Liverpool's Goalkeeper Situation Reaches Farcical Levels in Burnley Win

Boxing Day for Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool does not hold good memories. His side had lost both of their previous encounters under his reign—2-1 at Manchester City last season and 3-1 at Stoke City in his first season in charge.

That City game saw Raheem Sterling wrongly ruled offside and Simon Mignolet hand Alvaro Negredo an easy goal, while the Stoke match saw Liverpool bullied out of the game despite taking the lead after two minutes.

For long periods at Turf Moor, it looked like this was going to be another nightmare after Christmas for Liverpool under Rodgers—especially with the goalkeeper situation reaching farcical levels when Brad Jones was replaced by Mignolet after 16 minutes.

Jones was replaced due to a reported thigh injury, according to Sunni Upal of the Mail Online, moments after Burnley had hit the post through Danny Ings' shot from the edge of the box—which had seen the Australian rooted to his spot.

It was Mignolet's first appearance since being dropped for Jones for the match at Old Trafford, missing the last three games.

In his pre-match press conference on Christmas Eve, Rodgers had praised both Mignolet and Jones, saying the former had been working hard since being removed from the side and that the latter had "done well" in the games he'd featured, as per This Is Anfield.

Mignolet, though, looked absolutely devoid of confidence after replacing Jones, particularly his distribution. There were two highly embarrassing moments for the Belgian when twice attempting to clear the ball.

The first saw his clearance successfully closed down and blocked by the oncoming forward, while the second was one of the most baffling things you're ever likely to see—allowing the ball to cross the line and go out for a corner despite an abundance of time and space to clear down the pitch.

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January is not usually a good window to look for reinforcements but our goalkeeping cannot wait.... pic.twitter.com/bVOdkwnzQZ

— MostarLFC (@MostarLFC) December 26, 2014"

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I've never seen anything like this. Incredible. https://t.co/NjzpfQM6F8

— Kop 305 (@Kop305) December 26, 2014"

It shows just how dire the situation has become at Anfield.

Two things have become abundantly clear in recent weeks: Jones is not superior to Mignolet, and Mignolet is not of the standard required for Liverpool.

Has Rodgers' use of Jones over the past fortnight been part of a political move in order to show the Fenway Sports Group just how badly the goalkeeper situation needs addressing in January? We cannot know for sure.

Liverpool were linked with numerous goalkeepers in the summer. Michel Vorm left Swansea City for Tottenham, while Guillermo Ochoa joined Malaga on a free transfer.

Asmir Begovic, Petr Cech and Mattia Perin are among the names the club could be interested in, per This Is Anfield (h/t Metro Blogs). Any of those three would drastically improve the situation for Rodgers.

What remains most baffling perhaps is that Liverpool signed a goalkeeper who is clearly uncomfortable with the ball at his feet, when having such technique is vital for Rodgers' system.

Add in the failure to sign an adequate back-up goalkeeper and failing to replace their goalkeeper coach John Achterberg, who was initially appointed to his role on a temporary basis when Kenny Dalglish was made interim manager back in 2011.

All of that is part of the puzzle that is the Liverpool goalkeeper situation—a situation that has now reached absurd levels and appears to see Mignolet being used as part of a political power struggle between Rodgers' and Liverpool's transfer committee ideology.

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Thankfully for Liverpool, they escaped Turf Moor with all three points thanks to Sterling's well-taken goal in the second half.

We're only a week away from the transfer window opening, and Liverpool's need for a new goalkeeper grows by the game.