Fraser Forster's appearance for Saints in the behind closed doors friendly against Queens Park Rangers has led to social media going mad about just what that means in terms of the Saints goalkeeping pecking order.

There was a rare sighting of Fraser Forster this week, the Goalkeeper has become the forgotten man since being dropped in December 2017 for Alex McCarthy with the arrival of Angus Gunn last summer pushing him further down the pecking order.

But his appearance in the friendly against QPR has prompted much speculation on social media .

The problem is these days there are many websites dedicated to Saints that do little other than take a headline and then make the story up from tweets. This gives no indication of whether the tweets quoted are the majority view or otherwise.

Forster's appearance thus quoted one tweeter as saying that he had seen on social media that Forster was about to be reinstated as number 1 keeper at St Mary's although about the only evidence that was being offered was that Forster's picture suddenly seemed to be appearing a lot more in the press.

One such tweet read:

"I think Forster will be first choice from now on. A lot of things on social media are suggesting so."

Another:

"Forster has been in a lot of photos of late."

There was speculation of this kind a couple of months ago when Angus Gunn was first brought into the team for a Premier league game, however Ralph Hasenhuttl was quick to dispel those rumours and nothing since has suggested any substance.

But that is the nature of so called news stories these days, looking through the list of Saints related stories on line in the last 24 hours, there are a growing number of sites who do nothing other than rehash twitter quotes and turn them into headlines.

In fact the Forster story has a lot more substance to it than many, at least it offers the evidence that Forster is appearing in a lot more photo's lately, whilst other stories are little more than a printed tweet from someone suggesting a player for the club whom they have seen score a goal on Sky news and this being twisted to a headline that the club are looking at the player.

Back last summer I commented that Saints would find it hard to get Forster off the books due to his wage, I also said that I thought that Saints hadn't spent £12 million on Angus Gunn in order to leave him on the bench for long, that signing Gunn was a clear indication that they did not see Alex McCarthy as the long term keeper.

I still maintain this, I would not be surprised to see McCarthy leave the club in the summer as they look to trim the squad and also not only bring in transfer money but free up wages for new arrivals.

That being the case I think Saints will snap the hands off of any offer they receive approaching £10 million.

They will then have Gunn & Forster as first and second choice backed up by Harry Lewis and will feel that this is a strong option and given the situation the right one for the club.

Photo: Action Images

ThermosNBlanket added 09:39 - Mar 22 How can Gunn play when he is away with England? We have some of the thickest fans ever! Forster wants and needs to play for getting his 65k a week And game time if transferred.
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Sanguin added 10:58 - Mar 22 Maybe they're planning to play him to put him in the shop window and finally sell him this summer.
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Waylander added 11:03 - Mar 22 Maybe there is some progress with whatever condition it was that broke his confidence. IF he were to recover his form he would be worth having around.
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I_would added 11:33 - Mar 22 Are we going to play Forster next season to keep us near the relegation zone as it's more exciting for the fans?
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SonicBoom added 11:51 - Mar 22 Imagine getting all that money yet never having to play. Being a squad player is an odd living.
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perazi added 12:12 - Mar 22 The only case for McCarthy being sold and Forster retained is that Alex Mc is a saleable asset and Forster is an expensive liability who we cannot offload. Ralph has made it clear FF has no future at the Club - the problem is the ridiculous contract he is commanding and the understandable lack of interest any other Club has in buying him.
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NewburySaint added 13:29 - Mar 22 What that means is that............RH hasn't seen enough of him, unlike McCarthy & Gunn, so wanted a look, albeit it in an uncompetitive, game situation. What it also means is that.........Gunn is still no.1 with McCarthy close behind & Forster still as number 3 goalkeeper but some way off the quality of the 2 in front of him!
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SaintBrock added 14:44 - Mar 22 Perhaps QPR are interested so we played him so that they could make their own assessment.
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SaintNick added 15:51 - Mar 22 I think Forster is not given enough credit, he was good enough when we had three consecutive top 8 finishes with him in our goal, McCarthy lasted barely a year as first choice and although it cannot be denied he was superb in the final games of last season, the other 30 or so games varied in quality
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1970 added 16:17 - Mar 22 Forster was half decent when protected by fonte ,vvd and wanyama add to that a few good games namely arsenal away where he stopped everything, however having watched him play every week I'm not alone in thinking he gets beaten at his near post far too often, has no command of his area, he doesn't come for crosses and his distribution is amazingly poor so he will never be first choice at any prem team imo but best of luck to him if he leaves.

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SanMarco added 18:45 - Mar 22 Foster isn't very good and has an enormously generous contract that means we can't get rid of him - thanks Les...
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SaintBrock added 20:45 - Mar 24 Bit early to write off McCarthy Nick.
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underweststand added 13:39 - Mar 25 Forster is a " valuable /costly asset" whether he plays for us again - or not. His contract extends to 2022 (at a reported for £60K /week) that means we pay out more than £3 million a year - even if he only stands in goal for training sessions at Staplewood. He's played in a couple of U23 games without showing any of the qualities that won him England caps at one time, but at least it puts him "on show" for any potential buyers who might "dare" to ask his price, but one way or another we must resolve the situation soon. The majority of goalies lack consistancy more than most players, ( A striker can miss 3 or 4 shots a game, but if a goalie concedes just one - you can lose the game), and as we have seen recently even Pickford, De Gea and Lloris don't save everything, but IMHO he will need to show a dramatic improvement in form- if he is to stay and one of the others will leave. McCarthy is second choice just now, and if Ralph decides to perservere with him and Angus Gunn next season, then Forster faces yet another season out in the cold - and we drop a "not-so-cool " £3 million a year for his salary for the next 3 seasons.

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KriSaint added 00:33 - Mar 26 Any speculation on social media that he still has a future at Saints is utter bs. Forster has to move on within the next year if he still has ambitions. I don´t think he wishes to see out his contract that runs until summer 2022 as a never used third choice keeper and be remembered as a greedy pain in the a** with all Saints supporters. He has only just turned 30, I believe, and he has already earned more than enough money to live a great life when he retires, and he should start focusing 100 % on his ambitions and get his career back on track. The best thing that could happen for him is probably getting a chance / trying his luck abroad. In France, Italy, Spain, Germany or Holland for instance. Why not start all over on max. fresh terms and get known in another country, Frazer? Learn a new culture/language etc.

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