Should Fraser be "rested"?

*cough* Gillingham

 

*cough* indeed. It's catching.!

 

Watch Hassen's first game last night, he wasn't really worked by Chelsea but I would say his distribution is considerably better than FF. He gets rid of the ball quickly and accurately from hand or boot. He really got the full backs engaged immediately and got the lads up the field into attacking positions.
Looks a prospect and would like to see him get a few games before the end of the season

 

We have no cup games left for him to get a chance. Without a good reason (injury or illness) I can't see Puel resting Fraser. He looked nonplussed when an interviewer asked if Fraser was carrying an injury....I suspect he is happy with Fraser as he doesn't expect a GK to be perfect every time. If we have nothing left to play for (i.e. going to be safely mid-table) Hassen may get a chance, but, if there is a snowflake's chance of 7th, I wouldn't expect it.

 

There are so many points still available, I put our chances better than that snowflake.

 

I would if WBA weren't chasing 7th as well. I'm hoping they get it if we don't.

 

I think WBA will fall back into mid-table, but yeah so would I.

 

FF is definitely in for the Spurs game. But the next sub standard performance & he should be benched. We may well find our number two is not ready for the challenge, but FF may well find his hunger desire and courage and come back in stronger. This relentless game time does not seem to be helping him.
Saying all that, I was happy with his Watford game, we conceded three goals, but he wasn't responsible for any & made the saves I'd have expected.

 

I liked that he was quick to respond to over hit through balls, claiming them as his and not playing the shall I, shan't I game FF sometimes plays, before making a late dash for the ball.
He also looked to be quite vocal.

 

Fraser is just going through a poorish spell....he is not going to suddenly stop being a good keeper and never recover.

 

Not much point bringing Hassen if he isn't going to play..

 

Well, there is ... what if Forster broke his leg day after the window closed? Would you be happy with Stuart Taylor or Harry Lewis in goal for the cup-final and the rest of the season?

 

But also we want this young tenacious kid chomping at the bit to keep FF on his toes. I don't think FF has been on his toes this season, but I still live in hope.

 

I'm quite surprised that people think that Fraser's performance is just a temporary blip. To me he has always had some obvious shortcomings since he first joined Saints.

 

Sure he has, but they were minimised last season and highlighted this. I think it's just form. An obvious comparison is Joe Hart. He's not a crap keeper, but his fall in form was ridiculous. Fraser needs to analyse his drop in form and get it sorted.

 

I don't know whether it's a blip or not but his shot stopping has certainly regressed this year. Last year he had one of the highest save percentages in the league and this year he has (one of?) the lowest. Almost every other shot on goal goes in.

 

We shouldn't forget that every player's performance is intrinsically affected by the performance of the others in the team. Last season Fraser, once he came back from injury, had a defence and midfield in front of him which was on pretty top form. This season he's had a massive variety of players, changes in formations, and roller coaster swings in form to cope with. Your confidence as a keeper is bound to be completely shot to pieces with all that going on.

 

That's only really been the case in the last few weeks. Our back four in the league was essentially the same as last season until January and the defence was very solid until recently.

He's hardly over-worked, we still allow relatively few shots on goal per game. His save percentage has been poor all season though (worse than Stekelenburg's was last season), he makes the joint-lowest number of saves per game in the Premier League and (like a lot of posters on here) I think he's looked unfit for most of the season. If he's carrying an injury then fair enough; if he's not then we may have to look at the position in the summer, particularly as he's rumoured to be our highest paid player.

 

Indeed, and further, when you have a good defence, the quality of the shots, that do get through, are inevitably of lower quality generally and hence more easily saved. So the unsettled nature of the defence this season must have contributed because the quality of shots are higher.