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After a rousing victory against Manchester City to finish off 2016, watching Liverpool ring in 2017 with a mistake-laden draw against relegation contenders Sunderland was disappointing to say the least. Dropped points are going to happen, inevitably, but they’re always a hard pill to swallow.
For goalkeeper Simon Mignolet it was likely particularly difficult, as he had to give up two goals to silly penalties. Mignolet, who before the match against Sunderland let in only one goal in the last three games, explained his frustration at how the results turned out.
“We wanted to win, unfortunately that didn’t happen, although we had the chances to do so,” the goalkeeper told the official website. “It’s tough to take, especially after the great win against Manchester City, and we hoped to continue in the same way [against Sunderland].
“If you take four points out of six it’s still decent, but obviously we would have liked to have taken all three points. They are fighting to stay in the Premier League and they scored from two penalties.”
Despite the frustration caused by failing to win a winnable game, Mignolet remains focused on the future and on the many matches still to be played this season.
“We just have to look at ourselves and keep doing the things we are doing well and learn from the things we are doing better,” he continued.
“There are certain things today [at Sunderland] we can learn from and if we can do that then we know we are a good team with so much quality, and we can make it a really good season this year.”
Liverpool remain in the EFL Cup and the FA Cup is just beginning. Right now they’re five points below Chelsea, but still very much in the running to secure top four and even a dark horse for the title, should Chelsea find themselves in a tough patch. The season is barely half over and there are still plenty of surprises left in store.
The team starts their FA Cup run this weekend against Plymouth Argyle.