Ben Foster

West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster has stated that he is in the best shape he has been in his entire career and has claimed the club’s form in the early part of the season will be determined by the summer training schedule. According to the England international, he spent two hours in the gym everyday during the off season despite being on holiday and the 30 year old admits he is now reaping the rewards he put in the gym during the off season.

The current Premiership season is over and there is not a lot to look forward to in the football world over the next couple of months. This will leave football and betting fans looking for some other way to get their fix. Playing a football themed slot game like Soccer Safari may be the answer.

Soccer Safari is just one of the many football based slots games around, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a truly unique experience – in fact it is hard to imagine another game quite like this one. It involves animals playing each other in a World Cup tournament, deep in the jungles of Africa, and it is brought to life brilliantly by the graphics.

The former England goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, has said that the decision of Ben Foster to retire from international football so early in his career was not a sensible one.

Foster had announced his retirement from international football in May 2011.

However, last month, he came out of retirement and said that he was available for selection. He found a place in the England squad for the World Cup qualifying matches against San Marino and Montenegro.

Foster sat on the bench in the match against San Marino. England won that match by 8-0. Foster is set to sit on the sidelines again in the match against Montenegro which is going to be played on Tuesday at Podgorica City Stadium.
Shilton who is considered as one of the best goalkeepers produced by England was not happy with the fact that Foster decided to quit without waiting for his chances.

When Shilton was asked about Foster’s comeback in international football, he said, “Ben shouldn’t have retired a couple of years back. That was a completely wrong decision.”

“If he had taken that decision after sitting on the bench for 5-6 years and not getting enough opportunities, that would have been understandable. But, that was only the beginning of his career and he should have waited for a few years. He took the decision in a hurry.”

“Joe Hart hasn’t had a great time off late and Ben knows that he can get opportunities now. So, he has decided to come back.”

“Ben’s return has certainly put Joe Hart under huge pressure. Joe needs to be super consistent now; otherwise, he will lose his place in the starting line up.”

Foster has so far played only 5 matches for his national side. He had played his first match for England in February 2007 against Spain. England had lost that match by 0-1.

England have not had the best of goalkeepers in recent years. The former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has spoken of as a replacement for Paul Robinson at one stage, but it has been two years since the West Brom goalkeeper represented England at the international stage.

The goalkeeper has been on a self-imposed exile, but he could soon come out of it according to reports. Foster has suffered a number of injury problems in the last few years, which has been the reason for his exile. The goalkeeper recently made his move to West Brom a permanent one after the Premier league club agreed a £ 4 million transfer fee with Birmingham.

The 29-year-old has made five appearances for the national team, but he has been on international retirement from last two years. Foster said at the time that he was taking this difficult decision in order to prolong his club career. The arrival of the former West Brom manager Roy Hodgson, who brought the best out of Foster at West Brom, as the England manager opened the doors for Foster's return to international action. However, the 29-year-old rejected the opportunity to be part of the Euro 2012 squad, but there are indications that he may be available for the upcoming matches.

Foster was the player of the season for West Brom last season, as he kept 10 clean sheets over the course of the season. Apart from Foster, Roy Hodgson has the form of the new Stoke city goalkeeper Jack Butland and the Norwich city goalkeeper John Ruddy. Both these players, though, do not have experience of playing at international level, while Ben Foster has been part of several England squads in the past. Foster has also been part of the Manchester United set up for many years .

The West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster could be making a return to the first-team for the match against Norwich during the weekend. The goalkeeper said on the official site of the club that he is currently making good progress from a hernia problem that he suffered a few weeks ago.

The return of the former Manchester United goalkeeper could mean that the manager Steve Clarke will have a selection headache due to the presence of the former Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill. Myhill has been in goal for West Brom for the last seven matches and he has a strong point for being retained in the first-team ahead of Ben Foster.

Foster's last game for West Brom was back in November when the club managed a 2-0 victory over struggling Southampton. He has said that he could not hit the ball with his left foot because his hernia problem had caused him to experience severe pain when doing so with his left foot. Hence, he had to take the goal kicks with his right foot. He has also revealed that he has experience in several groin problems over the last couple of weeks. Hence, he decided to take the operation that would solve both problems.

"I played in the Southampton game (on November 5), when we won 2-0, and I couldn't kick with my left foot because every time I kicked the ball there was a nerve getting pressed underneath my hernia, which was quite painful. I had to kick with my right foot because I had no pain on my right side. I got away with it because I could do all of the goalkeeping stuff fine, but as soon as I tried to kick a ball it was jumping out of your skin time!" said Foster to the official site of the club.

The West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster has said that his only focus this season will be to help West Brom still in the Premier league. His comments are little bit surprising given that they come at a time when West Brom are currently are challenging for the top four positions.

The club appointed the former Liverpool and Chelsea assistant manager Steve Clarke as the replacement for Roy Hodgson in the summer. He has had a great start to his best career after guiding the team to the fourth position in the Premier league table ahead of the visit by the European champions.

Despite this good start, Ben Foster has said that he has not changed the focus yet because the ultimate aim will be to get to the magical 40 point mark that will almost ensure Premier league safety. Two goals from Peter Odemwingie helped West Brom secure another 2-0 win in the Premier league last weekend. They have a very good record at home having been beaten only once in the Premier league this season. Ben Foster has said that it is easy to get carried away by the good start, and hence, he wants to maintain the focus on the main objective – avoiding relegation.

