Gavin Bazunu

[FarehamSaintJames]

Nothing to see with this rumour. He isn’t going anywhere. That page loves latching on to a rumour. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[goodymatt]

He’s not going to move from City to be a first choice PL keeper to then go to Chelsea and take up the same role he had before, back up. Lazy journalism indeed.

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

He’s not going to move from City to be a first choice PL keeper to then go to Chelsea and take up the same role he had before, back up. Lazy journalism indeed.

Easy to be a journalist. Simply insert name of promising young player + big 6 club +  “considering a move for” = endless speculation.

[Roboze]

i have always thought, if the defence is doing its job, the keeper should have to do nothing....

 

[John B]

31 minutes ago, Roboze said:

i have always thought, if the defence is doing its job, the keeper should have to do nothing....

 

 

 

The PL has some of the best attacking players in the world who at some time or other will outwit the defence so having a decent goalkeeper will prevent all the chances they create becoming goals

[Lord Duckhunter]

5 hours ago, Roboze said:

i have always thought, if the defence is doing its job, the keeper should have to do nothing....

 

Or if they’re facing Che Adams & Adam Armstrong 

[Chez]

Have been impressed with how he has been willing to committ and come off his line to punch and catch in the last couple of games. Ok, so the execution hasn't been 100%, but thankfully the dropped catch and fluffed punch haven't been punished. Equally if he hadn't come for one punch we could have been in big trouble. 

[S-Clarke]

9 hours ago, Chez said:

Have been impressed with how he has been willing to committ and come off his line to punch and catch in the last couple of games. Ok, so the execution hasn't been 100%, but thankfully the dropped catch and fluffed punch haven't been punished. Equally if he hadn't come for one punch we could have been in big trouble. 

Hopefully that clean sheet will give him the confidence he needs. It's always going to be risky taking the approach of a young kid in goal, but we've pretty much committed to that approach, so we need to live through the ups and downs it'll bring (as with any young players). I do like him, I think his demeanour and attitude on the pitch defies his age - which is very impressive I think. We do have to expect errors and misjudgements from him though.

[StrangelyBrown]

He might have a mistake or two in him but his quick feet and speed of thought are a considerable upgrade on McCarthy and Forster. In time I think he'll sort the mistakes out and then we'll stuggle to keep him.

[Whitey Grandad]

He is the future.

[egg]

He impressed me against Bournemouth. Looked more assured than he had. Still making mistakes, but he's a proper keeper. 

[The Left Back]

And his distribution is absolutely top drawer. If we ever start playing more fluidly and aggressively he will be a great attacking weapon 

[Saint86]

I think he's going to be absolutely top class, hopefully for saints. Best keeper since niemi in the making 👍

[Andrew Watson]

Will go as far as he wants to, shame some of the muppets on here continually find fault, utter planks.

[East Kent Saint]

Remember all the flak DeGea had when he started at Man U ? 

[Professor]

Against Arsenal, although I picked Lyanco as my Man-of-the-Match, the fact is that if it wasn't for Bazunu's brilliant performance the match would have been lost.  Over and above expectations.  It's easy to forget that he's only 20 years old because he plays with great maturity.. We are lucky to have him.

[goodymatt]

It’s so important we stay up this season to let these youngsters develop and help us climb the table. It would be such a waste to go down and have to sell the best ones off. That’s the risk we take I suppose, Bazunu looks like a good one so far to me.

[saintwbu]

Yesterday was his best game so far imo. I haven’t really felt much about him either way so far. Made some great stops yesterday, i’ve always liked that he seems willing to come for crosses (even if not always successful). He played one pass yesterday in the first half, on the ground through some Arsenal players, out to the left wing which I thought was superb and was the first proper sign i’d seen of his quality of distribution.

[malcolm waldron]

19 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Yesterday was his best game so far imo. I haven’t really felt much about him either way so far. Made some great stops yesterday, i’ve always liked that he seems willing to come for crosses (even if not always successful). He played one pass yesterday in the first half, on the ground through some Arsenal players, out to the left wing which I thought was superb and was the first proper sign i’d seen of his quality of distribution.

