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We have to keep Fraser Forster


niceandfriendly
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No we don't. He may be better than McC and enjoying a period of good form but we shouldn't be handing out multi-year contracts on the back of temporary spikes in form. I'd like to think we've been scouting better, more consistent players for several months, if not longer.

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9 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

We can't be letting him go and keeping the far, far inferior Alex McCarthy. Surely he'd take a pay cut to stay on a still lucrative deal?

Pay cut??? He deserves a pay rise! He is one of our most important players. Having him in goal instead of McCarthy is worth millions in terms of points and league positions gained, not to mention the real possibility of winning the FA Cup.

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1 minute ago, Nordic Saint said:

Pay cut??? He deserves a pay rise! He is one of our most important players. Having him in goal instead of McCarthy is worth millions in terms of points and league positions gained, not to mention the real possibility of winning the FA Cup.

Only mentioned that because I think we gave him an insane deal a while back. But yes, I'm with you. Got to keep him. 

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No i'd move on from him. Giving him  a new long term contract would be a mistake.

He's going an ok job for now. We're doing our best to play to his strengths and limit exposure of his weaknesses.

I'd be happy to replace with Johnstone on a free in the summer as a replacement(who's younger and a stronger allrounder) let alone whoever else we may have scouted.

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9 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

No we don't. He may be better than McC and enjoying a period of good form but we shouldn't be handing out multi-year contracts on the back of temporary spikes in form. I'd like to think we've been scouting better, more consistent players for several months, if not longer.

When he plays we play better. Happened last season and it's happening again. No reason to believe it's a temporary spike in form. He's not a world beater as I've said before, but he's absolutely miles beyond McCarthy and he really is getting back to his best.

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22 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

No we don't. He may be better than McC and enjoying a period of good form but we shouldn't be handing out multi-year contracts on the back of temporary spikes in form. I'd like to think we've been scouting better, more consistent players for several months, if not longer.

Completely agree. I hope we don’t get fooled into giving him an extension on these wages.

For what it’s worth I thought he made an absolute meal out of that Maguire save. 😆

Definitely an improvement on Macca, but still very flawed. Do love the bloke though.

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I wouldn't argue that he's better than McC but that's not much of an endorsement in itself. FF has played 7 league games this season, following several years of performances which have been dubious to say the least (no clean sheets in that 7 either). For the massive wages we're reportedly paying him, I'd be disappointed if our scouts couldn't find someone better in summer.

This thread is emotive after a match saving save in injury time at OT, I get it. This is the kind of superficial, short term thinking Ankersen was brought in to prevent.

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4 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

 

This thread is emotive after a match saving save in injury time at OT, I get it. This is the kind of superficial, short term thinking Ankersen was brought in to prevent.

This thread is based on the what, 7 or 8 games or so he's played recently where I believe we've only lost once. Could be wrong on that. When he plays we play better. We're losing fewer games and he is playing his part. I doubt Ankersen has been brought in to ensure that the better of our keepers is let go and the poorer ones kept on. 

Edited by niceandfriendly
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4 minutes ago, niceandfriendly said:

Ralph on Fraser: "On his line he is fantastic, unbelievable. It's very good to see him with the ball. The assist for the goal was by Fraser. He is a little bit of an old school keeper because he plays so long".

Good to hear Ralph isn't missing his good performances.

Ralph also pointing out he's not good off his line.

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He's done great, but I still believe this summer is the opportunity to change up our goalkeeping situation a little bit. It has got a bit stale over the last 4 or so years.

If anything his contract situation is probably seeing his level lift as he's playing for a club really, so if that benefits us between now and the end of the season - win win. I still expect him to leave and a new keeper to come in to freshen that area of the pitch up. 

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26 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

For what it’s worth I thought he made an absolute meal out of that Maguire save. 😆

Initially I thought it was right in the corner, but it wasn’t. That said, I thought the best thing about the save was not just stopping the goal but doing so well to scoop it well away to safety, perhaps why it ended up looking so dramatic.

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Agree the team plays better with Forster than McCarthy but neither of them has been consistent. Our distribution is poor with either and Forster can feel glued to his line.

He made some good stops today and we wouldn't have drawn without him but we can do better.

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1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

It is hard to imagine why we would let him go just to buy buy another 

Because we'd buy someone better? 

