The 27-year-old allowed the Brazilian’s strike through him from a tight angle at Wembley, but his manager is backing him to rise above the criticism he receives
Jurgen Klopp admitted Simon Mignolet should have kept out Fernandinho’s opener inLiverpool’s League Cup final defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
The goalkeeper allowed the Brazilian’s effort to slip under him from a tight angle, an error which not only gave Manuel Pellegrini’s side a goal advantage at Wembley, but changed the complexion of the game.
Liverpool were chasing an equaliser and left themselves open in the process as City looked to hurt them on the counter, but, Mignolet did not crumble after his blunder and pulled off a series of saves to keep the Reds in the game as Philippe Coutinho struck with seven minutes to go force extra time and penalties.
City won the shoot-out 3-1 to deny Liverpool a ninth League Cup triumph.
The Belgian is set to play his 100th Premier League game for the club on Wednesday with Pellegrini’s charges the opponents again, and Klopp believes the 27-year-old is experienced enough to deal with the criticism he receives.
“I would like to say the goal we [conceded] in the final was unholdable, but Simon knows it too of course. It is how it is,” the manager said.
“I’m not sure it was a mistake, but it was not perfect I would say.
“That’s how it is, that’s football players’ lives and especially goalkeepers’ lives. On the other side, I can absolutely say nothing negative about Simon Mignolet – he’s a really good boy, a big personality and since I’ve been here he has had to handle a lot of pressure.
“There was no day when somebody outside Melwood was 100 per cent satisfied with whatever he did. And he has had a lot of good games for us, really good games.
“He has the hard way to go, like Liverpool FC too. He’s old enough, he’s experienced enough and together we have to handle the situation and together we have to go through it.”
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