This is a sort of supplement to the "Defence" thread. There is another factor to our impressive defensive record this season and that is the added calm authority that Forster has given to the team. A good defensive unit starts with a good Keeper and his relationship with his back four and can often mean several added points over a season. Boruc is a superb shot stopper, but he is prone to mad moments and questionable distribution that often puts the team under pressure. I was calling for us to spend big for a new GK to replace Boruc last season and the decision to do this appears to be bearing fruit, the £10m we shelled out could turn out to be the best investment of all. With the mistakes that his rivals for the England #1 jersey are making this season, I think it is only a matter of time before he inherits the shirt.
Pleased we bought Forster and am confident he will be a good keeper for us, but early days yet. He has been caught out of position a couple of times, being saved by luck, poor opposition and having another player on line. Mind you, that can happen to any keeper. Our defence as a whole is strong which is better than having a brilliant keeper screaming at a defence that have let him down.
It's his job to organise defence from corners, so maybe he can take some credit for making sure someone was on the far post.
I can't see hart being dropped as the no 1 for England. He made a poor save against Stoke but he also kept man city in the game against Munich. Definitely feel he is becoming second choice though.
I think Forster is rubbish (incase any "big" clubs are reading) Forster looks very composed and an imposing figure. I have only seen him "live" twice and once live on television. I'll see how he does over 10-15 games. I thought his distribution was actually poor on a few ocassions against Newcastle; not that it mattered.
When I said "questionable distrbution", I was referring to Boruc's propensity for making suicidal passes to his back four.
Any good goalkeeper will be able to transmit confidence to the players in front of him by not making silly mistakes like passing to a defender who is likely to be put under immediate pressure. Constantly kicking the ball into touch will be forgiven as long as over time this reduces. Which in Forsters case will improve over time. They have some decent coaches who will get that sorted trust me!
I was at Swansea and noticed we actually had no one on either post as they were preparing to take that corner. Bertrand seemed to drift back onto the goal line as the ball came across. Thankfully he was in the right place, if his starting position had been on the far post he may well of struggled to keep it out.
Think I would prefer him to become the new Niemi rather than the new Shilton? Always felt Shilts was slightly past his best when we signed him.
Agree that Niemi is the best keeper we've had since Shilton though Tim Flowers wasn't too shabby. But Shilton was still a class act when he came here, certainly saved us more points than he lost.
I hope so. I was gutted to see the lad leave Newcastle having not been given a chance, I hope he goes on to become England no1
Don't agree , think I'm right in saying he won most of his england caps while at saints , plus goalkeepers improve with age more so than other positions
You may be correct, guess its a question of peoples opinions, but one thing we will be agreed one is that we hope he's not the new Bart?
Ironically, Fraser is an example of what Nicola described as a series of "marginal improvements" being the way forward for a club like Southampton. He isn't vastly better than Artur, but he is definitely an improvement in several aspects. Whether he is as good as Shilts remains to be seen.
