Alex McCarthy

[Matthew Le God]

12 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Ralph has gone on record as stating that McCarthy is our number one keeper purely on the basis that he is willing to sign a new contract whereas FF isn't. 

He didn't say that. 

[Teddeer]

9 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

That's mental. Neither of them should be offered new contracts and so their willingness to sign should be irrelevant to who plays.

Well I heard Ralph admit it during the pre-match press conference recently unless I misinterpreted what he said but it came across pretty clearly to me.

[Teddeer]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

He didn't say that. 

You'll need to explain to me what he did say then as I'm not as savvy as some on here obviously are.

[Whitey Grandad]

17 minutes ago, Teddeer said:

Ralph has gone on record as stating that McCarthy is our number one keeper purely on the basis that he is willing to sign a new contract whereas FF isn't. This is a ludicrous position to adopt and, as Derry pointed out, he treated neither Ings or Bernard in the same fashion so it is a case of double standards.

Well I’m willing to sign a new contract but I’m even worse that McCarthy. Not by a lot though

[Baird of the land]

47 minutes ago, Turkish said:

That was ridiculous, WTF was he doing? Came for it then changed his mind then somehow ended up rolling round the in the back of the net while United players were lining up to head it in. ALso having watched the goal again very poor, straight at him and not very hard, no way does anyone half decent let that in.

He changed his mind because he realized the ball wasn’t going to reach him so he understandably tried to backtrack and unfortunately ended up tripping. He ended up in the net because his own players put him there in their attempts to clear situation. On the whole he dealt with balls in well unlike the cb’s.

the goal I do think he conceded was soft but it was a complete mishit.

[Matthew Le God]

13 minutes ago, adriansfc said:

Out of interest - How do people rank our regular Premier League keepers of the last 20 years or so? Based on their overall time here.

For me, from best to worst:

1. Niemi

2. Paul Jones

3. Forster

4. Boruc

5. Kelvin

6. McCarthy

 

Of those 6...

1) Niemi

2) Forster

3) Boruc

4) McCarthy

5) Jones

6) Davis

[Turkish]

51 minutes ago, adriansfc said:

My god, the excuses people will make. This is not a one off. The goal conceded was dreadful. Nearly every other top flight keeper doesn't just save that, they hold it.

His changing his mind and the calamity in the box is nothing new. Every single match, even when he was supposedly in good form, he dallies, scared to commit. If a striker is in on goal, he's hesitant and they get an easy angle to finish. A cross, he half comes for it then backtracks. It means he's regularly off balance moving backwards and stumbles on his arse. Look at so many of his goals conceded - he's not diving sideways or throwing himself in front of a forward, he's slumping backwards, or just static. 

Has anyone ever seen a keeper who ends up behind his line so much? Or at all??!!! I'm really curious as McCarthy just seems uniquely odd to me. Someone else said it's like the keeper has been sent off and an outfield player has gone in goal. How someone can turn this into "unfortunately ends up tripping" is beyond me. Watch him, he does it all the time, he's a flat footed terrified mess of a goalkeeper.

Forster at least fills the goal and closes the angles, so a lot of shots tend to hit him. He's fcked up plenty, but I've not seen him 3 yards behind his line. He's ten times the keeper and yet he's among the worst in the league. That sums up how atrocious McCarthy is. Have fans standards just fallen that far? 

It's embarassing watching him. Even his save against Utd he fumbles it into his own face and looks dazed. Anyway I look forward to his new contract and MLG explaining why it's great business. 

Out of interest - How do people rank our regular Premier League keepers of the last 20 years or so? Based on their overall time here.

For me, from best to worst:

1. Niemi

2. Paul Jones

3. Forster

4. Boruc

5. Kelvin

6. McCarthy

 

Swap Boruc and Jones round IMO. You forgot Gazzaniga 😄

Agree with your summary on McCarthy. Bizarre how often he ends up behind the line, seems to be a regular thing. His confidence looks shot to pieces.

 

 

 

[Billy the Kidd]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Swap Boruc and Jones round IMO. You forgot Gazzaniga 😄

Agree with your summary on McCarthy. Bizarre how often he ends up behind the line, seems to be a regular thing. His confidence looks shot to pieces.

 

 

 

I posted a video of the Burnley corner the other day where McCarthy was behind his line. 
 

Surely that has to be something that doesn’t even need explaining to kids first playing football, that the keeper can’t save shots if they are behind the line. 

