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The Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius conundrum has been a constantly interesting and shifting narrative over the last two seasons since Karius arrived. For a while Klopp settled on a compromise wherein Mignolet would handle the league games while Karius would take over for the Champions League and all of the cups. He was clearly waiting for one player’s performances to convince him.
It seems that Loris Karius has finally been the one to break the stalemate, even if he has similarly impressed the Anfield faithful. Many fans were speculating that Klopp and the transfer committee would use some of the Coutinho money to bring in a new shot-stopper this month.
That doesn’t seem to be the case, however, and Klopp has made a point to reiterate his appreciation for Karius amidst the criticism.
“My favourite solution, always, is that we do it with our boys. They deliver, they improve,” said Klopp, regarding the transfer speculation.
“The problem they have is that everyone is watching them (through a magnifying glass) and saying ‘still not good enough’. It is not a case of get somebody else, it is get the right solution and the right solution is the one that we already have here.”
“I will only mention one name. Everyone talks about him with us, and that is Butland. Fantastic goalkeeper but was he perfect? No. He wasn’t in that game (I saw). But everyone says ‘still better than our boys’.”
Addressing Karius’s critics, Klopp said, “There were a few difficulties but meanwhile he (Loris) has settled as well and there are a lot of really good things in his game which are natural and I like them and now he can show them.
“These boys all have big quality. These lads are here and now they have to create a situation where they show it every week. It doesn’t mean they will be free of mistakes for the next 20 years. Nobody can do that.
“There are three big goalkeepers and they only had the position where they started. First 20 games without a mistake, maybe the mistake happened in the 21st.
“Now we change the situation. It is not nice for Simon but a big chance for Loris.”
So it seems that we would be wise to tamp down on our big goalkeeper dreams in this transfer window. Klopp has given the rose to Karius and, for now, at least, it seems he’s going to follow it through.