Forster’s mistake led to Crystal Palace opening the scoring as Southampton lost 3-0 at Selhurst Park.
Southampton midfielder Oriel Romeu has said Fraser Forster has saved them on many occasions after the goalkeeper made a howler during the weekend’s defeat to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, the Daily Echo reports.
Forster’s miscue while under pressure when attempting to clear the ball handed Christian Benteke the opportunity to open the scoring for the Eagles, which set them on their way to a 3-0 win over the Saints at Selhurst Park.
Romeu clearly feels the error is uncharacteristic, and is quoted in the Daily Echo saying: “It’s not easy to take, but he’s clever. He’s done a lot for us and, of course, he had credit on making a mistake one day. He saved us so many times and we cannot say anything to him.
“Sometimes we are relying on him playing out from the back and he needs to play a lot of balls under pressure.
“Just one simple mistake comes into that and that’s what happened today.”
Forster was not the only player culpable in a poor display from the Saints at Selhurst Park, with the other two goals seemingly entirely preventable from a defensive point of view.
It was a bad day at the office for Claude Puel’s side, who have been hard for most sides to break down this season, so the manner of their defeat will have been disappointing.
Forster seems to be held in high regard at Southampton and has been the man between the sticks whenever the side has managed to string a run of clean sheets together.
It may have been the case of it just being a bad day at the office for the Saints, as they will look to bounce back by qualifying for the Europa League knock-out stages when they face Hapoel Be’er Sheva at St Mary’s on Thursday.
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