In the first of our end of season reviews we take a look at the goalkeepers and where we see the situation next season.

Saints used three goalkeepers over the season Alex McCarthy started in charge of the gloves, followed by Angus Gunn with Fraser Forster making a brief cameo appearance near the end of the season to perhaps indicate what might happen in the summer.

Alex McCarthy

Alex McCarthy rightly started as first choice keeper back in August for his heroics at the end of 2017/18 season, in hindsight though when he had finally gained the number one spot in that season initially his performances had not been much different to Fraser Forster and it was only in the final few games that he like several others pulled their fingers out and it cannot be denied that McCarthy was immense with several world class saves and a superb game at Swansea.

However when Saints paid out £12 million for Angus Gunn you felt they had not done that to keep him on the bench. that he had barely played in his first couple of years at the club for a reason and the club knew something.

But he started the season and initially he started it fairly well, 2 clean sheets in the first 4 League games and only 3 goals conceded seemed to suggest that Saints had sorted out their defensive problems and McCarthy looked strong.

But perhaps things turned when we played Brighton at home, in that game he did not look so confident and when we blew a two goal lead you felt that he was not coming for crosses in the way he had been only a few months earlier at the end of the previous season.

The 3-0 defeat at Liverpool confirmed this, some of the defenders got the stick and rightly so, but he looked hesitant and should probably have stopped the Hoedt own goal.

In his defence he was playing behind a poorly organised back four, but for his part he did not take command of his area and became part of the problem not the solution.

Goalkeepers need confidence and you also have to enter in mitigation that apart from a poor defence, the spectre of Gunn on the bench did not help and he knew that Saints appeared to have no long term confidence in him otherwise they would not have spent big money on a young highly rated keeper.

His tenure as number one keeper effectively ended almost exactly a year after it started when he was dropped for the trip to Chelsea on January 2nd, however bizarrely he was reinstated but it was only a stay of execution and in his final few games he was a shadow of his former self and stayed rooted to his line too often.

His 25 appearances made him the keeper with the most games, but you have to feel that perhaps he will not be at the club next season.

Angus Gunn

Angus Gunn arrived with a good reputation and a solid season on loan at Norwich in the Championship behind him, there were few who thought he would step straight into the first team, but many felt that it would be sooner than later as Saints don't spent a reported £12 million just to sit a player on the bench for a season, the feeling was that it would only be a question of when.

As mentioned initially Alex McCarthy was OK and good performances by Gunn in the League cup suggested that he was getting near pushing for that first team spot.

When he made his Premier League debut at Chelsea he looked good and made several decent stops to keep our first clean sheet in over two months, you thought hs tie had arrived.

Strangely though he was dropped for the next League game and it would be another six weeks before he took over as the number one.

When he did though things looked up, in fairness the team was starting to play better, but he looked confident and assured and brought something to the defence that had been lacking, during games he looked happy to be there, relishing the challenge and not dreading what might happen next.

He played a decent role in Saints pulling clear of relegation and although he is still very much a work in progress give that he is still only just 23 which is young for a keeper and he has little experience, indeed only 12 top flight appearances for Saints, you feel he is the keeper gong forward and that he will only get better and more confident as he gets games under his belt.

The blip against Huddersfield in the final game was a mistake that he needed to make and better to make it in a game that meant nothing than in one with a lot more riding on it. He will learn from the experience.

I expect him to start as number one next season.

Fraser Forster.

Fraser Forster was the forgotten man at St Mary's, people forget how good he could be till his confidence went and many will slag him off as a matter of course, in truth he really needs a change of club where he can make a fresh start, but his wages and length of contract mean that we can't move him on without a major pay cut and in fairness to him, there are few Premier League clubs at the moment that truly need a new first choice keeper and with Burnley having three and surely shipping at least one in the summer there are more than enough candidates for the few openings available.

So that being the case it is hard to shirt Fraser, if he is going to sit on the bench then he might as well get well paid for it.

Surprisingly he was back in the side for the trip to West Ham, it wasn't a triumph for him or the team, but his performance was not as bad as some would have you believe, we had shipped 3 goals in 5 of the games before the visit to the London Stadium, so there was an issue in defence before this one, Forster made several decent stops and although on the second goal some thought that he should have got the ball out of the danger area after saving it, some leeway should be given, he had made a decent save and this was his first game in 16 months, his sharpness was understandably missing.

