Forster should not only be in Southgate’s squad, he should be No1
IT’S now over two years since Fraser Forster was last involved in an England squad — and over three years since he earned the last of his six caps.
That’s nothing against him personally — and it’s certainly not a true reflection of his ability as a goalkeeper and where he should stand in Gareth Southgate’s pecking order.
A key factor in why he has become England’s forgotten man is the way in which he was bizarrely tossed aside and left to rot by Southampton.
He was dropped in December 2017 after a heavy defeat at Tottenham and basically vanished from the face of the earth at St Mary’s.
He didn’t feature again that season and then only played a solitary game last term — a token gesture towards the end of the campaign at West Ham.
There were times when the club wouldn’t even bother asking him to travel to away games as third-choice keeper.
That’s how far out the picture Forster was.
No harm to young Angus Gunn, but anyone who reckons Saints’ current No1 is a better keeper than Forster is having a laugh.
Watching the Saints get pummelled 9-0 against Leicester last Friday night, Forster must have afforded himself a wry smile.
Frankly, he’ll be glad to be away from the place — and it’s clear now that Southampton were far too quick to get rid of him.
Just 24 hours previously, Forster was delivering a world-class performance for Celtic against Lazio in the Europa League.
Make no mistake, he was Celtic’s true match-winner. Not just the spectacular diving save at the end, but the one he made earlier to prevent Lazio from going 2-0 ahead.
If that had gone in, it would have been game over and Celtic would have had it all to do in terms of reaching the knockout stage.
He is a colossus of a man and his performance brought back memories of why the Spanish media dubbed him ‘The Great Wall’ after his heroics against Barcelona in 2012.
Forster is the best keeper I ever played with and has this aura around him. It’s like a ‘wow factor’ in the sense that some of his saves just take your breath away.
On this form, he’s England’s best keeper by a country mile and, not only should he be back in Southgate’s next squad, he should be their No 1.
Jordan Pickford has been Southgate’s preferred choice since the World Cup in 2018, but he is having a torrid time of it at the moment.
His form has dipped sharply over the past year or so and he’s now part of an Everton team who are struggling badly at the bottom of the Premier League.
He was at fault for one of the goals in a 3-2 defeat at Brighton on Saturday, as highlighted on
Match of the Day.
The reason the pundits singled him out is because it wasn’t an isolated incident. He’s been out of form for a while and Everton fans are really getting on his back.
Pickford was joined in the last England squad by the deputy paring of Burnley’s Nick Pope and Sheffield United’s Dean Henderson.
So, Forster is performing heroics for Celtic on the European stage, while England are calling on three goalies scrapping it out for mid-table clubs down south?
Then there’s Jack Butland. He’s another who is regularly called up — whilst playing for a Stoke City team who sit second-bottom of the Championship.
There will be a snobbishness in some quarters down south, with certain people claiming Forster doesn’t fit Southgate’s style of playing out from the back.
Sorry but that’s nonsense. He plays in a Celtic team who dominate possession every single week and rarely does he ever look out of place.
Okay, I’m not saying he’s Franz
Beckenbauer or anything, but Forster is more than capable of fitting into a team who play it out from the back.
The form he’s in reminds me of when he broke the clean-sheet record in 2014, going 1,215 minutes without losing a goal until Jonny Hayes rifled one into the top corner at Pittodrie.
That’s what it takes to beat Forster when he’s at his best, something truly special and truly unsaveable.
Getting him back on loan might just prove to be the shrewdest piece of business Celtic did all summer.