I imagine Hassen was given a go in the behind closed doors friendly in Spain, wonder how he got on. I do still get the impression that Forsters playing with an injury, and has lost his confidence as a result. His save to shot ratio this season is very very poor and sitting in the stands it does feel like if you get a shot on target against us theres a good chance it will go in, he doesn't seem to be making many saves at all that aren't right at him.
You may not have noticed that I've dropped using my own Savillesque phrase... 'as it happens'. He used it all the time. That's the last time I'll type it out.
Tough one really. It's not like we have a run of cup games coning up, in which to test out the new guy. So if Puel drops the big lad, that will, in a sense, be a vote of no confidence. Perhaps it's better to let him play himself back into form. One aspect of his game has actually improved this season btw; he's coming for balls he would have left last season, timing it right, and for my money bossing his box with a bit more conviction. It's just his shot stopping that has been a bit questionable, and I wouldn't hold him responsible for any of their goals on Sunday. He maybe could have done better for the first two, but they were both collective defensive errors, not just down to the keeper. And he wasn't far away with either.
One thing i have noticed about Fraser is that he is so damn quiet. I remember ion the 80s standing on Milton Road, just to the left of the goal against the barriers. Peter Shilton would not shut up. Also, he would go mental at his defence if they left him exposed. Fraser just seems to apologise all the time.
Forster is capable of the occasional world class performance where he just looks unbeatable. Unfortunately he hasn't had one of these games in so long, I'm struggling to think of a genuinely good performance he's put in this season. When he came back from his injury last season, apart from one game (Arsenal away?) he was virtually unchallenged in the clean sheet run. You could argue that his return boosted the confidence of our defence, but the clean sheets weren't exactly due to high quality performances from himself. For a keeper at this level, he has too many glaring weaknesses and it's interesting that he doesn't seem to be making any progress in the following areas: 1) Getting down to low shots 2) Claiming crosses & owning his box. For a keeper to be 6'7" and to be such a pussy with crosses is ****ing ridiculous. 3) Coming out to close down angles/clear through balls, he's been at fault for a few goals previously due to his lack of judgement in this area. He seems to have given up on coming out for these, and awkwardly waits in his 6 yard box. 4) Kicking/Distribution.... the less said, the better 5) Handling shots straight at him, has he for gotten how to catch a football? (Liverpool 2nd leg, Cup final spring to mind) Obviously no keeper is perfect, but Fraser bought himself a **** load of credit with our fans on his strong early performances, however that seems to be running out for a growing number of people. Aside from the odd game, he is a very, very average PL keeper and is a position we need to look at improving upon.
There was a bloke behind me who said that if we had De Gea, we would have won. Well no ****, De Gea is the best gk in the prem and probably top 3 in the world so yeah our chances probs would have been better, but even he got beaten 3 times. Plus was getting nowhere near Romeu's header.
The third goal on Sunday should have been stopped. If Fraser had come out he could have caught the cross, or failing that, reached Zlatan's header. Better positioning might have helped with the first as well, but that one was really down to the wall failing to do its job. The second might have been stopped if Fraser's reflexes were a bit sharper as it came at him through Yoshida's legs. I've thought for a while that Fraser needs a break, and maybe a few no-pressure games with the U23's to build a bit of confidence back. If Hassen isn't ready then he should be soon, or what was the point in getting him? With absolutely no disrespect to Fraser, Hassen can't do worse than him, surely?
Forster is performing like Stekelenburg used to. He's not doing really making howlers but he's definitely not making the saves you'd hope (if not quite expect) him to make. If the new keeper is good enough to start and Forster is actually carrying an injury I'd be tempted to give him a break.
Hard to answer this without all the facts. If it's a confidence thing I would say no but sort out his issues. If it's an injury and Puel knows Hassen is good enough then play him and give Forster time to recover. Forster still may have to be on the bench though as Taylor seems to be rubbish/ not trusted and our only other fit GK is inexperienced Harry Lewis. Would we go with 2 youngsters?
There were report we had scouts watching Kalinić (GK) from Gent, he'd be available for about 12 million euros. Prone to occasional error, but damn I haven't seen such a talented keeper form Croatia, for a long time.
I definitely would, him playing isn't doing himself or the team any good. At this point Stekelenburg was better and if we signed Hassen for 6 months to be another keeper we really don't want to actually play, I dunno what we were thinking. Unfortunately, he just has no redeeming qualities at the moment, whilst having one major flaw in mobility and agility, and one minor flaw in kicking. I always thought he was a slightly technically flawed keeper but a very talented one, which logically can follow from his size, but he was gradually improving and smoothing out the rough edges I suppose in no small part helped by Dave Watson. I'm starting to think the injury has set him back to square one whilst providing additional problems and he's made little progress since. I feel bad for him and I tend to avoid being too harsh on players for underperforming, but I said it a little while ago that I think he's cost us more points than our wayward strikeforce this season and I still think that. And in the final, 10 of the XI played either above-average or brilliantly, with the majority in the latter category, if the 11th had been able to contribute we probably would have won. Which is a lot to hang on one player, but I fairly firmly believe it. I just hope he doesn't.
The person on the end of the wall jumped and turned his back if he had been doing his job correctly he should have let the ball skim his head and it would have gone for a corner. As per usual though players that turn their backs are not doing their job. In the olden days for doing that you would have been put up against the wall and shot as a coward.
I have always felt uneasy about Forster's appearance. People can be tall, but his face has the appearance of someone with a hormone problem...too much growth hormone. This can cause other health problems. Have always consoled myself with the thought that the medical staff must be happy with him.
Regarding Sunday's game, I have already posted that I felt Fraser was one pace too close to his left hand post, for the first goal, so he was at fault, IMO. However, despite Romeu having another good game, I could make a case for him being directly culpable for all three goals. 1) silly, unnecessary and unwinnable tackle, conceding the free kick. 2) Lingaard in acres of space, in an area he should be marshalling. Maybe he could have done better but may have been ball watching and not seen Lingaard's movement. 3) he was beaten on the edge of the box, causing Stephens to step out of his position, in case the Manc player tried to get a shot off. Ibra moved into the space vacated by Jack, who couldn't get back quickly enough. Bottom line is that, all too often, it is easy to point the finger at the keeper, for making errors, because he is between the sticks, but it is also, all to easy to overlook errors made by outfield players, in the build up to a goal/shot.
I agree....all players make mistakes, but the poor old keeper really pays for his. The first goal was down to a tackle in a bad position....perhaps Fraser could have done better or perhaps the wall should have done its job, but so should Romeu. However, no player will be perfect throughout the game.
With all 3 goals at the weekend, Forster is not at all helped by the slow motion replays. Makes all 3 look easily save-able when in actual fact at the time they were clinical and very difficult ot save