Given that he is on large wages and we can't shift him I expect him to be still here next season and the back up to Angus Gunn, that is not a bad situation and a strong goalkeeping department, Forster is a good keeper, whether he will find the confidence again is a big question, but he does not deserve the fans on his back whilst he tries to regain his former glory, it served no one any good.

So in conclusion, ironically we have three keeper all proven at Premier League level, the strongest goalkeeping department perhaps in our history, but at the moment none of them are massively ahead of the others in terms of their overall status, Angus Gunn has the potential, but needs experience, Fraser Forster has the experience but has lost his confidence and Alex McCarthy is perhaps a competent keeper capable of some outstanding games, but not on a consistent enough basis to make him a truly Premier League first choice, as has been shown by the number of League games he has actually played, his 43 League games for Saints being around a quarter of his career total.

Saints need to shift a keeper and i think that Alex McCarthy is going to be the one to go, perhaps not completely on footballing reasons, but on practical ones, Saints should be able to find a club to take him and also get a reasonable fee perhaps £6 million and that will be a good amount into the transfer kitty.

I don't think that the goalkeepers will be an issue next season, Gunn backed up by Forster and with someone like Harry Lewis as third choice will be enough.

Photo: Action Images

GeordieSaint added 11:01 - May 22 Gunn's distribution seems the best of the lot from what I have seen. If we are going to play a counter attacking style then that is essential. For FF this is undoubtedly one of the poorest aspects of his game. McArthy has generally been pretty decent in my opinion though.
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ChristchurchSaint added 12:23 - May 22 Ideally we should keep Gunn and McCarthy and get rid of Forster. However, I don’t think Mac will be happy if he knows he is second choice permanently and may agitate for a move if that is the case. This then leaves us with Forster as second choice, which he will probably settle for ( so would I for 70k a week!). Just got to hope Gunn doesn’t get injured, as we may then have to rely on FF.

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NewburySaint added 13:29 - May 22 Agree with a most of that. Unfortunately i think McCarthy has lost his place by default more than anything because, and being a former GK myself, i am far from convinced by Gunn, and i'm not just saying that on the back of his mistake against Huddersfield because, in my opinion, i think he has been beaten too easily on the majority of the goals he has conceded without making a mistake. But i think his potential wins out over where McCarthy is at. AS for FF, we have to get rid of him at all costs even if we pay him off because he cannot be our back up keeper next season-his decline since the start of 17/18 has been scary! I think you misread his performance at West Ham, and in particular in his role in all goals conceded because i believe he was at fault in all of them-goals 1 & 3 he was beaten way too easily even taking into account they followed mistakes because he still had time to set himself. And for the second, if he was going to push the cross back out into the middle of the 6 yard box where it was more than likely going to end up with a West Ham player, he may as well just have left the ball and let it flash across the 6 yard box and taken his chances in that way. And i far from dislike FF but my views are just honest assessments of what i have seen.

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SaintNick added 14:37 - May 22 I think you are being harsh on Forster, so I took a second look at the west ham game I thought he could have done better on the third, but the other two he didnt do much wrong. The first goal their man was through one on one Forster made himself big but the fella finished well, that would have gone in as many times as it was saved with any keeper. The second goal wasn't a cross it was a shot, if Forster hadnt got his hands to it it would have gone in, he had three angles to try and get the ball out, the first straight back in the direction it came, the second straight out which was straight in the danger area and the third as he did try and divert it across the goal, trouble was too many bodes in the six yard box, I dodnt think the outcome would have been much different whoever the keeper was.

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underweststand added 19:09 - May 23 Gunn is undoubtedly first choice despite some of the juvenile mistakes he made in certain games, but having said that he is an all round better keeper than the other two. McCarthy did well when he came in and deserved his long stretch as first choice. Sadly some of the probelms he encountered were not of his making, and an ever-changing back line (with Hoedt included) in front of him didn't help.He nees to be commanding and shout to his defenders more , he is "too quiet" and that doesn't inspire those in front of him. I agree with Nick that Forster had some outstanding games when he was first choice. Six successive games with a clean sheet, and a tremendous match against a certain top 6 side - when he made 9 saves. The 5-2 tharshing we got at the hands of Spurs was really a "bridge too far" and his confidence went completely after that. My forecast; Gunn will stay first-choice... Forster won't be going anywhere, because even if we took a loss on the deal to sell him, he'd never find a club to match his Saints salary. So...it's McCarthy to go. We paid £4 million- (was it?) , and he's surely worth at least twice that in the present market.

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