Simon Mignolet: New aggressive streak is key to my return to form

SIMON MIGNOLET has admitted a newly-adopted aggressive streak is behind his return to form for Liverpool.

Simon MignoletGETTY

Simon Mignolet is wary of the threat in-form Christian Benteke can pose

The Belgium goalkeeper has recovered from a difficult start to the season, when he was dropped and his future left in the balance, to effectively save his Anfield career.

Mignolet will line up against Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday having re-emerged as a key performer for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

And Mignolet insists it is because he has become more assertive since returning to the team against Burnley on Boxing Day when Brad Jones suffered a thigh injury.

“It is something we spoke about when I was out of the team, “ said Mignolet. “To be more aggressive and predominantly more dominant and commanding,

“That is something we analysed.

“My family was over for a game and they asked me straight away afterwards, ‘Has your voice not gone? Yours was the only voice we heard on the pitch.’

“It is something i try to do my best with and make sure I give the information to all the defenders and the team

“It’s more the body language and the commanding voice to get the message over to the players which has changed a bit.

“It had something to do with my character, which is a bit laid back, so I had to make sure when I gave a signal, or command, it was commanding enough to get the message over.

Liverpool will fight until the end - Rodgers [AMBIENT]

“Especially when you have 40,000 people singing songs like you do at Anfield.”

The sight of Mignolet flattening team-mate Lucas Leiva when clearing a corner in the quarter-final win over Blackburn illustrated perfectly the change of approach.

“It is something we took as a positive from that game,” he said with a smile. “We know with Villa they have that aerial ability with the two strikers at the front so it’s something we have to deal with as well.”

The showdown with Villa will pit Mignolet against in-form countryman Christian Benteke, who has scored eight in six games, but he is focused on trying to create history for Liverpool.

Christian Benteke Player Profile

We want to go out there and give ourselves a chance of creating some history by reaching the final

Simon Mignolet

“We have to stop Aston Villa not just him and look at ourselves to perform,” he said. “We always analyse certain things about our opponents and this will be no different.

“Benteke has been scoring a few goals recently and him and Agbonlahor are on a decent run. But our focus is getting our performance right first and foremost.

“We want to go out there and give ourselves a chance of creating some history by reaching the final. The last time we won the FA Cup was 2006 and we don’t want to have to wait to 2016 to make it a 10-year anniversary.

“We want to make history for ourselves. I would be the first Belgium goalkeeper to win the FA Cup, but first we have to beat Aston Villa.”

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