[Nordic Saint]

On 22/08/2021 at 18:53, Red said:

He's playing because he seems to be willing to sign a new contract, and FF is not as he is not - that's the Saints/Ralph method of dealing with contract rebels. Personally think that is the wrong approach but my opinion matters sweet FA as far as the club is concerned 

Willing? He can't believe his luck. Nobody else would have him. Just look at his career record before he washed up here:

 

2007–2014 Reading 70 
2007 → Woking (loan) 1 
2008 → Cambridge United (loan) 1 
2008 → Team Bath (loan) 2 
2009 → Aldershot Town (loan) 4 
2009–2010 → Yeovil Town (loan) 44 
2010 → Brentford (loan) 3 
2011–2012 → Leeds United (loan) 6 
2012 → Ipswich Town (loan) 10 
2014–2015 Queens Park Rangers 3 
2015–2016 Crystal Palace 7 
2016– Southampton 103 

I  think he found his true level at Yeovil. I'd swap any current PL or Championship goalkeeper for him. The fact he is currently the first choice goalkeeper at a Premier League club is ridiculous and it is costing us so many points.

 

[rooney]

We have not had a top class keeper since Niemi.

[Convict Colony]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Swap Boruc and Jones round IMO. You forgot Gazzaniga 😄

Agree with your summary on McCarthy. Bizarre how often he ends up behind the line, seems to be a regular thing. His confidence looks shot to pieces.

 

 

 

talking of which he seems to be doing good at fulham - their starting keeper

[saint1977]

27 minutes ago, Nordic Saint said:

Willing? He can't believe his luck. Nobody else would have him. Just look at his career record before he washed up here:

 

2007–2014 Reading 70 
2007 → Woking (loan) 1 
2008 → Cambridge United (loan) 1 
2008 → Team Bath (loan) 2 
2009 → Aldershot Town (loan) 4 
2009–2010 → Yeovil Town (loan) 44 
2010 → Brentford (loan) 3 
2011–2012 → Leeds United (loan) 6 
2012 → Ipswich Town (loan) 10 
2014–2015 Queens Park Rangers 3 
2015–2016 Crystal Palace 7 
2016– Southampton 103 

I  think he found his true level at Yeovil. I'd swap any current PL or Championship goalkeeper for him. The fact he is currently the first choice goalkeeper at a Premier League club is ridiculous and it is costing us so many points.

 

This x1000. For £2m or so he has not been too bad overall but if RH’s tactic of trying to nudge Forster towards the door doesn’t work, use him as at least he will be motivated to do well as a free agent summer 2022. No sense in offering Alex a new deal when he’s performing League 1 level, at best tbh. If SFC signs a keeper next summer, even if they stay up, and he gets injured, back to square one. Only a sense in having players in the squad who can at least perform at a PL level for a dozen games even if they can’t sustain it for longer.

On that basis, it’s a no from me for McCarthy being offered a new deal.

[saint1977]

3 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

Of those 6...

1) Niemi

2) Forster

3) Boruc

4) McCarthy

5) Jones

6) Davis

Agree with Antti being top, mind you I grew up with Shilts and Tim as the first XI keepers for the first decade of being a supporter and haven’t seen any keeper that is above them, although Antti was very close at his 2002/3 peak. Would have Artur above Fraser as more athletic although capable of absolute brain farts.

I’ve got to put Jonah above Alex though! Jonah made the odd mistake but had defences as bad as the current if not worse in the late 90s. Paul was also good for Wales when they kept their keepers very busy. His best game was Man U home early 98, some amazing stops and he pulled off a beauty at Old Trafford 2000ish in a 3-3 draw. Great memory was Wales v Finland just after Antti signed and it was effectively a head to head. Must have pulled off half a dozen worldies each, strikers looked like they want to cry. Liverpool also had him on loan when they were good early 2000s.

Kelvin sadly has to be bottom as he’s played less PL games for Saints than the rest. 

If the timespan went further back, Dave Bessant would be below Antti, Fraser and Boruc but above the others. SFC hasn’t had that many keepers really compared with many clubs. 

Edited 24 August, 2021 by saint1977

[Whitey Grandad]

Malik Taylor was better than Paul Jones but when Dave Jones took charge he brought in Paul Jones from Stockport because he had promised him that if he ever managed a top club he would take PJ with him.

Beasant wasn’t bad either.
 

If the net wasn’t there McCarthy would end up in the front row of the crowd.

[Saint_clark]

There's got to be decent keepers available on a free or on loan from a bigger club abroad? 

