England’s future main custodian gets chance to prove himself

Man Utd goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is set to miss 8 weeks of action due to a broken thumb after injuring himself while saving a penalty from Bayern Munich’s Daniel Pranjic during the Audi Cup Final.

I usually don’t wish injury on any player – and I hope Edwin recovers as quickly as possible – but I can’t help feeling happy for Ben Foster. He’ll finally get a chance to get a good run of games under his belt and hopefully prove to Sir Alex that he can be Edwin’s long-term replacement.

After impressing at Watford where he was on loan, Foster has had mixed fortunes after returning to Old Trafford. Opportunities have been hard to come by, as Sir Alex was chasing silverware on all fronts and decided to use the more expereienced van der Sar. This meant less playing time for Foster and thus whenever he did get a chance to play, he was prone to make the odd clanger.

What Ben needs is a good run of games to build up his confidence and match sharpness and if he can get back to the form he displayed at Watford, Manchester United will have a very good keeper. And if he manages to improve on that form, we will have an excellent keeper.