San Marino vs England: 4 Reasons Why Fraser Forster Should Be Number 1

3. Consistency

One of the reasons that Forster is such a good keeper is his consistency. Not only does he very rarely make mistakes €“ in two-and-a-half years with Celtic it is difficult to think of one €“but he always puts in a very good performance in every match. No matter if the opposition is Peterhead or Barcelona he will treat every match the same way and tries his hardest to stop the opposition from scoring. Like many top goalkeepers he stays focused for the entire 90 minutes and never lets his concentration drop. There are examples of Celtic being 3 or 4-nil up in domestic matches and the rest of the team going to sleep and giving the opposition a chance to score a consolation goal. However, Forster will usually pull out an excellent save to keep his clean sheet intact even if his defence has let him down. Not only can anyone who regularly watches Celtic see this, but the stats prove it as well. So far in his time at Celtic he has kept an incredible 52 clean sheets in 97 league matches. Considering that some of the defenders he has played behind include Glenn Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic €“ two centre-backs to whom the term €˜bombscare€™ is a complement €“ it is an even more impressive achievement. In comparison Joe Hart€™s Premier League clean sheet record is 72 out of 191 matches. Forster€™s consistency makes him a very good choice to be England keeper. Much like Celtic €“ England are almost always better than their opposition. They generally look to go out and take the game to their opponents. This means that they require a goalkeeper who is capable of staying focused for the whole match and making important saves even when the rest of his team have lost their concentration and given the opposition a chance on the counter-attack or late in the match. Most of the matches Celtic play domestically are like this and Forster€™s clean sheet record shows he is excellent at keeping focused even when his team is dominant. Whereas Hart is more prone to switching off when he isn€™t under pressure and this has resulted in both Man City and England conceding needless and sometimes highly damaging goals.