[Badger]

34 minutes ago, saint1977 said:

If the timespan went further back, Dave Bessant would be below Antti, Fraser and Boruc but above the others. SFC hasn’t had that many keepers really compared with many clubs. 

That's surprising, I'd have thought we have played one a game every match like everyone else.

Unless you meant decent or quality GK, in which case I'd agree there havent been enough of them over the years, and certainly since Niemi left

[ErwinK1961]

6 hours ago, adriansfc said:

My god, the excuses people will make. This is not a one off. The goal conceded was dreadful. Nearly every other top flight keeper doesn't just save that, they hold it.

His changing his mind and the calamity in the box is nothing new. Every single match, even when he was supposedly in good form, he dallies, scared to commit. If a striker is in on goal, he's hesitant and they get an easy angle to finish. A cross, he half comes for it then backtracks. It means he's regularly off balance moving backwards and stumbles on his arse. Look at so many of his goals conceded - he's not diving sideways or throwing himself in front of a forward, he's slumping backwards, or just static. 

Has anyone ever seen a keeper who ends up behind his line so much? Or at all??!!! I'm really curious as McCarthy just seems uniquely odd to me. Someone else said it's like the keeper has been sent off and an outfield player has gone in goal. How someone can turn this into "unfortunately ends up tripping" is beyond me. Watch him, he does it all the time, he's a flat footed terrified mess of a goalkeeper.

Forster at least fills the goal and closes the angles, so a lot of shots tend to hit him. He's fcked up plenty, but I've not seen him 3 yards behind his line. He's ten times the keeper and yet he's among the worst in the league. That sums up how atrocious McCarthy is. Have fans standards just fallen that far? 

It's embarassing watching him. Even his save against Utd he fumbles it into his own face and looks dazed. Anyway I look forward to his new contract and MLG explaining why it's great business. 

Out of interest - How do people rank our regular Premier League keepers of the last 20 years or so? Based on their overall time here.

For me, from best to worst:

1. Niemi

2. Paul Jones

3. Forster

4. Boruc

5. Kelvin

6. McCarthy

 

1. Niemi

 

2. Boruc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. The Rest.

[saint1977]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

That's surprising, I'd have thought we have played one a game every match like everyone else.

Unless you meant decent or quality GK, in which case I'd agree there havent been enough of them over the years, and certainly since Niemi left

Yes, sorry, didn’t explain that well. What I meant is the club has had some keepers that have been first choice for a few years from Shilts onwards relative seemingly to other clubs who seem to change their keeper every season or every other. Even Forster for all ups and downs, Kelvin, Niemi for c4 years.

We haven’t had enough quality keepers since Flowers but then I’m old fashioned and liked the Shilton/Parkes/Ogrizovic/Gunn senior/Spink era keepers far better than the current PL batch. It’s not just Alex or Fraser, Ramsdale isn’t great and De Gea for £300k per week? Not sure the CL ones are all that, Lloris pretty good in his time but still has distribution shockers. Pickford would have been standard decent keeper 20 years but elevated because most PL keepers are flaky, SFC’s just more flaky and overpaid because of Les. See he’s been paying fortunes for League One strikers at Wrexham now. 

Even a solid, run of the mill PL mid 90s keeper like Mart Poom at Derby (ex skate) would go for a fortune now. 

Whitey Grandad, well remembered about Maik Taylor, under Souness. He didn’t cost a fortune and was solid considering what was in front of him at times. Bit unlucky to pushed out for Jones, although I did think Paul did OK overall. Someone like Maik or Jones would be just the ticket now, come off your line, shout at the back 4, decent stoppers but nothing flashy. Jonah got dropped a couple of times for Moss for getting stuck to his line and his parrying of shots had moments but x10 better than current duo. 

.

[SuperSAINT]

 

[MarkSFC]

Just now, SuperSAINT said:

 

Un-fucking-believable. 🤯🤯🤯

[Mikey88]

I know it’s being painted as Forster wouldn’t sign so he was the one who had to go, but couldn’t we just have let them both of them go next year and sign two keepers summer? One Premier League quality (Romero? Johnstone?) and one young keeper. McCarthy has proven he’s not good enough, even for the bench and sadly Forster has lost whatever he had when he arrived. 

[Matthew Le God]

4 minutes ago, MarkSFC said:

Un-fucking-believable. 🤯🤯🤯

Why? It probably means he'll be back-up next season to any new keeper.

[MarkSFC]

Just now, Matthew Le God said:

Why? It probably means he'll be back-up next season to any new keeper.

