Is Fraser Forster On The Verge Of A Recall ! Sunday, 6th Dec 2020 13:00 When Fraser Forster decided to stay at St Mary's in the summer rather than a return to Celtic eyebrows were raised, but it was suggested that after talks with Ralph Hasenhuttl he was ready to fight for his place, how close is he to a recall ? Alex McCarthy has been in reasonable form this season, but it has not been perfect and there have been questions asked about his positioning, his distribution, and his ability to concentrate for the full 90 minutes.
So although he has made some good saves and played a big part in Saints good form, the doubts were always there and in recent games have resurfaced, at Villa when Jack Grealish popped one in at the near post from distance, it was seen as a late error that didn't cost us anything, although one thing this season is that the table is so condensed that goal difference will play a big part. But against Manchester United McCarthy made three big errors, although only one resulted in a goal. The first was when he appeared to give Jannik Vestergaard the call to let a ball run through but then seemed to have a split second panic and suddenly stopped, this left him stranded but luckily the United attacker fired into the side netting when it looked easier to score.
The second error came shortly after when under little pressure he kicked the ball straight to the opposition, he redeemed himself with two quick saves, the second almost miraculous, but the truth was the need to make them were of his own making. His third error was not so obvious, on United's second goal his starting position was poor and that meant he was always struggling to get to the ball and therefore his punch was weak, this created panic in the Saints defence and when the ball was put in early Jannik Vestergaard seemed to be trying to cover his keeper being out of position, rather than the fact that the rest of the defence had pushed up. Another weakness is that on too many occasions he will make a save but push the ball out only a yard or two when there can be onrushing attackers, rather than push the ball out of the danger area.
I didn't start this article meaning it to be a complete hatchet job on McCarthy, he has played his part both this season and in the re start of the last, but having spent most of his career as a back up keeper, I am not convinced he has the concentration needed to play 90 minutes 38 times a season in the Premier League. Thus I think that this must be playing on Ralph Hasenhuttl's mind at present and Fraser Forster must be as near to being selected on merit for a Saints Premier League game than at any time in the past 3 years.
Since conceding 5 in a defeat at Wembley against Spurs on Boxing Day 2017, Forster has played just once for Saints, that 18 months ago against West Ham when he was put into the team against West Ham to let Ralph see him in action. The last two seasons have seen him at Celtic on loan and he has been impressive there, some would say outstanding and although a lot of it was in relatively easy games in the Scottish Premier League, there were pressure games where he shone, not just against Rangers but in Europe. So is it time to give Fraser Forster a recall, is he now mentally back to his best and able to handle the pressure of the Premier League again, Forster is a certain type of keeper, for his size he is not as good at commanding his box as some, but then again Antti Niemi rarely left his line, but defenders work with keepers, they like consistency, they like to know when a keeper will come for the ball and when he will stay on his line. This means they can deal with things, what they don't like is when they never know if a keeper will stay on his line or not.
I don't expect Fraser Forster to return against Brighton, I think Ralph will keep faith with Alex McCarthy and I think that the keeper deserves to show he is still the man for the job, but I don't think McCarthy is the undisputed Number 1, he cannot afford to let these mistakes keep happening, the problem is though is that at 31 it might be too late to banish these errors from his game. So I suspect that next season a key signing will be a new goalkeeper, our three current options including the loaned out Angus Gunn each have six months to show they are the man going forward. Each face different challenges to show their mettle, McCarthy has to show he can concentrate for the full 90 minutes and eradicate these errors, Forster has to show he has the confidence restored to his game that he has when he was a key member of the Saints team that with him in goal had 3 top 8 finishes and a Wembley League Cup Final and finally Angus Gunn has to show that he can be a top keeper at Stoke City.
That won't be easy for Gunn, firstly he has to displace Adam Davies who was the number 1 when he arrived, he did that when Davies suffered a knee injury, only to find that after only three games Gunn himself damaged an ankle and is likely to be out till after Xmas. Ralph Hasenhuttl will not see the goalkeeping position as an urgent issue, but he will see it as one that will need to be solved in the summer. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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