Ange Postecoglou has failed to rule out Tottenham Hotspur signing a new goalkeeper in January, but offered his backing for Fraser Forster after several glaring errors in Thursday's 4-3 win over Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Forster has played in Spurs' last four Premier League games after regular number one Guglielmo Vicario picked up an ankle injury. Tottenham won 4-0 against Manchester City in November.
Among the sticks was the 36-year-old si Spurs reached the last four of the Carabao Cup, setting up a two-legged meeting with Liverpool, but made two horrendous mistakes, conceding goals to Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo.
The mistakes proved inconsequential in the end, with Son Heung-min's goal from a corner enough to keep United at bay, but questions have inevitably been raised about Forster's position given Vicario is nowhere near a return to action.
Speaking to the media ahead of Spurs' Premier League Sunday's game, ironically with Liverpool, Postecoglou did not completely rule out the possibility of signing another goalkeeper, but gave a strong indication that Forster has his support for as long as he needs it.
“I think I left open (the door to sign a new goalkeeper) because if we had another injury to a goalkeeper then we would definitely have to sign someone,” Postecoglou said. “I think Frase has done really well for us coming in. It's not easy. Whenever the number two goalkeeper comes in, it's always, especially for a long period of time, it's not the easiest position to come in, but I think he coped very well, as I expected.
“And like I said, he was disappointed with last night, but we have to keep that in the context of his overall performances. It's not like, you know, it's been four or five games like a streak. So , we keep the context of what happened last night.
“He still contributed to our win. I thought in the first half of his legs he was outstanding, he helped us get up the park to beat their pressure and made a good save just before they scored the goal. first.
“He didn't have a lot to do to be fair. I thought we handled it pretty well. But, you know, he made some bad decisions on the night and we'll work on that. Birchy will work on that. and as I said, we have no choice but to saddle up again on Sunday and go again.”
Postecoglou also said that Vicario is “pushing every limit” in his recovery but is “still a little way off” in terms of returning to action.