In the second half of the season an unlikely hero emerged in Alex McCarthy, who was plunged into the team to save not only Saints from relegation but his own career.

It is true to say that prior to January this year most Saints fans would not have recognised Alex McCarthy if they walked past him in the street, in 18 months at the club he had spent much of that injured and as the December was coming to the end, his only contribution had been two League cup appearances in the Autumn of 2016.

When McCarthy came into the team for the trip to Manchester United it seemed an act of desperation, something new had to be tried after a disastrous Boxing Day hammering at Spurs.

Some would have said that McCarthy was thrown in to see if he was the answer, that if he wasn't then Saints may have looked for salvation in the January transfer and McCarthy may have been consigned to the history books.

After all in his 18 months at the club prior to that trip to Old Trafford he had played only twice, both League cup games in Sep/Oct 2016 and he had spent most of his first season injured, but he had barely played in the 2/12 years prior to his Premier League debut for Saints, 1 Premier League game for Palace since a brief spell of games in August 2015.

In 2014/15 he had been at QPR and played only 3 games in the Premier League, one of those as sub conceding 8 goals along the way, so in 3 1/2 seasons since leaving Reading he had managed 10 Premier League appearances for 2 clubs conceding 17 goals, when he signed he looked good cover for Fraser Forster but little else.

But that was all to change, I have covered the demise of Fraser Forster in an earlier review and the puzzling facts about both keepers is that their stats for their respective halves of the season were both strikingly similar, in fact the only real difference was that Forster made a lot more saves and McCarthy caught a lot more crosses, indeed going into the last four games of the season, there was little to choose between them.

Now some may disagree with this, but in the 14 league games he had played including the defeat to Chelsea, McCarthy had conceded 23 goals, at 1.64 per game that was higher than his predecessor's record, indeed in the 4 games up to and including Chelsea we had conceded 12 goals, we as a team looked shot to pieces and McCarthy escaped some of the blame because he wasn't Fraser Forster, harsh but true.

Up to the trip to Leicester nothing much had changed in terms of Saints conceding goals, McCarthy made some good saves at times and had some good games, but then again so did Forster, he seemed competent, he was wasn't doing much wrong, but we were still leaking goals and I found myself looking at some of them and coming to the conclusion that if Forster had let some of them in he would be getting slaughtered.

But then game those last four games of the season and suddenly everything changed.

McCarthy came to the fore in those last four games and he won the player of the year because of them, the 0-0 draw at Leicester was fairly unremarkable apart from a rare clean sheet, but against Bournemouth there was that last minute wonder save, then up at Everton there was another last minute wonder save that seemed to have won us all three points till that cruel deflection.

Perhaps McCarthy's best game though was at Swansea, ironically he didn't have many saves to make, only 3, but it was his all round goalkeeping that won that game for Saints, he came and claimed crosses, when he couldn't catch them he punched, he looked a calm figure just at the right time that Saints needed it.

It was a shame that we conceded that last minute goal against City as McCarthy deserved a clean sheet for his work in the previous three games.

Usually it is strikers that win player of the year awards for scoring goals at vital times that perhaps give an extra shine to their overall season, this was the case for McCarthy, it was those last four games that won him the awards he gained not just from the fans but his own team mates.

In truth few players had any real case for being player of the year, no one really had any consistency or stood out game after game, most had some good games and far too many average or worse, it was always going to be the case that at the end of the season a hero would emerge not just to save Saints in the run in, but also to win the player of the year award, McCarthy was that man and for the final four games he deserves the accolades.

But what next for McCarthy and indeed the Saints goalkeeping situation. McCarthy has only a year left on his contract which probably tells you what his future would have been had he not got into the team, he was not seen as a rival to Forster only back up, rumours of interest elsewhere abound, but i'm not sure they have any real substance, at 28 he does not have the track record that the big six would be looking at, only 41 Premier League games to his name with 66 goals conceded, almost half of both totals in the last four months or so.

Taking away the emotion of being a Saints fan in the last month or so the big question is can McCarthy do it week in week out or was the last month or so a fluke

You would think that now the club will offer him a new deal and whether he signs that or not will give an indication of what will happen at St Mary's, I would doubt that either keeper will be happy to play second fiddle and one will leave, whether that is Forster or McCarthy is the question.

I have tried to give an honest opinion on McCarthy, I know that some would want a more gushing tribute to our player of the year, but I have tried to tell it as I saw it, four weeks ago the season was heading to disaster, McCarthy saved it that cannot be denied, but we need to see more of him to give a true verdict, after all Manolo Gabbiadini got goal of the season for his close range shot against Swansea, that was the most vital goal not necessarily anywhere near the best and that tells you the story of our season.

