Melwood, on a cold, blowy afternoon, with a persistent crew of autograph hunters standing outside the metal gates at the entrance. There are always a few more than usual before a big game and, for Liverpool, it doesn’t get any bigger than Manchester United. A couple of kids on bikes give the impression they might be skipping school but, for the most part, the accents are foreign. They have come from as far as Japan, Brazil and Ukraine to be here and that little scene – a part of daily life for the residents of Deysbrook Lane – is a reminder of how Liverpool’s fame extends, even a quarter of a century since their last title.

Inside the training ground, there are pictorial reminders of what gave this club authentic greatness. The walls are decorated with quotes from some of the more celebrated visitors to Anfield. Johan Cruyff explains how listening to the Kop “sent shivers down my spine”. Diego Maradona describes being seduced by the din of the crowd and Thierry Henry remembers longing to wear Liverpool’s colours. Everywhere, there are reminders of what Liverpool were, and what they want to be again.

Louis van Gaal warns Manchester United to keep cool in Liverpool clash Read more

It is not going to be an easy process but when Simon Mignolet takes his seat to reflect on the early part of the Jürgen Klopp era, the goalkeeper can certainly be encouraged by Liverpool’s results when facing the teams they measure themselves against. Mignolet was part of the side that won 4-1 at Manchester City in November, possibly the outstanding team performance of the season. Liverpool are one of only two clubs to have beaten Leicester City. They put three past Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Joe Allen’s late equaliser against Arsenal on Wednesday had Klopp machine-gunning his fists in celebration. “He’s such a positive character,” Mignolet says of the club’s manager. “We’ve seen that kind of celebration a few times already. Even in training, he has done the same.”

Mignolet is in his third season at Anfield and, though there have been a few jarring moments along the way, he is now so well established he is close to finalising a new contract that would keep him on Merseyside for another five years. The Belgian has been criticised at times but Klopp, in his first few weeks in the job, nipped in the bud any suggestion he might bring in another goalkeeper. “It was nice to hear that because if there was one guy you would want to hear that from, it was him,” Mignolet reflects. “There is a difference as well in saying it to me inside these four walls, with nobody else around, and publishing it to the outside world so everyone knows what he thinks of me. So, of course, if you feel the manager is behind you and he is willing to show the world that, too, it has to be good for your confidence.”

Klopp described him as “the smartest goalkeeper” he had ever worked with and, though it was meant in a football sense, it might also apply off the pitch. Mignolet speaks with great intelligence and clarity and his degree in political science is the result of four years of studies, in Belgium and England, outside his career. “A lot of people who were studying with me turned out to be journalists or worked in big institutions,” he says. “It wasn’t easy when the season was over and I was having to study and go into exams while everyone else was lying on the beach. But it has been worthwhile and given me a different outlook on life.”

The son of an army officer, he is fluent in Dutch, English, German and French as well as working on a fifth language – “with all the Spanish boys here, I’m picking it up all the time,” he says – and his wife, Jasmien, a childhood sweetheart since the second year of school, works as a legal assistant. “We don’t talk that much about football but sometimes if things don’t go well she is the best person to bounce things off,” Mignolet says. “She always has an objective view.” He credits her, for example, with helping him to emerge from the spell of diminished form under Brendan Rodgers when he lost his place in the team and she questioned whether he might be over-thinking his role. Mignolet came back to keep 16 clean sheets in 2015, more than any other Premier League goalkeeper. “I’m proud of that but, on the other hand, it’s not an individual award. It’s a good thing for the whole squad. Like the gaffer said from the first day, everybody here is responsible.”

Liverpool monitor Athletic Bilbao’s €20m-rated forward Iñaki Williams Read more

Klopp has been spreading that message ever since he arrived but, for all those shut-outs, Mignolet has had to be thick-skinned at times. The Liverpool Echo blamed him for two of Arsenal’s three goals on Wednesday. The Times was even more scathing, calling it a “horror show”, and questioning whether he was worth a new deal. Mignolet offers a different perspective. “If you concede a goal, it can be up to seven or eight mistakes leading up to it but, obviously, as a goalkeeper you have to accept it has gone past you. After that, you have to accept that the first question that will be asked, by everybody in the stadium or around the world, will be: ‘Could the keeper have done better?’ That’s part of the job. You learn from that and there is no point worrying about that. The only way is to be your own biggest critic, always looking at yourself and, after every goal, standing in front of the mirror and asking: ‘Well, could you?’ If you are objective enough to say: ‘I could have done this, this and that’, all the other critics and all the other voices are really not important and don’t exist any more.”

One example was the rocket that Phil Jagielka scored at Anfield last season and the television analysis of Gary Neville, two days after the game, that Mignolet was to blame. Again, Mignolet seems comfortable in his own skin, without a flicker of irritation in his voice. “Nothing has been said about the corner before that,” he points out. “Or the ball that falls in front of Jagielka. The end product, Jagielka’s shot into the net … just before that, there is a goalkeeper and that is always the thing that comes into people’s minds. You just have to accept that will happen. You look at it yourself, together with your goalkeeper coach and all the people around you, who are specialists. Every time you concede a goal, you don’t have to put a hammer to your head. Nobody’s perfect and nobody is without mistakes. The only thing you have to make sure is you keep improving.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Simon Mignolet was criticised for Arsenal’s second goal on Wednesday when he was beaten by Olivier Giroud during the 3-3 draw Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Under Klopp, Liverpool are getting accustomed to a new style of play and, aside from the greater emphasis on pressing, that has meant subtle changes for Mignolet, too. “He wants us going in the direction of the other goal and making a sudden impact,” he explains. “He doesn’t want us playing backwards, he wants us going forward. Already, you can see a great difference. He wants us being a bit more direct and, for me, that means not rolling the ball out so much and making sure we put our opponents under pressure rather than ourselves under pressure. It doesn’t mean we don’t do that [playing out from the back] any more, but there is a slight shift.”

His new contract would take him to the age of 32 and Mignolet sounds impatient for success. “There are a lot of things we can do better but on the other hand we still have a great chance in every competition this season. We’re in the semi-finals of the League Cup. We’re still in the FA Cup and the Europa League and the Premier League is wide open – anyone can win it.” He pauses for a moment.

“This is Liverpool,” he says “and we want to be back at the top again.”