I know keepers don't mature until later in their careers than outfield players, but how much time do they really have to iron out basic flaws? De Gea is more than two years younger than Forster.
Tricky question. He's a great shot stopper but there's an obvious flaw in his keeping. Mignolet is getting slaughtered by Liverpool fans for the same flaw. I would hope a couple of months would be enough for him and the GK coach to sort it out but I won't put an exact amount of time on how long I will give him. We need another keeper in January though to keep Forster on his toes (I said this when Boruc left).
Forster's problem, it seems to me, is not that he is lacking in any of the physical skills necessary to be a great keeper. Where he sometimes falls short is in decision making, as evidenced by the goal Villa scored, and Man U's second last night. As others have said, he has made several great saves this season and is still at the heart of the best defence in English football, but the decision making needs to be worked on, and in Dave Watson he has a good coach. Let's be realistic and give Fraser a bit of slack shall we? We aren't getting Boruc back, and I would put money on us not signing another keeper in January, so we will have to live with what we have.
If we are ging to buy its a goal scorer we need. No guarantee that Jrod will be back and we cant just rely on Pelle. If we'd taken our chances last night my guess is we wouldnt be debating Fraser.
Find someone who watched Saints when Peter Shilton played. Never came off his line and used to drive us mad. Best Keeper in the World when at Saints. In football and life, you don't always get everything needed or wanted. I believe Fraser is getting some over zealous crap thrown at him, as happens with a lot of keepers. He hasn't been as bad a people are making out. He along with our defense still have the best record in the Premier League. Look how composed Maya looked last night... I wonder why?
Like all good (not great like Shilton) goalkeepers they make mistakes and have issues with certain parts of their game...that's life I guess Suggestions of bringing Boruc back are ridiculous, he has similar issues to Forster but the massive difference is in distribution, Forster is very good at moving the ball out quickly from out of hand or off the ground and not like dear Boruc whose distribution was generally very poor (not even mentioning the Cruyff turn episode) Lets get behind Forster and hope the GK Coach can sort him out because at 6'7" he should be off his line to nearly every high cross
I agree - though Shilts was so frustrating when he wouldn't budge from his line. Still a World Class keeper though.
But that's the key isn't it? Shilton was World Class. When you're that good you can get away with not coming off your line because he was an incredible shot stopper. Forster is not World Class, not close either and therefore has to make use of his height and be dominant in his area.
No, you have missed the point. Shilts was World Class, but still had flaws. Every player has flaws. You didn't watch Shilts week in week out; he would drive you mad and you'd come away asking why he didn't come for a cross when the other team scored. It didn't make him not a good keeper. You just expect too much Tom. Fraser is a very good keeper, but you seem to expect him to do everything right; life ain't like that. Why aren't you starting a Shane Long thread? He didn't do the fundamental part of his job last night, but you don't seem to be chasing him down.
We have let in 12 goals this season, half of them in the last 3 games. How many of them were solely down to Forster's poor goalkeeping? Villa's goal. That's it, if my memory serves. Last night the defence should have marked RVP better, although I'll give you Fraser should have come for the cross. Against Arsenal, he was imperious and had no chance with the goal.
My Man United supporting mate, has just pissed himself when I told him about the Fraser battering. His words were basically what I have put in bold above. We've conceded less than a goal a game. Better than any other team. He asked what more we want.
Because Fraser isn't learning from his mistakes. He just doesn't know whether to come or go and doesn't make a decision quick enough. When Aguero went clean through, he would have got to the ball easily if he came out. He made a good save, but doesn't justify his decision to stay back. Mistakes are fine as long as you learn from them. That's my main concern with Fraser.
As I said above, his decision making is a concern, but for goodness' sake see the positives! He has conceded 12 goals in 15 games, in the Premier League. There, I put it in bold for you.
The back 4 and Morgan and Vic are mostly responsible for our defensive record. From memory it's only the Arsenal game where he made a string of fine saves. He's been very well protected.
I agree with you about the defence but you can't have it both ways. Are you saying that the 12 goals conceded are all Forster's fault? As I said above, I can only think of the Villa goal which is solely down to Fraser.
That may be true but in 3 of the last 4 games he's looked shaky at least one point in the game and it's making me nervous and I suspect he makes his teammates nervous at times.