Because he is awful. An opinion. My opinion. 

[Matthew Le God]

1 minute ago, MarkSFC said:

Because he is awful. An opinion. My opinion. 

He isn't a great first choice keeper, but back-up keepers don't need to be amazing. Hopefully any new keeper we get next summer will be to go straight in as first choice.

[Baird of the land]

Makes sense to extend McCarthy and then be able to focus on getting a first choice keeper next summer.

[danjosaint]

Because he's shit and probably raking in £60k to be an understudy,  is that good business sense, Surely you would pick up a no1 and a younger prospect , this along with Long and Walcott show were still  not ruthless and ambitious enough

[Matthew Le God]

3 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

Because he's shit and probably raking in £60k to be an understudy,  is that good business sense, Surely you would pick up a no1 and a younger prospect , this along with Long and Walcott show were still  not ruthless and ambitious enough

What if any new 1st choice keeper we get is already relatively young, say 22 to 26 years old?

[SuperSAINT]

Sam Johnstone’s contract expires next summer, I think. 

[Mr X]

Both keepers are poor make no mistake but out of the two at the moment id rather see fraser in goal.

He is the better shot stopper of the two and sometimes just the sheer size of a lump in goal can put strikers off.

The goal conceded and united was soft, I know it went through salisu's legs and McCarthy might have seen it late but

it wasn't struck with any particular venom and you don't expect it to go through your keepers legs as well! 

[Midfield_General]

On 24/08/2021 at 11:58, adriansfc said:

My god, the excuses people will make. This is not a one off. The goal conceded was dreadful. Nearly every other top flight keeper doesn't just save that, they hold it.

His changing his mind and the calamity in the box is nothing new. Every single match, even when he was supposedly in good form, he dallies, scared to commit. If a striker is in on goal, he's hesitant and they get an easy angle to finish. A cross, he half comes for it then backtracks. It means he's regularly off balance moving backwards and stumbles on his arse. Look at so many of his goals conceded - he's not diving sideways or throwing himself in front of a forward, he's slumping backwards, or just static. 

Has anyone ever seen a keeper who ends up behind his line so much? Or at all??!!! I'm really curious as McCarthy just seems uniquely odd to me. Someone else said it's like the keeper has been sent off and an outfield player has gone in goal. How someone can turn this into "unfortunately ends up tripping" is beyond me. Watch him, he does it all the time, he's a flat footed terrified mess of a goalkeeper.

Forster at least fills the goal and closes the angles, so a lot of shots tend to hit him. He's fcked up plenty, but I've not seen him 3 yards behind his line. He's ten times the keeper and yet he's among the worst in the league. That sums up how atrocious McCarthy is. Have fans standards just fallen that far? 

It's embarassing watching him. Even his save against Utd he fumbles it into his own face and looks dazed. Anyway I look forward to his new contract and MLG explaining why it's great business. 

Out of interest - How do people rank our regular Premier League keepers of the last 20 years or so? Based on their overall time here.

For me, from best to worst:

1. Niemi

2. Paul Jones

3. Forster

4. Boruc

5. Kelvin

6. McCarthy

 

Does Stekelenburg count? He was a loan but seem to remember he was first choice for a while under Koeman. 

He was another odd one. Can't ever really remember him making any really amazing saves, but he never really messed anything up either. Just sort of comfortably saved the ones he ought to. 

He was the definition of 'solid but unremarkable'. 

[skintsaint]

24 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

Three more years of him....fffffarkin hell.

[Mr X]

3 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Three more years of him....fffffarkin hell.

My thoughts exactly, what were they thinking! its clear we need two new keepers

[Sheaf Saint]

Bonkers. He's probably just about good enough for a club like us to keep as backup to a much better, clear number 1. But not on the kind of wages he will be on. 

Very poor decision from the club IMO. 

[Shroppie]

I'm not as depressed as everyone else seems to be. McCarthy has been good in the past and I think, with regular game time, will be again. Yes, Forster may be the better shot stopper but he doesn't command his 6 yard box and can be very slow getting down. Something we do need is a settled keeper. They have different traits and swapping all the time confuses our defence.

I'd say they're both saleable, but no way do we want to lose both with no time to replace.  And Forster's wages off the bill would be a bigger saving.

Edited 25 August, 2021 by Shroppie

[saintmonkey1979]

I don't get this. With GKs like Alex Werner and Romero available, an upgrade on what we have would be easy. 

