Simon Mignolet has urged goalkeeping counterpart Loris Karius to maintain his professionalism after the young shot stopper lost his place in Liverpool's starting lineup.
Mignolet was reinstated into the Reds' first team by manager Jurgen Klopp for the 3-0 away win over Middlesbrough on Wednesday after Karius had come in for fierce criticism over his level of performances.
The 23-year-old keeper has endured a tough first six months at Anfield, with large swathes of the media and some fans questioning his ability to play in the Premier League.
Klopp revealed that Karius had not taken the decision to be dropped for the trip to the Riverside stadium too well but Mignolet insisted that the Germany international should use the incident as ammunition to work hard in training, become a better player and silence his critics in the process.
He told the Telegraph: The goalkeeper position is not an easy one. No individual is more important than the club and the only important thing is the club. Obviously, for Loris, it won't be nice, but he is capable and professional enough to learn from it.
You have to be mentally strong to deal with it. In football things can change very quickly, with an injury or illness. You have to stay professional, keep your head down and work hard on and off the pitch. Stay focused, which is not always easy, especially as a keeper.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has backed goalkeeper Loris Karius to be a "long-term" success.
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As a striker you can come on to help the team as a sub at certain moments, but as a goalkeeper, you normally have to wait for your chance [to start] and just try to be ready.�
Mignolet had himself lost his starting place to Karius earlier in the season, and has reportedly stated that he would look to leave if regular game time was not forthcoming.
Karius was derided for the manner in which he helped cost Liverpool all three points in the 4-3 loss to Bournemouth earlier in December, and was partly at fault for West Ham's two goals in the 2-2 draw on Merseyside last Sunday.
He came in for stinging criticism from ex-United players and brothers Gary and Phil Neville, as well as Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher, after those displays - comments that were condemned by Klopp as he bit back during his pre-match Middlesbrough press conference.
Congratulations @SMignolet, who registered his 50th clean-sheet for Liverpool last night � pic.twitter.com/eR1NIDTh5a
Klopp had said: The pundits, former players most of them, forgot completely how it felt when they got criticised. Especially the Neville brothers “ the one who was the manager [Gary], he obviously should know that too much criticism never helps. But he is not interested in helping a Liverpool player, I can imagine, but that makes the things he says not make more sense.
Obviously the Neville brothers don't like Liverpool, I have no problem, and if they can cause bigger problems than we have already they have tried.�
Karius has made 11 appearances for Liverpool since he completed a summer move from FC Mainz, and has kept four clean sheets in that time.
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