Fraser Forster Has Work to Do to Become a Goalkeeping Great at Southampton
Fraser Forster has earned widespread praise for a series of exceptional performances for Southampton since a summer move from Celtic, but the England goalkeeper must develop his game to be considered a true Premier League great.
Since his £10 million transfer, Forster has made an immediate impact on the Premier League.
Graham Ruthven, writing for Bleacher Report, recently claimed that Forster has "shown himself to be one of the best goalkeepers in Europe," during his time at Celtic, and now Southampton.
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This came after the accurate point that "Forster has become the embodiment of the England team's and [Roy] Hodgson’s stubbornness to evolve," as Ruthven argued Forster's futile case over regular England No. 1 Joe Hart.
For all his quality, though, Forster still has many deficiencies to his game, and until these are ironed out the goalkeeper cannot truly be recognised as one of the best.
Undoubtedly, Forster is proving one of the signings of the season—one of many in manager Ronald Koeman's squad—and a string of fine performances in the league underline this.
However, despite these displays, there is much work to do for Forster at Southampton.
Shot-Stopping
Forster's main, defining attribute comes with his surprisingly agile shot-stopping ability—a quality that defies his hulking frame.
This has aided Southampton to a league-high record of seven clean sheets so far, and only Manchester City man Hart has conceded the same amount of goals (12)—no goalkeeper has conceded fewer.
Typical of this was Forster's phenomenal performance in Southampton's recent 1-0 loss against top-six rivals Arsenal.
The 26-year-old made seven saves in total, including a stunning stop to deny Olivier Giroud on 87 minutes.
To put this statistic into context, Queens Park Rangers custodian Robert Green is the league's most prolific shot-stopper so far this season with an average of 3.38 saves per game, according to Squawka.
Forster averages just 1.8 per game, but is aided by a solid, consistent Southampton back line.
Defenders Jose Fonte, Ryan Bertrand and Nathaniel Clyne join Forster in playing in every minute for the Saints in the league.
While this area of Forster's game is hugely commendable, there is one glaring deficiency in his game at Southampton.
Decision-Making
For all of Forster's shining shot-stopping, the goalkeeper has been let down of late by a series of serious errors in judgment.
This arguably stems from a failed bout of Manuel Neuer-aping in Southampton's 1-1 away draw against Aston Villa in November, which saw Forster charge from his penalty area and fail to close down an onrushing Gabriel Agbonlahor.
The Villa striker benefited from Forster's shaky intervention and netted Villa's opener.
Following the game, Koeman analysed the situation by claiming "it was a misunderstanding and I have to watch it back but from the bench I saw his (Forster’s) reaction to come out, he stopped and if you stop you are too late," per the Southern Daily Echo.
Koeman continued: "He’s clever enough to understand that kind of mistake and he’s a great goalkeeper and that didn’t change with this mistake."
This would suggest that Forster was set to learn from this mistake but, barring his five-star performance against the Gunners, the goalkeeper is still looking to be struggling with this error.
In Monday night's 2-1 loss at home to Manchester United, Forster was guilty of goal-line reticence, as he failed to close down striker Robin van Persie for the Red Devils' first goal—however, this mistake could be mitigated by a reckless failed back-pass from Fonte.
For Van Persie's second, however, Forster's failure to claim Wayne Rooney's lofted free-kick allowed the United man the freedom of the far-post for a simple finish.
Forster's season so far, while impressive, has been littered with similar mistakes—a reservation about leaving his line was once-more apparent in the Saints' 3-0 loss at home to Manchester City.
To develop, Forster must put these behind him.
Confidence
The key to Forster developing his game is in Koeman, and the goalkeeper himself, instilling a higher level of confidence in his abilities.
These high-profile lapses in decision-making, particularly following his mistake at Villa Park, clearly underline a lack of assurance in Forster; psychologically, these errors can make a huge impact.
Evaluating the league's best goalkeepers, arguably Thibaut Courtois, David de Gea, Petr Cech and Hart, there is a distinct, high level of confidence in each.
De Gea stands as a fine example for Koeman and Forster, with his abilities when moving to Manchester United similar to those of the Southampton man this season.
On joining United in 2011, De Gea was praised for his reflexes, but regularly criticised for his in-box authority.
At the beginning of 2014/15, De Gea spoke of how "you have to become stronger to deal with [criticism,] and I believe I have become stronger. I am much better now," per BBC Sport, and the goalkeeper has acted on this.
This season in particular, De Gea has become a shining example of a goalkeeper with a boosted confidence.
Paired with his exceptional shot-stopping abilities is a new-found dominance of the penalty area.
Add an assured confidence to his game, and Fraser Forster can become a truly formidable goalkeeping force in the Premier League, much like Thibaut Courtois and David de Gea, and that can only boost Ronald Koeman and Southampton further.
Statistics via WhoScored.com unless specified.
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