'Foderingham not been a shot-stopping sensation – but he has been fine'

Ben Meakin, BladesPod

Wes Foderingham made a game-sealing error against Chelsea, just weeks after a nightmare moment against Bournemouth that effectively put the game out of reach – sparking further debate about his position as United’s number one.

The headline numbers are not pretty for Foderingham: he did keep his first clean sheet of the season last week, but has seen 43 shots fly, slide, squirm and slip into the back of his net already this year – seven more goals than any other team have conceded.

However, I am happy to put forward a defence of Wes – largely because he has not had much of one in front of him so far. He is the only keeper in the Premier League to have faced more than 100 shots on target. His save percentage of 65% is 12th out of 18 keepers who have played more than 10 games, but what about the quality of the chances he’s facing?

The average post-shot xG (expected goals) of each shot on target Foderingham has faced is the second-highest mark in the league, behind only Luton’s Thomas Kaminski (as per FB Ref analytics). In other words, not only does Wes face the most shots on target – those shots are generally from clearer chances (or better strikes) than every other keeper bar one.

He has not been a shot-stopping sensation – but he has been fine. Subtracting the actual goals conceded from the post-shot xG of all shots faced puts him above some much bigger names like Ederson, David Raya, Aaron Ramsdale, and Robert Sanchez.

A better keeper might have conceded a couple of goals less, or perhaps not made the mistakes mentioned at the top. However, unless United can address the sheer volume of quality shots their keeper is facing, it’s almost a moot point who is in net.

Foderingham was superb behind a competent defence in the Championship last year, and he can be again either back in that league next season or should United tighten up this campaign.