I noted that too.  Can't remember the exact passage of play, but I think it was our usual shovel it around at the back under increasing pressure before it goes back to the keeper for a punt downfield (and lose the header).  Only this time Bazunu looked up and drilled the pass (to Armstrong I think) through a crowd of about 4 Arsenal players. More of that to come hopefully.  We were trying to imagine McCarthy trying to do the same.

[Whitey Grandad]

I loved the way he ran out near the end to get his head in the ball and put it in the crowd. He took out the Arsenal player at the same time.

[John Boy Saint]

6 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I loved the way he ran out near the end to get his head in the ball and put it in the crowd. He took out the Arsenal player at the same time.

That was very good to see - Arsenal players probably commented “jeez even their keeper is a nutter”.

[Saint_clark]

He's fucking shit, end of. Signing a kid instead of someone experienced to be first choice keeper in the premier league was absolutely mental. We'd be much better off if we'd kept Forster, released McCarthy and signed a younger keeper from the lower leagues as backup.

[JRM]

38 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

He's fucking shit, end of. Signing a kid instead of someone experienced to be first choice keeper in the premier league was absolutely mental. We'd be much better off if we'd kept Forster, released McCarthy and signed a younger keeper from the lower leagues as backup.

Angus Gunn similarities being mentioned again

Would have been fine signing for £2M, Man City saw us coming Joe Shields got us paying big bucks for someone who had played for Skates and Rochdale FFS 

[Saint Garrett]

He’s not shit, he’s got loads of potential, but right now he’s the worst keeper in this league. We went a step too far this summer. 

[Harry_SFC]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

He's fucking shit, end of. Signing a kid instead of someone experienced to be first choice keeper in the premier league was absolutely mental. We'd be much better off if we'd kept Forster, released McCarthy and signed a younger keeper from the lower leagues as backup.

I feel as if this is a massive overreaction. He shouldn't be the number 1 of a premier league team but he isn't fucking shit. 

[The Cat]

1 hour ago, Harry_SFC said:

I feel as if this is a massive overreaction. He shouldn't be the number 1 of a premier league team but he isn't fucking shit. 

Yes, he's not shit at all. People are just so reactionary. 

None of the goals were his fault but because they all went in he's now apparently a terrible keeper when a couple of weeks ago he was excellent. 

Feel really sorry for him that he is trying to get a foothold in the Premier League at an extremely young age for a keeper while playing in front of moron supporters who don't understand goalkeeping but are happy to give him shit anyway.

[WestMidSaint]

I’ve watched it back and don’t like his positioning for most of the goals.
 

Whilst the play was coming from his right and he obviously has to therefore be that side of centre-he left to much space to his left. He needed to be one or maybe even two decent sized steps to the left to cover that side of the goal. 
 

 

[S-Clarke]

He's a really young kid who doesn't seem capable of saving anything at the moment. He's got potential and I like his demeanour on the pitch, but as I said in the summer this is the one position we had to get right in the summer and signing a kid wasn't getting it right.

The club are too obsessed with the mantra of buying young players, creating a platform and making a profit in a season/18 month, as borne out by Semmens comments about it not being about how many points or where we finish - it's who we develop. That's not a football team, that's just a soulless conveyor belt business that no one is ever going to be able to get behind as they're not around long enough.

I have no issue with signing talented young players, but it has to be balanced and you have to create a platform for those young kids (i.e a team).  And you certainly can't rely on kids in the absolute key positions of goal and ST.

[stevy777_x]

I d start McCarthy against Wednesday and Liverpool.

[skintsaint]

He would probably be disappointed with his positioning for the third, but the others can't really pin too much blame.  Pretty sure the last goal he was unsighted when it was hit.

[AlexLaw76]

Although you could argue his could not do much today, the fact remains he seems to save very little.

He regularly flaps at crosses and routinely give the ball away with his distribution.  Nothing, absolutely nothing he does is better than McCarthy.  

[JRM]

9 hours ago, The Cat said:

Yes, he's not shit at all. People are just so reactionary. 

None of the goals were his fault but because they all went in he's now apparently a terrible keeper when a couple of weeks ago he was excellent. 

Feel really sorry for him that he is trying to get a foothold in the Premier League at an extremely young age for a keeper while playing in front of moron supporters who don't understand goalkeeping but are happy to give him shit anyway.

