Thread: Forster: It's a massive week for Celtic

FRASER FORSTER has already been an Old Firm scapegoat, red card villain and clean sheet hero.

Now he's set his heart on filling another role for the Hoops - as a Hampden trophy winner.


Celts' loan keeper is approaching the biggest game of his career - Sunday's Co-op Cup Final at Hampden against Rangers - on the back of four astonishing derbies already this season.


Or, as he counts it, 'three and a half' following a red card at Ibrox just 38 minutes into February's Scottish Cup showdown which finished 2-2.


But the 22-year-old's also known the misery of a howler in the 3-1 SPL defeat last October plus the ecstasy of wins at Ibrox and Parkhead.


Little wonder Forster - who yesterday backed the latest Show Racism the Red Card event - reckons nothing else that follows in his career will ever equal what he's already experienced against the Gers. Forster's club Newcastle United look ready to sell him to Celtic in the summer.


And you sense he would be thrilled if he was given the chance to play many more Old Firm games from next season onward. Forster - at 6ft 7ins the tallest ever Celts keeper - told SunSport: "Whatever else happens in my career I'll probably not experience anything like it.


"Sunday will be very special with it being an Old Firm cup final. The day we won 3-0 at Parkhead was incredible. The atmosphere for that was something I'd never known before.


"It will be some game to match that. But you never know what's going to happen in your career and where it's going to take you."


Artur Boruc was the last Celtic keeper to lift a trophy two years ago as they won the same competition in the last derby final. And Forster would love to join him in the Parkhead honours gallery. He said: "Artur was a great Celtic goalkeeper and it would be fantastic for me to join him in the record books.


"It's going to be a massive occasion. Winning the final would rank as my top career moment. But obviously there's a lot of football to be played before then.


"My last cup final was at under-17 level with my school team and I won. I'm looking for the same on Sunday. It's not a great pitch at Hampden, but we'll just have to get the ball down and play.


"Obviously against Rangers we've put in some fantastic performances the last couple of times. I'm sure we can do it again.


"It's for weeks like this that I play football. We've got a Scottish Cup quarter-final in Inverness on Wednesday night and a cup final against Rangers at Hampden on Sunday. It's a massive week for us."


Forster's convinced winning the first trophy of the Lennon era could prove the making of the side. He said: "It's a very young team when you look around, younger than I realised when I first came into it.


"It's been a fantastic start and if we can go on and win something this year it would be absolutely fantastic."


First things first, though. Inverness is a treacherous-looking tie for Celtic who have been humiliated by the Highlanders twice in the competition in the last decade.


Forster admitted: "The last thing we want is to suffer what previous Celtic teams have.


"We know that they will make it very tough for us and it's important we win.


"As long as we get the ball down and play our type of football I believe our quality should show through.


"But we've got to earn the right to play and Inverness are going to make it very hard for us. We've just got to go out and give it everything.


"Everyone's really focused. The recent defeat to Motherwell came at a good time. That might sound wrong, but it just sharpens everyone up going into the last few months of the season.


"I'd like to think we've got that out of our system and have learned from that day.


"I'm confident we'll go out on Wednesday night and put on a good performance.


"The last thing we want to do after beating Rangers is to go out in the next round.


"It would mean all the hard work we put in over those two games would be for nothing.


"We've got a fantastic team spirit and everyone's playing for each other. It gives us the confidence to go anywhere."


FORSTER was at Parkhead yesterday with team-mate Joe Ledley to support a Show Racism the Red Card event attended by pupils from Alexandra Parade and St Michael Primary schools, in Glasgow.

Source: Scottish Sun

See if I had to draw a face on a potato.....It would look exactly like Fraser Forster.

Glad the boy is having a good time at Celtic Park, but his performances must improve. His all-round goalkeeping is honestly pretty poor. He doesn't know how to command his box, he flaps at corners, and sometimes make silly decisions to punch the ball when he should be making it his, he has bad communication with the CBs, his kick outs are questionable. However, from these shortcomings he is a pretty decent shot stopper. Very rarely does a shot come in and Forster doesn't get to it, but as I say he must improve his all-round game. He's not a good enough goalkeeper for Europe.

I'm not convinced by him at all and wouldn't be bothered if we brought in someone else in the summer, however, that is probably unlikely.

Originally Posted by Giv1888

His all-round goalkeeping is honestly pretty poor.

Bollocks. Not nearly half as bad as people make out. A solid goalkeeper, who most sometimes forget, is still learning his trade.

Originally Posted by article

Forster's club Newcastle United look ready to sell him to Celtic in the summer.

Says who? I was always under the impression Newcastle were taking him back.