[santolijador]

Seen on twitter someone quoting the article as saying that we will be looking for a 'young understudy' to AM next year - is someone with a subscription to The Athletic able to confirm this? 

If so, bad news. 

[santolijador]

1 minute ago, santolijador said:

Seen on twitter someone quoting the article as saying that we will be looking for a 'young understudy' to AM next year - is someone with a subscription to The Athletic able to confirm this? 

If so, bad news. 

 

 

Edited 25 August, 2021 by santolijador

[ErwinK1961]

41 minutes ago, SuperSAINT said:

 

It's just a complete and utter mess.

 

[ErwinK1961]

5 minutes ago, santolijador said:

Seen on twitter someone quoting the article as saying that we will be looking for a 'young understudy' to AM next year - is someone with a subscription to The Athletic able to confirm this? 

If so, bad news. 

Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has signed a new three-year contract at Southampton, The Athletic can reveal.

McCarthy opened talks over a new deal earlier this year and an agreement has now been found between the player, who has cemented his place as Southampton’s No 1, and the St Mary’s side.

Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has started the 31-year-old in the first two league games against Everton and Manchester United, in what is a clear sign of his thinking going forward, after the end of last season saw the Austrian rotate his goalkeepers on a weekly basis.

He wanted to give McCarthy and Fraser Forster, who both had 12 months remaining on their contracts at the time, an equal opportunity to show their credentials. And the former Reading and Crystal Palace keeper is the one who has been backed by Hasenhuttl to be his No 1 for the season ahead.

The Southampton manager stated last week that one of the two goalkeepers would stay and the other would go in the summer of 2022. And The Athletic has since learned that replacing Forster is going to be a top priority at the end of this campaign.

“We will definitely extend the contract of one of the two keepers, then the other one will leave,” Hasenhuttl revealed earlier this month. “I think that, in the future, we will look to sign a new goalkeeper.”

The club want to bring in a young goalkeeper who will become McCarthy’s understudy and, hopefully, soak up the advice shared by the experienced professional.

There is also the realisation that McCarthy, who won his sole England cap so far three years ago, will rise to the challenge once the new addition is brought in. He has shown in recent years that he doesn’t become flummoxed when the pressure is turned up, which is viewed as one of his biggest strengths.

It’s that composure and belief in his ability that helps him grow rather than shrink at the first sight of pressure.

When Angus Gunn joined from Manchester City in the summer of 2018, many thought it was the beginning of the end for McCarthy at Southampton. But he remained as the club’s starting keeper for much of that season and duly won the No 1 shirt back only a couple of months into the 2019-20 campaign. Gunn was sold to Norwich City two months ago.

McCarthy has remained as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper ever since, and impressed figures behind the scenes with his standout performances during the first half of the 2020-21 campaign, where he kept seven Premier League clean sheets before the year was out. This was second only to Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez, who had eight.

He then tested positive for COVID-19 after the West Ham match at the end of December and missed the famous win over reigning champions Liverpool a week later, with Forster starting in goal and keeping a clean sheet. The rest of the campaign turned out to be a disaster for the club, who won only four more Premier League matches and suffered a 9-0 thrashing at Manchester United in February.

Forster and McCarthy both struggled on the run-in, although not knowing whether they would be starting or sitting on the bench from game to game is a glaring mitigating factor.

Several clubs, aware that he was going into the final year of his contract, started showing an interest in McCarthy but he is settled and knows he has plenty more to offer, so was determined to extend his five-year stay at St Mary’s.

With Hasenhuttl’s confirmation that one goalkeeper will leave the club after this season unless there is a dramatic shift in strategy, this will be somewhat of a farewell tour for Forster. The 33-year-old joined from Celtic in 2014 and quickly established himself as one of the Premier League’s best shot-stoppers, helping Southampton side qualify finish sixth under Ronald Koeman and qualify for the Europa League.

He was dropped by Mauricio Pellegrino in December 2017 and didn’t return to the team until the end of the 2018-19 season. Forster was sent on loan back to Celtic for the 2019-20 campaign, where he helped them win a ninth consecutive Scottish title.

There were reports linking him with a permanent return to Celtic Park following his loan success but a deal couldn’t be struck as Southampton wanted a sale rather than another loan. The six-cap England international returned to St Mary’s and battled with McCarthy for the starting job. And he now looks set to end what will be an eight-year association with Southampton once this season draws to a close next May, paving the way for the club to search for his replacement.

After the Gunn move didn’t work out, the club will be keen to ensure they get their recruitment for this position right at the next time of asking.

