Should Tomasz Kuszczak Start Over Ben Foster?

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

During the beginning of 2009, Manchester United was the best defensive team on the planet. They were getting clean sheets every game and starting keeper Edwin Van de Sar set a European record for not conceding a goal in 1,131 minutes.

Also during this time, young English keeper Ben Foster was starting to get more playing time, which resulted in Foster getting a chance to play and win the 2009 Carling Cup over Tottenham. 

However, United's defense completely fell apart and they nearly lost the Premier League title. Thanks, though, to some clutch keeping by Foster, when Van Der Sar wasn't starting, United went on to win the Premier League.

Unfortunately, Foster suffered a ruptured ligament in his right thumb, and had to miss the remainder of the 2008-2009 season. But after Van de Sar broke a finger on his left hand during the Audi Cup back in August, Foster was given the green light to start off the year as the No. 1 keeper for Manchester United.

Foster started off strong, earning a clean sheet in two of his first three Premier League matches, and appeared capable of being a No. 1 keeper in the near future.

However, Foster started to look extremely shaken up during each match, especially on plays in which a United defender passed to Foster in order to clear.

Unfortunately for Foster, the worst case scenario happened during the Manchester Derby on Sept. 20. There was a pass into the box that Foster wasn't able to gain control of. Carlos Tevez was able to take possession and pass to Gareth Berry who scored an easy goal which tied the game at one.

After this incident, Foster continued to look shaky for the remainder of the match. He nearly lost it for Manchester after allowing Craig Bellamy to score his second goal.

This knotted the match at three before Michael Owen bailed out Foster with a goal on the final play of the game to give United a 4-3 victory.

After the match Owen got most of the attention because of his game-winning goal. Unfortunately, very little attention was put on the United defence and Foster, who both had terrible matches.

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