"It's a bit of a cliche but we are really not getting carried away and we are taking each game as it comes, and we will see where we go. We will get to the 40-point mark as soon as possible we and see what games we have got left. Fantastic credit to bounce back after two difficult weeks. We spoke before the game about making sure we get our season back on track tonight," said Foster ahead of the Chelsea match. West Brom have 20 points from the opening 11 matches of the season.

The manager of West Bromwich Albion, Steve Clarke, has praised the goalkeeper, Ben Foster, for his performance in the match against Fulham .West Brom lost that match by 3-0. Despite West Brom’s defeat in that match, Foster’s performance was fantastic. He made a number of brilliant saves. As per Clarke, Foster has got amazing goal keeping skills and that’s why the club had invested so much in him last summer. He has got quick reflexes and he showed his class against Fulham. He is expected to make such kind of saves.

However, Foster’s effort didn’t save his team from a humiliating defeat. Fulham completely outclassed West Brom in the match. Dimitar Berbatov took his team ahead in the match in the 32nd minute. Alexander Kacaniklic got rid of Billy Jones and passed the ball to Berbatov who was near the box. The Bulgarian striker smashed the ball into the right hand corner of the net. Just a few minutes later, Peter Odemwingie was shown red card and the West Brom team was reduced to 10 players. This was a big blow for West Brom.

Fulham’s lead was doubled in the very first minute of the second half when Berbatov found the net for the second time in the match by capitalizing on the penalty earned by the team. The Fulham players kept on attacking and created some opportunities for the third goal, but, they didn’t manage to go past Ben Foster who was at his very best in the match. Just 1 minute before the end of the game, Steve Sidwell scored the third goal for Fulham and secured the victory of his team. The manager of Fulham, Martin Jol, would have been delighted with the effort of his boys in the match. Fulham will play its next match against Wigan Athletic on 22nd of September at the DW Stadium.

Want to win a Wayne Rooney signed photo? Send us your score prediction for the next match via twitter, and you might win! :)

West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster has said that he has wants to end his career with his current club West Brom. The 29-year-old goalkeeper has been moving from one club to another in the last few seasons, but he has finally found a home according to the former Manchester United shot stopper.

The 29-year-old sealed a £ 3.5 million move from Birmingham city only last month and he is of the opinion that he wants this move to be the last of his career. He has also said that he had turned down the opportunity to join Premier league rivals QPR because he was not sure about their future in the top division of English football.

Ben Foster was once regarded as the next England goalkeeper when he was playing for Manchester United. However, he was not getting regular first-team football at Old Trafford due to the presence of Edwin van Der Sar. This is absolutely led to his departure from the Manchester club, while he has been on the road travelling since then. New West Brom manager Steve Clarke has made it a priority to bring him to the hawthorns and Ben Foster has said that he is extremely delighted with the faith shown by the former Chelsea assistant manager.

“I have no interest in moving south or north. I hope this is my last move. My kids are going to be settled in schools soon. My wife loves the area too and those are the sort of things people don’t always see. People just see footballers and no more, but there is a lot more to us than that. We are people who have families and it is important that they are settled and happy. We are now looking for our final family home,” said West Brown goalkeeper Ben Foster.

West Brom have started talks with Birmingham City over the potential transfer of goalkeeper Ben Foster. The technical director of the Midlands club has now confirmed this news.

Ben Foster represented West Brom in the Premier league last season after arriving on a loan deal, but it is thought that the Premier league club are interested in making the move permanent after having seen the former Man Utd goalkeeper impress during his one season at the club. West Brom finished the last season in the 10th position, which is a far cry from the relegation positions they were expected to occupy at the end of the season.

Ben Foster has said on a number of occasions that he would be extremely happy to make the move permanent because he was happy with life at West Brom. Even though West Brom are interested in securing his signature, the technical director of the club Dan Ashworth has confirmed that the club will not be held to ransom. As a result, they will be willing to pursue other targets if they are not able to come to an agreement with their arch rivals Birmingham city, who failed to return to the Premier league after failing in the play-offs last season.

"We've started discussions with Birmingham and we hope we can find a solution that suits them and suits us. If we can't, then no problem - we'll have to move on. But it's down to discussions with them. As with every transfer, the selling club has 'X' in mind and the buying club only value at 'Y' so you hope that you find a tipping point that suits both parties," said the technical director of the Midlands club Dan Ashworth.

Meanwhile, he has also rejected speculation that David Beckham is close to securing a West Ham move.

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson was recently unveiled as the new England manager. However, he will continue to remain as the West Brom manager for the remaining two matches of the Premier league season.

This has not prevented the club from looking at the possible replacements now itself. A lot of big names have been linked with the job including the likes of former West Ham manager Alan Curbishley. Alan Curbishley has been out of work for quite a while now, but it is thought that he is now ready to return to management after doing a lot of punditry work on television.

Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton, though, is believed to be the front-runner for the job given his experience of having managed both in the Championship and the Premier league with great success. Chris Hughton has managed to lead Birmingham into the play-offs position, despite the huge number of well-documented financial problems surrounding the club. Even though he has not spent a lot of money, he has been able to get the best out of his players at his disposal. Many also regard him to be extremely unlikely to get the sack from the Newcastle United managerial position.

"The board will now concentrate on the important task of appointing a new head coach to continue our project as we prepare for a third successive season in the Barclays Premier League. We did not want Roy to leave and he will be a tough act to follow. Roy's appointment as England manager is obviously disappointing news for the club as we would have liked him to sign a new contract, which was in the process of negotiation, and remain here," said club chairman Jeremy Peace regarding the appointment of a new manager and the disappointment of losing Roy Hodgson.