KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum The Myth of Mignolet's Poor Distribution

I talked about this on jj's thread about the Southampton game, but I think this warrants a thread of its own (and apparently the old tread is wrecked anyway). For some reason, everyone seems to think that Mignolet's distribution is poor, but it's simply not true. Here's a statistical comparison to all of our rivals's keepers last year (I also included Bregovic because so many people rate him). Here are squawka's results:

Player----- Pass Ac. --Pass completion -----Dist. Acuracy
Mignolet ----70% --------11.82 ----------69%
Howard -----60% --------10.22 ----------68%
Lloris -------47% ---------6.84 ----------53%
De Gea ------56% ---------8.03 ----------62%
Cech --------52% ---------6.91 ----------60%
Begovic ------55% ---------8.25 ----------65%
Hart ---------50% ---------6.16 ----------66%
Szczesny -----65% ---------9.43 ----------69%

Not only did mignolet make more passes per game than any other top keeper, he had a higher accuracy to boot. The only stat that any of the other match him in is Szczesny's distribution accuracy, and Migs edges him in the other two categories. He has some trouble with crosses (which I think will improve), but he is a top shot stopper and a top distributer.

Glad to see someone else giving him praise when it's due.

He made another match winning save on Sunday to help secure the 3 points.

What I want to know is where this fallacy came from? I mean, is it just because he's not Pepe Reina? He's not quite as good with the ball at his feet, but he's not bad with it by any stretch.

He never looks comfortable with the ball at his feet which is probably where the belief comes from but if he is still a top distributor despite that, then it is good to see it being disproven

Praise is a dirty word around here

he is awkward looking and his passes might get there but not as crisply as top keepers...couldn't really give much of a hoot about distribution once it ain't awful. its being a top keeper that is the main thing and he ain't. Until we can match chelsea in power and goalkeeping stability we will always have to play unreal just to keep up -and that got a whole lot harder with suarez leaving.

He looks awkward at times, that's true. But he doesn't give the ball away often, does he?

No praise isn’t, but stats are. They’re shifty eyed deceitful little basturds, as in 'lies, damn lies and statistics'. absolutely not to be trusted under any circumstances! In fact I’d rate them more dangerous than an outbreak of Ebola!

You on drugs?

His passes may be awkward looking, but they're more effective than the the other keepers in the league. And I think he's a very good keeper. His shot stopping is great, and while he has had some trouble with crosses, but I think that is largely due to the fact that our fullbacks were shyte last year and we conceded so many crosses to begin with. I think that will improve with the new fullback this year and the phasing out of Johnson.