Former players and managers - general discussion

The Albert Former players and managers
5187

Interesting fact what Paul Lambert says that he never lost in 6 games at Anfield as opposition head coach. I remember one of those and it got me sad and angry.

His Villa side came to Anfield in early 14/15 season and they did a great man marking job on Gerrard (who was still a single pivot #6 at the time). Probably the best up to that point. I think Agbonlahor scored the winner. That night unfortunately I felt the midfield combination with him so deep in midfield was over.

Question remains whether he had the right type of support around him or rotations in some phases of the game. Then as the season progressed we changed a bit of everything, the formation/structure, player positions and he ended up playing in a more offensive role.

5188

https://x.com/l4pablo/status/2038844135545729085

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5189

Imagine the players today wearing the shorts and belt combo!

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5190

Love that kit. Time to bring it back.

Can someone do an AI of our present players in it?

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5191

And boots that would serve well on an ascent of the Matterhorn.

5192

hows the casual dude, no harry highpants with no belt …(infront i presume the mnager)…do you reckon he just forgot his belt that day?

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5194

I thought all men had a moustache and smoked a pipe back in those days!

I’m so disappointed…

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Simon Mignolet (38) will retire at the end of this season and will work for the Royal Belgian Football Association (KBVB)

Simon Mignolet (38) is hanging up his gloves after this season. This was announced by the goalkeeper of Club Brugge on Thursday. From 1 September he will start working as a sporting manager at the Belgian Football Association. The ex Belgian Red Devils played more than 700 games at the highest level and won the Golden Shoes in 2022.

At the end of May, the curtains fall over Simon Mignolet’s professional career. That made the 38-year-old goalkeeper of Club Brugge announced Thursday at a press conference.

“The playoffs will be the last 10 games of my active football career,” Mignolet recounted. “On 1 September I will start a new challenge in a management position in the sporting department of the Belgian Football Association. How that position is filled, I will indicate later.”

"It’s an informed decision, that’s about time. I had to keep it quiet for a long time. I didn’t even tell my son until yesterday.”

"After the last game of the regular competition, I informed the chairman, the management and the coach. Yesterday I also informed my teammates.”

“I thought it was important to communicate transparently so that there would be no speculation during the play-offs. I do not want to do emotional goodbyes, because the work is not finished yet. I want to be a champion again and win a second star with Club Brugge.”

Mignolet suffered a lot of injuries in recent months, but again fought between the posts at Club Brugge, where he is end of the contract.

“My performance in the playoffs will now be put under a microscope,” Mignolet concludes. “That’s part of football. But my determination will be there every day, until my last moment."

From Sint-Truiden to Liverpool

Simon Mignolet can look back on a long football career of 19 seasons at the highest level. In 2007 he made his first-class debut at STVV. Soon the Truienaar emerged as a point packer (don’t understand this translation), which earned him a transfer to Sunderland in 2010.

In the Premier League, Mignolet’s career took a high flight. Not much later he also became a Belgian Red Devil, for which he would play 35 internationals. In 2013 a new step followed with a transfer to Liverpool, the first Belgian ever.

At Anfield, Mignolet became first goalkeeper under JĂźrgen Klopp, but his career was stagnated when he was passed by Loris Karius. Worse yet, because the German would go down in history as a blundering goalkeeper. After that, Mignolet became the backup for the Brazilian top keeper Alisson.

In 2019, Mignolet was lured back to Belgium by Club Brugge. At blue-black, the goalkeeper became a key figure in Club’s many (European) successes. It brought Mignolet four league titles and the Golden Boot in 2022.

More recently, Mignolet has been struggling with injuries, which has left him in the balance with Nordin Jackers this season. Yet Mignolet fought his way between the posts again in Bruges. It is in the West Flemish capital that the goalkeeper will end his career. He played more than 700 professional matches in his career.

1x Champions League with Liverpool (2019)
4x Belgian Championship with Club Brugge (2020, 2021, 2022, 2024)
1x Cup of Belgium with Club Brugge (2025)
3x Belgian supercup with Club Brugge (2021, 2022, 2025)
1x World Cup bronze with Red Devils
1x Golden Shoes (2022)
5x Belgian Keeper of the Year (2010, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
35 caps with Red Devils

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5198
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5199

I fell like posting my post game comments in this thread. I don’t know who the person wearing the Virgil shirt is but I wish we had our Virgil back

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5200

who knew playing a 34 year old defender for every minute in every game for about 3 seasons in a row would end up taking a toll.

there should be some science field to look into this rare occurence…

Ive seen the fan opinion start to round now on Virgil… its hard to take.

really hard to watch Mo go through it, VVD still a really good defender though… but hes still human.

Fuck Slot and Fuck the club, this needed to be handled better… i know theres a common opinion about Quansah getting game time elsewhere etc etc…but, you know, sometimes the answer is staring you in the face.

i might pop this in the VVD thread.

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5201

The solution for Virg is that he needs at least 3 top
Quality CB alongside him who are fit to play. He should be playing about 30 games a season from here on in and that means we need another CB pairing that we can rely on without him

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5202

First line here is the crux of the matter.No one, can put in for as long and as often as Virg has been asked to do, as,pretty clearly there has not been a ready to roll cover,Konate fell off a cliff, Quansah was pretty much squeezed out,Gomez sadly has been injury prone, other ideas came to zilch, meantime we were really pushing Virg to the max, and that has happened this season, it was always going to!

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5203

https://x.com/eurofootcom/status/2041076947061490071

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:0)

Seeing as you can’t go near a player in top flight football these days without them doing a double somersault to try to get the other player booked - here’s the Frank Worthington on playing against Tommy Smith back in the 1970s.

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5206

Did he celebrate with a bottle of Wincarnis?

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