Liverpool’s goalkeeper coach John Achterberg has praised both Simon Mignolet and Adam Bogdan for their start to the season, telling our official website that the signing of the Hungarian stopper as helped our number one continue to progress with his development.
Bogdan was signed from Bolton Wanderers during the summer transfer window as a replacement for former number two Brad Jones, and Achterberg believes both players are benefiting from the competition.
Mignolet, who was admittedly rarely troubled against Stoke, started the season with a clean-sheet during our first game of the new Premier League campaign and Achterberg is confident that there are more to come.
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Speaking about his two players, the veteran coach told our official website: “For every goalkeeper, competition is good. As a goalkeeper you always have to look at your own game and try to play well.
“The competition pushes you that little bit harder, but sometimes you push yourself to the limit because you always know there is someone waiting behind you, so you just always have to focus on your individual job and do everything right and try to improve.”
Mignolet started last season poorly and his indifferent form eventually saw him dropped in favour of Jones. He won his place back after an injury to the Australian and hasn’t looked back since, with his performances looking all the more consistent each week.
“Simon has been working hard where he left off last season,” Achterberg explained. “He has been working hard over the summer, which is good, and you could see that back in training.
“The games he has played in pre-season he hasn’t been overly tested but what he had to do, he did alright. He has carried that on in training and we are still working on improvements like normal, so it’s going well.”
Asked what he makes of Bogdan, who is the first new addition to our goalkeeping ranks since Mignolet himself back in 2013, he added: “It’s good that Adam has come in.
“He has had to step up the pace a little bit from Bolton. We have been working on a few different things and I have discussed with him what we can improve. He is a positive boy who wants to improve.
“He’s a positive boy who wants to work hard. He is positive on his starting position and he likes to come for crosses. He’s a decent shot-stopper.”
Safe to say he’s positive, if nothing else!