Tottenham Hotspur were unable to secure victory over AS Roma, but Fraser Forster certainly made the most of his opportunity in the Spurs first team.
Fraser Forster is set to become Tottenham’s first-choice goalkeeper until at least January, with Guglielmo Vicario suffering from an ankle injury, and his performance against Roma will only give him confidence going forward.
The English shot-stopper is well known for his heroic past performances in Europe, such as when he helped Celtic defeat Barcelona in the 2012/13 Champions League group stage, when he was nicknamed La Gran Muralla (the great wall) by the Spanish press. However, with Forster now 36 years old, questions have been raised over his ability to play in Tottenham’s first team.
But Forster thrived against Roma, making some important saves and one particularly good diving save near the end looked like it might give Spurs the win before Roma snatched a stoppage-time equaliser.
Roma’s two goals against Tottenham both came from set pieces, an area in which Vicario is often criticised, but Forster was not the player at fault for either goal. He made five saves throughout the match and all the shots he faced were from inside the box.
Roma had 3.14 expected goals on target, showing that most of Forster’s saves were of a high quality, while he prevented 1.14 goals, as well as making eight recoveries (Fotmob).
And although Forster looked a little shaky at first playing the ball out from the back, 83 per cent of his passes were accurate, while he showed composure in compensating for his defender’s errors, such as late in the game when he rushed out of his net to stop a certain goal after Pedro Porro headed the ball back to him in a dangerous position.
Forster was given a 7.5 out of 10 rating by Fotmob for his performance. Only Pedro Porro, Brennan Johnson, and Heung-min Son got higher ratings on the night for Spurs.
Whether it was making saves, playing the sweeper-keeper role or keeping a cool head, Forster delivered against Roma, showing his experience and maturity. After a disappointing display in Tottenham’s previous Europa League match against Galatasaray, he should take encouragement from a much-improved performance.
Tottenham’s failure to see out the win against Roma is not down to Forster and his contributions in the game will only be viewed as something positive as the Lilywhites look ahead to a London derby clash on Sunday against Fulham.
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