Comedy of errors

Barthez's latest calamity threatens United career

LONDON (Reuters) -- Fabien Barthez's increasingly slim hopes of claiming the Manchester United goalkeeper's jersey for the new season have been all but ended by another calamitous display between the posts.

The French international, whose position with the English champion is under threat following the signing of U.S. international Tim Howard, badly needed to produce a water-tight display in Wednesday's friendly against Stoke City.

Instead, the fragile form of last season returned to haunt the Frenchman as a second-string United side suffered a 3-1 defeat at the Britannia Stadium.

The low point for Barthez arrived midway through the second half.

Having made a hash of a kicked clearance, Barthez back-tracked desperately to try to keep out a long-range chip by Stoke striker Marc Goodfellow.

Fortune deserted United's former No. 1, however, as the ball bounced off the bar, struck the back of his gleaming head and rebounded into the back of the net.

It proved the decisive moment of the game, giving first division Stoke a 2-1 lead and it went on to complete an impressive win.

Even worse for Barthez, he was substituted four minutes from the end of the match, replaced by Spanish reserve Ricardo.

The timing -- three days before the start of the new season -- could hardly have been worse, especially as on Sunday Howard was United's hero as United won the Community Shield on a penalty shootout.

Butter fingers

The British tabloids predictably had a field day Thursday, proclaiming the end of Barthez's hopes of ousting Howard for Saturday's Premier League opener against Bolton Wanderers.

"Humiliated and subbed: It's the end for Barthez" proclaimed the Daily Mirror tabloid, while its rival The Sun said "Barthez is out after new comedy clanger."

Whether the latter headline prophesizes merely the end of Barthez's first-team hopes this season or long-term United future remains to be seen.

But the Frenchman, who was a rock during his country's 1998 World Cup win and its 2000 European championship triumph, has made mistakes consistently during his time at United.

Barthez's ability as a shot-stopper is not in question, but kicking away back passes from his defenders is not his forte.

The 32-year-old joined United from Monaco for the start of the 2000-01 season.

He gave an early indication of his eccentricity in January 2001 when he stood motionless with his hand in the air appealing for an unlikely offside as West Ham's Paolo Di Canio scored the winning goal in an FA Cup match at Old Trafford.

Later that year Barthez endured a torrid spell.

In October his mistakes handed Deportivo Coruna a surprise 3-2 Champions League win at Old Trafford. The following month Barthez gifted France team mate Thierry Henry two late goals with a poor clearance and a butter-fingered fumble as Arsenal beat United 3-1 at Highbury.

Those gaffes promoted a cheeky offer from a UK supermarket for Barthez to promote its own brand of butter.

Inconsistency also dogged Barthez last season and he lost his place, prompting manager Alex Ferguson's hunt for a new keeper which ended with the signing of Howard.

In France's World Cup-winning team captain Laurent Blanc used to mark the start of each match by planting a kiss on the top of Barthez's bald head for good luck.

But with Howard, Roy Carroll and Ricardo as alternatives, United may now be ready to kiss its flawed Frenchman goodbye.

 

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