Is it all doom and gloom?
You could say that Loris Karius played a part in the season just gone by helping the team to another top 4 finish, an absolute breathtaking run to the Uefa Champions League final and a season full of record-breaking moments.
The defensive situation eased off for a while the team stopped leaking goals much owed to the arrival of 75 million pounds signing Virgil Van Dijk.
However, in crucial moments it became clear that Loris Karius is suspect a dealing with big pressure situations, obviously the major talking point being the complete horror show in Kiev against Real Madrid gifting Benzema the opener and then the attempt to deny Gareth Bales’ long-range effort was something that kept reds awake at night for a few nights after. However there have been signs in big games he makes good saves and gets into good positions, the save against Manchester City, away at Southampton, a fantastic save away in the Merseyside derby and the save to deny Ronaldo just before HT in the Uefa Champions League final spring to mind.
Pre-Season
It appeared that manager Jurgen Klopp was to out his trust in Karius and he would remain our number 1 goalkeeper but after the second friendly against Tranmere Rovers Karius dropped a simple catch which Tranmere then tapped in to pull a goal back.
Preseason results may not be vital but surely showing the manager you’re up to the job and fighting for your place is top of any players list. This seemed to be the final straw for many fans as they now seem to be demanding a change between the sticks.
Unseen problems
I think its fair to mention that if you look back in recent times Reina, Mingolet and Karius all seemed to have bright futures ahead but is there more to this than meets the eye?
John Achterberg the goalkeeping coach was promoted to the first team in 2011 and around that time Reina slowly became a shadow of the keeper he was, further to that Mignolet and Karius mistakes were identical early on and surely this all resorts back to the training ground, John Achterberg never really played at the highest level but seemed to have a decent career at Tranmere Rovers and that’s a credit to him but it seems the coaching which then turns to performances on the field reflects that level of football at times.
The club may need a new goalkeeper but in my opinion, they need a new goalkeeping coach too.
What next?
Its fair to say Simon Mingolet’s time with the club could well be coming to an end that leaves 2 options, Give Danny Ward a fair chance in goal or sign a new goalkeeper.
My opinion would be to give Danny ward a fair chance after we refused him another loan after two fantastic spells at Aberdeen and Huddersfield and if he can’t get a chance after that then does that not make a mockery out of the entire loan system?
If we go out and spend way over the odds on a new keeper’ and that fails we will only look back and wonder what Danny Ward could have done or even worse: he’s sold to another club and we could realise we had a top-drawer goalkeeper playing 3rd fiddle all along.
Either way getting the choice right is crucial to the 2018/2019 season but my opinion run with Ward as he’s sat back and waited patiently enough.
The Liverbird 