He's doing alright at the moment, and fair play to him after his struggles in the past, but even aside from his known weaknesses he's still doing some weird stuff. He was very lucky to get away with that one that he dropped and then backheeled into his own net against Spurs on Boxing Day, and then again today he was lucky not to get caught by Fernandes when he basically forgot to pick it up.

He's a lot more solid than he was, and long may that continue, but with a decent bit of scouting we should comfortably be able to find an upgrade as first choice in the summer. A Niemi type would be worth an extra 6-9 points a season. 

 

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Club dropped a bit of a changer giving Alex McCarthy a contract extension (apparently they have and if anyone says they haven’t, phone the club and ask them to deny it) and since that time, Fraser has made it a no contest situation. Need a better keeper but currently a shame that the better one will likely leave because the other was given a better contract and will be difficult to offload for a decent wedge. 

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3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

No we don't. He may be better than McC and enjoying a period of good form but we shouldn't be handing out multi-year contracts on the back of temporary spikes in form. I'd like to think we've been scouting better, more consistent players for several months, if not longer.

Exactly this.

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4 hours ago, niceandfriendly said:

When he plays we play better. Happened last season and it's happening again. No reason to believe it's a temporary spike in form. He's not a world beater as I've said before, but he's absolutely miles beyond McCarthy and he really is getting back to his best.

This. Ralph was mystifying when he picked McCarthy ahead of him. Our form has coincided with a proper keeper in the sticks. Imbues confidence, as I’ve said countless times. McCarthy should be sold

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20 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

It's think Frase had eaten well at the saints pig trough over the years and never played for us so stopping some shots is the least he can do.

 

Like what was he doing waiting to pick up the ball and Fernandes nearly stole it

But didn’t   I mean who cares?

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He's playing ok at the moment but we a know he's form is up and down and that he isn't consistent.

It's our weakest position and we should definitely try to improve it in the summer.

He's also 34 next month so we won't get much more time out of him (yes I'm aware Caballero is 40 but there's barely any keepers his age still playing)

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He’s played well recently, but we need a modern gk who is comfortable on the ball, and comfortable off his line, he has improved here but looks unnatural. 
We can only have one of McC or Forster as number 2, McC has new contract and I can see Forster having a good few years at a slightly lower level as no 1. 
Good news is that with Forsters wages freed up we should have decent capacity to find a quality no 1. 

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Forster is a keeper I've always rated. He was excellent for Celtic, and early and recent form with us has shown plenty of his better qualities. Totally fair to say he did have spells of inconsistency, and what seemed to be a clear slump in confidence in between. He also had a bad injury. So, I'm certainly not saying that he shouldn't have had competition for the shirt, or always have been first choice. 

But when he's remotely on form, he's easily the more commanding presence behind the defence. I think he got the contract (and happy to be corrected) when Wanyama, Pelle and Mane left and extended it the following year. Davis would have retired about then, and I thought Forster was a clear upgrade at the time, and worth it at the time. It also showed we could also hold onto players (if only to sell them at a profit later).

During the periods when he wasn't first choice, I got the feeling that the club were only too eager to shift him off the wage bill. That's understandable, but can't be a good place to be for any player, and with a goalkeeper, there's also the feeling that their errors are more exposed.

If the scouting dept have identified an upgrade on Forster, then that will be good for the club and Forster can try and secure as good a deal as he can elsewhere. But I'm not so sure it will be easy to repalce him. So, if the club decided they couldn't and reached an agreement to extend his contract, I'd be quite happy. 

As Spyinthesky said, I'd much rather focus on securing/ replacing Broja.

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If a 40 year old Caballero is worth signing, so is a 34 year old Forster.

Taking the GK position in isolation, we clearly need a long term option. What a pity that Forster, for whatever reason was simply not at his best in what should have been his prime. 

Edited by Colinjb
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All this “let’s keep him as back up and on lower wages” - it’s not that simple though is it?

Maybe Fraser doesn’t want to be back up? Maybe he wants to move on somewhere new and he’s knows the only chance he has of getting near his current wage is on a free transfer?

Also, didn’t the club offer him a new contract in the summer but he turned it down? 

This summer is our opportunity to improve the weakest area of our team. I hope the club have some targets lined up.

 

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