[MAY-Z]

Most of the business this summer has been good and made a lot of sense. 
 

this is just mind boggling garbage 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, santolijador said:

Seen on twitter someone quoting the article as saying that we will be looking for a 'young understudy' to AM next year - is someone with a subscription to The Athletic able to confirm this? 

If so, bad news. 

Unfortunately this was inevitable. A key position and we go for another kid and an incompetent number one. Ridiculous.

[ErwinK1961]

"He wanted to give McCarthy and Fraser Forster, who both had 12 months remaining on their contracts at the time, an equal opportunity to show their credentials. And the former Reading and Crystal Palace keeper is the one who has been backed by Hasenhuttl to be his No 1 for the season ahead."

Not sure what on earth in those games put AM as No1. Appreciate it's a choice between drowning or being burnt alive, but just cannot get my head around this.

[Baird of the land]

I take with a pinch of salt the stuff about signing an understudy. Think it's likely fluff to go alongside a contract renewal for our current first choice. Hardly likely to come out and say next season we'll replace him. 

[qwertyell]

17 minutes ago, santolijador said:

Seen on twitter someone quoting the article as saying that we will be looking for a 'young understudy' to AM next year - is someone with a subscription to The Athletic able to confirm this? 

If so, bad news. 

Toby Savin or Josh Griffiths, I reckon.

[WALK DMC]

8 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

"He wanted to give McCarthy and Fraser Forster, who both had 12 months remaining on their contracts at the time, an equal opportunity to show their credentials. And the former Reading and Crystal Palace keeper is the one who has been backed by Hasenhuttl to be his No 1 for the season ahead."

Not sure what on earth in those games put AM as No1. Appreciate it's a choice between drowning or being burnt alive, but just cannot get my head around this.

I think that Ralph would have preferred Forster to stay and those games at the end of the season were to tempt him to sign a new (reduced) contract. Forster has said no, so McCarthy is now the "company man" and gets the nod not through being a better goalie but because he is more "loyal". 

Clearly unsatisfactory, and I hope that it doesn't come back to bite us. I personally think that the combination of McCarthy at number 1 and no aerially dominant centre half will mean a relegation battle - for all the good work done in this transfer window, I still feel two of the most important areas remain weak. We'll see. 

[ErwinK1961]

4 minutes ago, WALK DMC said:

I think that Ralph would have preferred Forster to stay and those games at the end of the season were to tempt him to sign a new (reduced) contract. Forster has said no, so McCarthy is now the "company man" and gets the nod not through being a better goalie but because he is more "loyal". 

Clearly unsatisfactory, and I hope that it doesn't come back to bite us. I personally think that the combination of McCarthy at number 1 and no aerially dominant centre half will mean a relegation battle - for all the good work done in this transfer window, I still feel two of the most important areas remain weak. We'll see. 

You're most probably right. Like you though, I just see this as a critical position to improve on but the club are seemingly happy to try and get by, despite appearing to admit they know the current situation is crap.

GK is arguably the most important position on the pitch. We've not tried to improve this during the summer, which I will never understand, but hey ho. 

[Saint_clark]

Signing a new contract is shit but understandable if we didn't want to leave ourselves trying to sign two keepers next summer. 

Planning on him being first choice next year as well, and signing someone to be his understudy, is insane. 

 

The bloke is shit! What is Ralph and everyone at the club seeing him do to justify having so much faith in him!? 

 

[Chez]

Very strange decision for the manager to (effectively) say that Forster is out of here next summer when he may need to rely on him this season. Why not keep your powder dry? Maybe Forster informed the club he wanted to leave, thus he wasn't revealing anything Forster didn't already know.

Ralph obviously feels McCarthy proved himself last season. Not sure I agree.  

[Lord Duckhunter]

6 minutes ago, WALK DMC said:

I think that Ralph would have preferred Forster to stay and those games at the end of the season were to tempt him to sign a new (reduced) contract. Forster has said no, so McCarthy is now the "company man" and gets the nod not through being a better goalie but because he is more "loyal". 

 

What a load of old pony. Ralph has clearly decided AM is his best keeper. Regardless of the contract situation he can choose either. Are you trying to claim that Ralph isn’t picking who he considers to be the best keeper? 
 

 

[LGTL]

I wouldn’t give him a 3 minute contract, let alone 3 years. Our GK recruitment has been a shambles for years and now we all know what happens. Some kid will come in next year and we’ll still have the worst GK in the Premier League as our number 1.