Romeu: Saints’ Forster doesn’t deserve criticism

Southampton’s Oriol Romeu has defended teammate Fraser Forster, after the goalkeeper’s costly blunder gifted Crystal Palace their first goal in the Saints’ 3-0 defeat to the Eagles on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, watched on by England manager Gareth Southgate, attempted a routine clearance, but a mix-up with his feet led to the ball falling for Christian Benteke to tap home.

Palace doubled their lead three minutes later when an unmarked James Tomkins prodded the ball home from three yards.

And Benteke added his second of the game late on to wrap up maximum points at Selhurst Park, ending a run of six straight Premier League defeats.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

But Romeu insists Forster doesn’t deserve to be slated, given how vital he is to the Saints team.

“It’s not easy to take, but he’s clever,” he said. “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. Unluckily it happened to him.

“Fraser has proved that he can still play perfectly. He’s an amazing goalkeeper and I’m sure it won’t affect him.”