Photo: Action Images

geezershoong1 added 11:29 - May 23 There's no doubt in my mind he kept us up with a couple of great saves towards the end of the season and was a consistent performer when he was promoted to 1st choice keeper.
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patred added 12:16 - May 23 Yes, he made some great saves, as most keepers of teams under pressure do. But it was his command of the box, clean handling, and his courage to come out and clear with his fists that impressed me. We have never seen Forster do that, it's not his style, nor likely to be. Keeping McCarthy is a must, so let's here no more of signing Hart. We don't need a name we need a goalkeeper.

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SanMarco added 12:18 - May 23 Indeed I think there was a slight 'won by default' aspect to the player of the season awards. The two great saves mentioned would probably have been made by FF too (his weakness is getting down to shots on the ground) but the catching of crosses + punches and air of authority in his area were important aspects in keeping us up. McCarthy now needs to build on the opportunity he has so far taken. Expectations will be far higher from now on!

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landerwal added 12:28 - May 23 Comest the hour, comest the man. The point above was made the McCathy had played hardly any first team football prior to his inclusion in the Man U game, yet as you say there was little difference in performance between him and Forster overall but don't point out that Forster is an experienced Premiership goalie with far more games under his belt than McCarthy. McCarthy has improved as the season has progressed to the point where he was making class saves enabling his team to win or stay in the match. Forster never improved during his time as first team choice in fact seemed to get worse as this season wore on. Finally, I would say that personally I always have far more confidence in McCarthy when he plays, than I did in Forster , a view shared by every Saints supporter I've talked to on the subject of who should be the No 1 goalkeeper for Saints.

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NewburySaint added 13:28 - May 23 And this just goes to prove that you can rarely read anything into stats and you should just trust your own eyes. McCarthy may have made less saves than Forster but you can also put this down to the opposition less willing to test him than they were Forster because they recognised we finally had a decent GK in between the sticks-i would be interested to see how many shots from range were aimed at our goal pre & post Forster, particularly in the latter part of the season, because this was a particular weakness of Forster's (he would either struggle to save these or not save them at all!) which the opposition would surely have worked out. Also, being a GK myself, the hardest part of a GK's game is dealing with crosses, whether catching or punching, & the general command of the penalty area which is yet another weakness of Forster's whereas i haven't seen a Saints GK better at this since Niemi.

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SaintNick added 13:43 - May 23 You are right you can make stats work either way, but given the fact that they both let in around the same amount of goals, Forster clearly had more work to do in saving shots so has a better save ratio per shot. So this sort of disproves the theory that Forster was struggling to stop shots You are right in saying the most part of a keepers game is dealing with crosses and balls into the box and McCarthy was better in this department. What I try to do is make people think a bit about a player, this season has seen too many witch hunts and scapegoats, ie Forster let in everything that was thrown at him and McCarthy didnt, truth is both had their moments, both had their faults, McCarthy came good in those final four games, in the four games previous he conceded 12 goals and was not really doing any better than Forster at this point

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bstokesaint added 13:48 - May 23 I disagree with the "won by default thing." The crucial saves from McCarthy were as key as goal contributions would have been from strikers and he kept us up no doubt. He has been excellent and solid (confidence is not an issue) and had he played all season I think we'd have finished much higher up the table. He should really be going to Russia. FGS he got picked for the England squad before when we wasn't even no.1 for Saints! I'd have him over Hart any day and I hope he stays. He's one of the few positives of a woeful season.

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SaintNick added 14:04 - May 23 You are right the crucial saves in the final games of the season were as relevant as any goals, but you dont win a player of the year award as a striker for scoring 3 goals in a season if you get my drift. Saints were in the trouble they found themselves because no outfield player had anything approaching a decent season,, hence McCarthy on 18 League games and Hojbjerg who didnt play a single minute till October with 19 (4) games finished 2nd, just about a full season of games between them. Personally the three goalkeepers are in on merit, Butland and Pickford are now experienced and worth their place and Nick Pope had a virtual full season for Burnley

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ericofarabia added 15:04 - May 23 In the stats for "saves" the thing that swings it for me in favour of McCarthy, is that he actually "saves" the ball and keeps it, rather than Forster who for some bizarre reason seemed to feel the need to punch the ball away even with shots straight at his body when it seemed easier to catch it!! This inevitably led to us losing possession and more pressure on the defence. And as said already his ability to come out and claim the ball in the 6 yard box rather than be rooted to the line and hope our hapless defenders win the header, puts him way above FF.

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Whatsforpud added 20:20 - May 23 McCarthy vs Forster? No contest. McCarthy more agile getting down, better coming out crosses. Should have come into the side long before he did.
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perazi added 22:32 - May 23 McCarthy is an infinitely better goal keeper than Forster whose deficiencies in the last two seasons were a prime reason for our brush with relegation. As others have pointed out, you have to trust what you've seen when comparing McCarthy and Forster, not put up a few meaningless statistics. Technique and performance are the drivers here, and on both counts McCarthy is superior. Forster should go, and needs to.

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AirFlorida added 21:17 - May 24 Playing more games with VVD at the back obviously won't show in FF stats but give it a moment's thought as to how the dynamics of having an even more unsettled defence worked against FF.
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