BR: Dominant Simon has shown his best

The Belgian was at his best against Blackburn Rovers last week to help Liverpool book a spot in the FA Cup semi-finals and a trip to Wembley to face Aston Villa.

Mignolet's reactions and reflexes kept out the Championship side and allowed the custodian to secure an 11th clean sheet of the calendar year.

But it's the No.22's command of the box and decision-making that has most pleased Rodgers since January, when everything began to change for the goalkeeper.

"Simon's always been an outstanding 'keeper but like all players he went through a difficult moment," the boss commented. "His response to that has been outstanding. He's stayed very calm.

"He's stuck to his game and analysed his game and I think you can see his performance level now is back up to the level that he would want and what we would want. He's been outstanding.

"He made two great saves against Blackburn the other night. That's a big strength of his - he's a brilliant shot-stopper. He's shown in this last three months what a really good 'keeper he is.

"It's just continual work with him on domination. What we say to the outfield players is the same with the goalkeeper - be dominant.

"I'd always rather have a goalkeeper come out and make a mistake than not come out. A 'keeper that just stands on the line, I don't like. I like one who can be aggressive, come and command his box and punch the ball. Sometimes he'll make a mistake but I will take that.

"But he's made very few and you see him now, he'll come out and put his fist on it, he's aggressive and that's the improvement he's made, which has been great. It's just the mentality. You can over-think sometimes, I think he's mentioned that himself.

"The number of chats we had were to reinforce his quality and remind him why we brought him here. Then it's about delivering that on the stage. Now he's much more fluent and instinctive in how he thinks."