Cristian Stellini has been speaking about Fraser Forster and whether Tottenham Hotspur would be willing to trust their two younger goalkeepers if they have to over the coming weeks.
Tottenham will have to make do without Hugo Lloris for potentially up to eight weeks after the Frenchman injured his knee ligaments in the win over Manchester City (Telegraph).
Antonio Conte now has to throw Forster into the deep end at a crucial point in the season. The 34-year-old has only started four matches since his summer switch to Spurs – three coming in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup – but Stellini insisted that they trust the former Southampton man to deliver.
Tottenham’s assistant head coach told Football.London about Forster: “We trust in him and he knows, because it’s not the first game he’s going to play.
“With your behaviour, with your relationship you create with him you can transfer to him that you trust in him. This is what we do during all the season.
“He’s an important player because he was also in the national team, so we don’t have to transfer to him too much confidence because he has confidence.
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“He has great experience and it’s only the relationship you create with him that lets him understand that you trust in him. Also, he trains very well every day.”
When asked if the England international had any particular skillset that was better than Lloris, he answered: “No, I don’t think there is some aspect that he is better than Hugo Lloris in, because Hugo Lloris is a world champion. He’s just different.
“Every player has particular skills. Fraser has particular skills different from Hugo Lloris. Maybe he uses his physicality differently. But they are both great players and I don’t want to create difference between them.”
When quizzed about the relationship between Lloris and Forster, Stellini responded: “I look at them in the training ground. I don’t know about their personal relationship.
“I know they discuss a lot about goalkeepers. They discuss a lot when they watch other goalkeepers and they enjoy those moments.
“They work with Marco Savorani and they have meetings with Marco. I follow the meeting with Marco and they discuss a lot about situations from our games and other games. This is the relationship.
“They are professional players that look every time at football, feel football and discuss football. This is also a great skill that our players need to have.”
Reports over recent days have indicated that Spurs may look to snap up free agent Ben Foster as cover for Forster in light of Lloris’ injury (The Mirror) but Stellini has now insisted that the coaching staff have confidence in Alfie Whiteman and Brandon Austin.
When asked about the two academy graduates, the Italian responded: “Yeah, it’s completely different speaking about Forster with his experience and then Brandon and Alfie, but we would be confident if we need to play with them because they work with us every day.
“We understand their level and we have to keep them confident and the work they did is the confidence we have in them to use in the game.”
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I do not think Conte and the coaching staff would be comfortable playing either Austin or Whiteman in for a big Champions League or Premier League game even if they are talented goalkeepers. With Lloris potentially being out of action for two months, I expect the club to bring in an emergency backup such as Ben Foster.
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