he's eventually dropped to #2. Smart.

You don't give a player a 5 year contract to be #2. I'm expecting Mignolet to be the #1 next season.

I think maybe our budget dictates what we can do and the manger feels other positions are priority over a new GK. Quality GK's don't come cheap.

That's the only thing I can imagine. Perhaps the club can't afford to factor in a £12-15m layout on Butland or whoever we would sign when we've got other positions on the pitch where we need to improve. Klopp will have no doubt identified key areas where he'll want to spend and I'm guessing a new GK isn't high on his priority list.

As far as shot stopping goes, Mignolet's pretty good and that's really where Reina lost it in his last couple of seasons. He started regularly letting in shots that should be saved. Every keeper in the PL needs to be a good shot stopper, regardless of how good their distribution is.

Maybe this new contract will give him a confidence boost, because he probably needs one right now. I can't see his kicking ever improving but he has to start commanding his area better. He's a big guy, there's no reason for him to be vulnerable when high balls come into the box.

Of course, it hasn't helped that our centre-back pairing keeps changing because of injuries. You always need that understanding and trust between the back 4 + GK. I wouldn't be surprised to see Klopp bring in a top CB to play alongside Sakho in the summer and then maybe we can have a bit of stability back there.

It's all about the statistics I suspect, given how the club appears to operate. There's no stat for uncertainty or for not getting anywhere near a cross/corner. That being said, I generally like him as a keeper and think any mistake he does make is magnified (Mignified?) - similarly to Sakho, there's an exaggerated negative perception around him.

I think its probably as simple as Klopp rates him. Its not something a lot of fans want to hear but from day 1 his always spoke very highly of Mignolet and he believes his good enough.

so we ain't interested in the FA Cup then, as going to field the same team against Exeter that played them the first time.

I was interested in our league performance since Klopp arrived so did a quick bit of digging. Last season we averaged 1.63 pts per game. In the 8 games before Rodgers was sacked we were averaging 1.5 pts per game, a clear drop. Since Klopp took over we're down to 1.36 pts per game. For comparison, so far this season Utd are averaging 1.68 pts per game.

Now I think Klopp is far and away the best manager we could have hoped to get in when Rodgers was shown the door and don't expect to see what he can do for us until next season. So if these stats show anything (and they might not show much) it's that the players are well below the level we need and that any hope of top 4 is fanciful. It also shows perhaps that Rodgers was doing the best he could given the squad. Doesn't mean FSG weren't right to move for Klopp when they did but perhaps Rodgers will be viewed a bit better in a few years time.

I had a feeling that would happen due to the amount of fixtures we have got coming up, there was no way our first team could handle all of them, what with all the injuries we have got. If by some miracle we win tomorrow night then we would have to play the Hammers on the 30th Jan. But as it stands our upcoming fixtures are all within a few days of each other !.

Wednesday 20th - Exeter
Saturday 23rd - Norwich
Tuesday 26th - Stoke (Capital one cup)
Saturday 30th - West Ham (if we win tomorrow)
Tuesday 2nd - Leicester
Saturday 6th - Sunderland

I would love for us to be in the cup games for as long as possible, but in realism terms, it is going to be tough

Surely it's worth giving the home leg against Stoke some priority? The chance of a Wembley final and a go at a cup against City is worth taking seriously.

Yes we should take it seriously and who knows it could well be a cup against Everton if we beat Stoke and Everton beat City.

That team should have enough to beat Exeter @ home.

Klopp would not of spent all that money on this lot

Agreed - and I'm looking forward today seeing those young players on a better pitch with an Anfield crowd behind them. It's an ideal opportunity for them to force themselves into Klopp's plans, whether short or long term - the U21 league just doesn't cut it. Jerome Sinclair, for example, needs to change Klopp's mind that he isn't physically ready for a step up. The likes of Branagan, Smith, Ojo and Teixeira were also impressive enough in the first game to deserve a run out tomorrow night. If we don't test these players in truly demanding games, they'll simply mostly melt away and join a club that's prepared to give them a chance. I'm hopeful of a positive outcome versus Exeter and some eye-catching displays. This is a football club with real players at varying stages of their development, not a game of FIFA. We need to look after all players at all levels as it'll benefit the first team in the long run - and may even save us unnecessary expense on buying ready-made talent. Imagine if Fowler had not been risked in that League Cup the against Fulham...

Exactly, Those stats just show that failure was inevitable when there seemed to be no over all strategy except to buy cheap and sell expensive - not that they kept to that.

While not exactly Liverpool related, I notice that the Canaries have signed Naismith. Really hope that he doesn't play against us on Saturday as he is a ruthless b*****d !.

This is a home game v Exeter, league 2 Exeter, we really shouldn't need a miracle to beat them, tough with the team we put out perhaps but we should still have enough.
we can surely mix in Benteke, Allen, Flanagan (from the bench) to mix in with the youngsters, perhaps one or two more on the bench.

100% we should. The Stoke game should actually take priority after only picking up 1 point from 6 in the PL.

I watched the Under 21's earlier. I really do like the goalkeeper Ryan Fulton. Very commanding and caught a lot of crosses and his distribution was good too.

Doubt he'll ever get a chance though. Its hard enough for young outfield players to break into the first team but its pretty much impossible for keepers to do so.

Caulker played in the Under 21's. Turns out he can't play against Exeter because he wasn't registered in the first leg, but he'll be available for selection in the next round, should we qualify.

Shame, we'll be missing that towering centre-forward.


Not to fear, our goalkeeping situation has been solved, we're being linked with QPR's Robert Green...

Amusing link, at least. Also a £25m move to Jamie Vardy. He'd suit our style of play better than Benteke, but, no, not Vardy, and not for £25m, it would be another Andy Carroll situation, not to mention he's a bit old.

We've got enough strikers, if only they weren't all injured...

Rob Green coming in would be annoying. He'd no doubt jump ahead of Ward in the pecking order, who I'm quite eager to see get a run out after his successful loan at Aberdeen.

That and Green's a bit shit.