Okay, let’s rewind and recap how we got to the Vine above.
In the summer of 2013, Liverpool bought Simon Mignolet to replace the not-gone-yet-but-soon-dispatched Pepe Reina. He looked okay at shot stopping and kind of soft overall. But he had a few hot displays so people thought he could do the job instead of Reina, and I started calling him MigNO-LET-IN, which is funny.
Then this year Mignolet was awful. Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar called him “worse than Dracula,” because at least Dracula leaves his box every once in a while. Grobbelaar suggested dropping Mignolet for Brad Jones in the short term and buying a real goalkeeper in January.
Eventually, Brendan Rodgers agreed. After plopping out of the Champions League on Dec.9, Mignolet moved to the bench and Jones started four games in a row. Jones is not a good goalkeeper, but he’s also not a calamitous goalkeeper, so it seemed like a fair tradeoff.
Anyway, 16 minutes into the game against Burnley on Boxing Day, Jones injured his thigh. Mignolet subbed in.
At some point during the 1-0 win, instead of clearing a backpass like a normal human, he let it roll out of play and then cleared it, as seen in the Vine above.
Joke’s on Grobbelaar. Mignolet was technically out of his box.