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Despite European disappointment, Liverpool continued their stellar league form in February, pushing to within touching distance of the top four. It may not have been a perfect month for the Reds, but there were a lot of positives to get excited about, with perhaps the biggest surprise being how little a difference the rusty Daniel Sturridge made in them following his return from a lengthy injury layoff.
By winning the vote for January, Philippe Coutinho became the first two-time Player of the Month winner for the 2014-15 season. Other former winners were Raheem Sterling, Lucas Leiva, and Adam Lallana. Coutinho seems unlikely to win for a third time in February, though a handful of strong performances likely linger in the minds of many. Instead, this month’s clear favourite heading in is resurgent goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Few would have guessed it in the autumn, and fewer still would have when the Belgian was benched in favour of Brad Jones over the busy Christmas run, but Mignolet dominated Man of the Match voting in February amongst Liverpool Offside readers. In fact, he ranked in the top five in all seven games played last month, and with five points for Man of the Match through to one for coming fifth, he earned a whopping 25 points.
The next closest in the vote tally where Emre Can and Jordon Ibe, who were both well back of Mignolet with 13 points in February voting. Meanwhile, Mario Balotelli also saw his recent improved play recognised—along with Martin Skrtel, he tallied 12 points last month. Together with Mignolet, they round out Liverpool’s top five, with honourable mentions going to Coutinho and Alberto Moreno, who each earned eight points in voting.
It’s still up to you, though, to look back and decide if in retrospect people got things right over the course of those seven February matches. Should Mignolet be the runaway winner Man of the Match voting makes him look? And if so, how to the rest sort out after a month that ended with Liverpool truly back in the top four conversation?
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