Simon Mignolet: LFC Lacked Aggression, Creativity In Loss To Leicester City

Simon Mignolet believes a passive start to Tuesday’s meeting with Leicester City was a decisive factor in Liverpool’s eventual 2-0 defeat.

Claudio Ranieri’s team extended its lead at the top of the Premier League standings, as Jamie Vardy netted twice in the second half at King Power Stadium.

Vardy’s first was a fine half-volley from distance that left the visiting goalkeeper with little chance and turned a tight contest in Leicester City’s favor.

But Mignolet, who made a string of fine saves in the first 45 minutes to keep score level, is of the opinion that the Reds’ efforts in the opening exchanges were more to blame for their loss than Vardy’s stunner.

“Obviously, it’s difficult when you concede (the first goal),” he told Liverpoolfc.com. “I think we didn’t start the game well, we let Leicester come into the game and didn’t defend aggressively enough.

“You have to be there (as a goalkeeper) to help the team out and so I was happy at 0-0 at halftime, but second half he scored a great goal.”

Despite the need for some heroics between the sticks in the first half, Mignolet insists he was sure Jurgen Klopp’s team was well placed to take three points.

But the Belgian says a lack of creativity ultimately cost the visitors the chance to put Leicester on the back foot.

“You can always score a goal on the counter so we were in the game still at halftime, which was positive,” he said.

“Unfortunately we didn’t manage to create the chances we wanted to or score a goal. The end product hasn’t been there.

“We didn’t create enough chances to score a goal and when you play this Leicester side away from home you have to make chances to put them under pressure.

“We didn’t manage to do that but I think everybody tried their best.”