Pre-Season interview with Manchester United’s Ben Foster

Our Pre Season features continue today with another interview, today we have the chance to chat with the Premiership and Champions League winners Manchester United’s very own Ben Foster.

PROFILE

Ben Foster was born on the 3 April 1983 in Leamington Spa,

Ben started his football career at Racing Club Warwick in 2000. He spent a season there before he joined Stoke City.

During his time at Stoke, Foster had loan spells at Tiverton Town, Bristol City, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham. Foster sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury in June 2003 while playing tennis, this sidelined him for a period of six months.

Ben was spotted by Alex Ferguson, playing for Wrexham, on loan from Stoke, when the United manager was watching his son, Darren, in the LDV Vans Trophy Final in 2005, which Wrexham won. Manchester United had been struggling for many years to replace goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, and Ferguson decided to move for the young Foster – paying £1 million.

 Signing with Sells Golakeeper Products while on loan at Watford.

He joined Manchester United from Stoke City on 19 July 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, he was on loan to Watford. Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd has claimed that “he’s better than current Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar” and believes that “he is going to be the best goalkeeper in the world.”  Manchester United manager Ferguson has suggested that Foster will succeed Edwin van der Sar as first-choice keeper at United and should eventually replace Paul Robinson as “England’s next goalkeeper.” At this stage Sells Goalkeeper Products signed a 3 year deal with the United stopper who displayed his loyalty to one of his sponsors that have been with him since he played at Stoke even in the face of big money offers from Nike and Adidas.

 Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua as used by the United stopper

Foster had an impressive season at Watford, attracting plaudits from opponents and commentators. His long goal-kick was a particular asset for Watford as many of the team’s goals came via so called ‘route one’ football, with a long clearance from Foster collected by strikers Marlon King and Darius Henderson in promising positions. His imposing stature, confidence at set-pieces and excellent shot-stopping ability also stood out in what was his first full professional season. Foster helped Watford reach the Premier League by beating Leeds United 3-0 in the Championship play-off final.

On 10 August 2006, Foster re-signed on loan for Watford after Manchester United secured the services of Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak on loan. Foster remained at Vicarage Road for the entire 2006-07 season as United had no option to recall him.

Then in  June 2007, it was announced that Foster would undergo surgery on a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee. He returned to light training towards the end of 2007, before moving on to a more rigorous regime in mid-January 2008 and made a comeback in a reserves game against Middlesbrough on the 6th March 2008, Foster made his debut for Manchester United on 15 March 2008 against Derby County, as Van der Sar was injured and Kuszczak was suspended, having been sent off against Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter final the previous Saturday. United won the game 1-0, with Foster making two crucial saves en route to keeping a clean sheet.

 Making his 1st England start.

England

2006, Foster was named on the stand-by list for England’s 2006 World Cup squad, because of Robert Green’s injury in a “B” international against Belarus. After Foster re-signed on loan for Watford, he was called up to Steve McClaren’s first England squad as one of three goalkeepers for the friendly against Greece. Since his first call-up but prior to his injury, Foster was named in every England squad, and made his England debut in the 1-0 defeat against Spain on 7 February 2007.

Now Pre Season is well under way I was kindly given the chance by Sells’s Dave Baxter put some question to undoughtly one of the best up and coming keepers in the Premiership.

Dave Baxter is the head of Sells Product Development and work’s very closely with the Sells pro keepers in producing keeper products.

At this point we here at great-save.com would like to take this chance to thank Dave set us this chance to talk to the Manchester United keeper. 

 Wearing the new Sells Total Contact Exosphere Guard featuring Adhesion H2O latex

Q&A 

Ben as a goalkeeper how do you find pre season? are you one that dreads going back to the training ground? 

I have always been a person that has dreaded pre pre season training, the training sessions are usually a lot higher intensity and involve a lot more running which goalkeepers are notoriously bad at and I’m no exception!

At Manchester United will Sir Alex and his coaching team make the keepers at the club do the same fitness work as the outfield players? Running, sprinting etc with the squad?

The keepers have a different programme to the other players as keepers require a different type of fitness. Keepers need to be more explosive and quick for a shorter time and is not so important to be able to run for hours on end so we usually work with the goalkeeper coach for maybe an hour, then join in with the lads where we’ll have six a sides, shooting etc and then we usually finish with a bit of running.

As a keeper what should I work on most during the pre season weeks?

Pre season is a great chance to work on mainly leg muscle strength and general fitness, and due to the lack of games is a great time to start trying new techniques in training where it doesn’t matter so much if you get it wrong.

I understand it is important as a goalkeeper to eat the right things to maintain a good level of energy and strength, however I need some advice on what professional keepers eat during the week and things they avoid would be great?

As a lover of food and a big lad, I always seem to be hungry at any given time of the day! Through working with the nutritionist at United, we have a designed eating plan that through testing works for me. For a pre season training day my general day would go like this:

Breakfast I will have a large bowl of cereal like fruit and fibre.

Lunch at about 1.30 I will have another large plate of food which normally consists of 1/3 salad, 1/3 vegetables and 1/3 meat or fish, if that sees me through to dinner time (6.30) then great but if I need a snack then I’ll have some fruit but for dinner I’ll try and eat something similar to lunch but different foods.

After 7 I clock I will not eat anything else as your body’s metabolism slows down after that time and you burn calories at a much slower rate so if I peckish il just have a glass of milk. I have also started calorie counting foods that I eat – you wouldn’t believe the amount of calories in some things!

What sort of fitness work have you been doing before pre season or do you have a complete rest? 

I always have 2 weeks off to give the body a chance to recover from the past season at which point I will start to do light training, jogging, cycling and weights three times a week. 

How much emphasis does the Manchester United coaching team place on video technology replaying old games and studying the next opposition during the season? 

Video analysis plays a big part in our preparation for our next games and also analysis for games that we have already played.

Usually on a Friday before a game we will have about an hour video session where we look at all the strengths’ and weaknesses of our opposition and try to come up with a game plan, the video also shows good things and things that need improving on from our last game. 

At United how many times a week would you train?

If there is a week where there isn’t a midweek game then we will normally do a warm down on the Sunday after the game then have Monday off and then train everyday from then on in preparation for the Saturday’s game – obviously the earlier in the week it is the harder the training will be and toward the end of the week training is very light in preparation for the game. 

As a keeper do you spend much time in the gym working with weights? If so what should I be working on as a keeper when I visit my local gym? 

The gym is very important for me, as I have had knee problems in the past it is essential that I work at least 4 sessions per week doing leg exercises’ like squats and lunges to keep my legs strong,, also at the end of 3 of the sessions I will also do ab work and core work. 

Working with Edwin Van Der Sar must be great? What is he like to work with? Does he help you with your game?

Edwin is a great keeper to learn from, he’s got so much experience that you can’t fail to pick up pointers that can improve your game. 

This is a big season for you after missing most of last season, do you think you will go out on loan or will you be staying at United to fight for the number one jersey?

I’m fully committed to staying at United now and fighting for the number 1 jersey, I know it’s going to be my toughest season to date as we have such quality in the goalkeeping department but I’m fully fit now and raring to go.

Who is the best player in training at United? I bet it has been a great feeling to be on the same field as Ronaldo? 

There are a few players that it’s a treat to train with day in day out but the person who I like watching in training is Paul Scholes.

He’s the calmest player in any given situation and is still one of the greatest strikers of a ball I have ever seen and isn’t afraid to try his luck in training for 40 – 50 yards sometimes!

Ben Foster wears Sells Goalkeeper Products, the new Sells range of glove & clothing with start coming into store from late July visit www.great-save.com for all the latest releases.