Mignolet: I won't be thinking about it

The goalkeeper marked his league debut for the Reds with an 88^th minute penalty save from the Potters' Jonathan Walters at Anfield to ensure Brendan Rodgers' men began 2013-14 with a 1-0 victory.

The stop sparked scenes of joyous celebration from all those of a Liverpool persuasion, both on the pitch and in the stands, and provided the base for two further clean sheets in the matches that followed and a solid start to the campaign.

"It obviously helps," Mignolet reflected. "That first moment, the penalty save, and then three clean sheets, it gives you a lift.

"It makes sure that you progress, and we built on those games and got the points so that gives you the time to settle and make sure the fans know what you can do for them.

"When it happened I received a lot of reaction, with people saying it had been a while since the atmosphere at Anfield has been like that at the end of a game.

"Looking back to it - the fact that it's your debut at home and it's the 88th minute at 1-0 and you save a penalty - it's something that you dream of. It's very special. But those things won't come into my head when it's Sunday, 10 past four."

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Mignolet has firmly established himself as Rodgers' first-choice custodian since completing his move from Sunderland last summer.

The Belgium international has been one of Liverpool's most impressive performers so far this term, though he admits he was disappointed with goals he conceded in the recent defeats at Manchester City and Chelsea.

"I don't like conceding any goals," he said. "It is not nice to concede but you learn from things and take things from it. You take it with you and you can only become a better keeper. You make it help you become better so it does not happen again.

"You just deal with it in the manner you deal with it as though you kept a clean sheet. We only had a few days after those matches to prepare ourselves for the next game.

"My performance comes second best to what happens with the team and the fact is we didn't get the points we deserved in those two games because we could have got more out of them. Those two games are behind us and we took the positives and the negatives and we had to make sure when Hull came around we responded and we left those two games behind us and we got back to winning ways. What had been, had been.

"It is always said that if you play for one of the big teams it is much harder to be a goalkeeper because you have to concentrate for the full 90 minutes.

"There are times when you might only have one save to make, while a goalkeeper for a smaller team might always be making saves. I have to say that, for me, it is the same whether I have loads to do or not so much.

"I keep concentrating, then you are better prepared to do what you need to do should the other team threaten. My preparation and concentration doesn't change whatever game we are playing. We analyse things after games with the goalkeeping coach to see what we have done right and what we haven't done right, and I take things from that."

Liverpool travel to the Britannia Stadium this afternoon in sixth position in the Barclays Premier League, though the compactness of the standings means victory would elevate them back into fourth.

"It can only be a good thing for the Premier League that it's such an open race," Mignolet considered.

"Last year we got to February and it was down to two teams who could win it. We're not at that stage now. We'll see how it progresses in the next few games and make sure we do the things we've been doing for the first part of the season."

While Luis Suarez and co have provided the ammunition at the top end of the field, many have credited Mignolet's form as an important factor in Liverpool's form.

So how does the man himself feel about such praise?

Mignolet concluded: "It's always nice when you hear those kinds of things have been said, but goals are asimportant as clean sheets and we have someone in Luis Suarez who is always scoring. I'm part of the team effort."