Mignolet: "Mentality is Very Important"

Yesterday was a mixed bag of news, with your usual "everything's the worst" counteracted by the sheer joy of Daniel Agger officially taking on the title of vice captain. Finding a happy medium between these two extreme ends of the news cycle, new boy Simon Mignolet found some time to sit down with Liverpool's official magazine to talk about the unique pressures of being a goalkeeper.

"The only thing you have to accept as a goalkeeper is that if you make a mistake, usually nobody else is there to save you," Mignolet said. "You are isolated and the last line before the goal. So you have to be strong when something goes wrong. Mentality is very important.

"If you have a problem, you have to get over it quickly and be able to move on. Unfortunately, goalkeepers occasionally make mistakes. I don't know one that hasn't made a mistake in his life. It has happened to me in the past and it will happen again in the future. But when it does, I'd like to think I'd be able to deal with it — to stand up and be strong."

Much has been made of the squad's psychological frailty over the past few seasons, which ultimately lead to a helpful visit from a sports psychologist to steer the squad back into something resembling a winning mentality. Far from being someone who collapses under intense error-driven scrutiny, Mignolet is of the believe that "you can use pressure in a positive sense" to improve your game.

With Brendan Rodgers going into lockdown mode to protect his players from poor attitudes and disruptive personalities, Mignolet's clearheaded approach is sure to be a welcome and steadying influence in the dressing room.