My frustration is not directed at Bazunu,  it's not his fault, but the whole Saints recruitment philosophy trying to be clever thinking we can buy youngsters, drop them in the deep end and grow their value ready to go back to market and sell them for a profit , can work for other positions but we're asking young Gav to make a huge step up in a position where there is little protection and I think we over paid for a player with only league one experience. 

As a team we score so few goals our main hope of getting 3 points is to win 1-0 but we always look like conceding 

[The Cat]

24 minutes ago, JRM said:

My frustration is not directed at Bazunu,  it's not his fault, but the whole Saints recruitment philosophy trying to be clever thinking we can buy youngsters, drop them in the deep end and grow their value ready to go back to market and sell them for a profit , can work for other positions but we're asking young Gav to make a huge step up in a position where there is little protection and I think we over paid for a player with only league one experience. 

As a team we score so few goals our main hope of getting 3 points is to win 1-0 but we always look like conceding 

This is a much more balanced post than some of the others which write him of as being shit despite him being very young and inexperienced.

When we brought youngsters through previously it was always in a team with a lot of other experienced players. Now we are lobbing them all in at once and it's making it very tough for some of them.

Individually we have some excellent young players who I have no doubt will go on to have great careers, but they need time to bed in and kick on rather than having to all do it together in the full glare of the Premier League.

It's probably tougher for a keeper to do that than it is for the outfield players.

[goodymatt]

Yesterday was an example of us missing big chances and leaving gaps as we searched for a goal. I think that doesn’t help Bazunu. However, statistically he is conceding a lot of shots on target, very much like Gunn and McCarthy were doing too. Bazunu at least sweeps and plays out better than both of those, albeit with the odd poor clearance (one per game in the last few matches).

You can see he has a lot of potential, but it’s hard to disagree that this was probably the riskiest of positions to go with youth and at the moment I’m not sure the risk is paying off. I’d bet a lot of money that he will go on and have a much better career than McCarthy though.

[Noodles34]

I wish this forum was around in the days of Le Tissier's early days... 'he's shit, he's slow, he's lazy, he doesn't tackle....'

[spyinthesky]

1 hour ago, Noodles34 said:

I wish this forum was around in the days of Le Tissier's early days... 'he's shit, he's slow, he's lazy, he doesn't tackle....'

And the comments about Frannie Benali would have been interesting too

I have been a supporter for longer than most posters (Third Division South anyone?) and can assure you all that bad times have had to be suffered more times than the good.

However when good times do happen the feelings of joy are maximised!!

[Saint_clark]

57% of shots faced saved, lowest in the Prem. 

[skintsaint]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

57% of shots faced saved, lowest in the Prem. 

I mean it sounds/looks low, but De Gea and Henderson have 58.5% and 60.5% and would take them both in a heartbeat. Even Ederson is only on 62.5%.

[East Kent Saint]

17 hours ago, Noodles34 said:

I wish this forum was around in the days of Le Tissier's early days... 'he's shit, he's slow, he's lazy, he doesn't tackle....'

That was Glen Hoddle’s assessment 😄 ! 

[John B]

22 hours ago, spyinthesky said:

And the comments about Frannie Benali would have been interesting too

I have been a supporter for longer than most posters (Third Division South anyone?) and can assure you all that bad times have had to be suffered more times than the good.

However when good times do happen the feelings of joy are maximised!!

I first went to a Saints game in 1962 but followed them before that and seen top class layers from Paine and Sydenham through to Lallana and VVD

 

But this squad today has no quality players who perform consistently well and have to Wow factor

 

Apart from KWP we have not bought a really consistent top class player for years and we are have a poor squad like we had when we got relegated with Redknapp although that squad did have a few better players than we have today

 

[Saint_clark]

9 hours ago, skintsaint said:

I mean it sounds/looks low, but De Gea and Henderson have 58.5% and 60.5% and would take them both in a heartbeat. Even Ederson is only on 62.5%.

Where are you getting those stats from? As De Gea is on 64% from what I can see.

[AngusHyd]

I have sympathy for Bazunu. He's clearly a talented goalkeeper but really has been thrown in at the deep end. He has a disorganised defence in front of him which also has very little protection from anywhere across the midfield. However, there were definitely times at the weekend he should have done better, especially the third goal, where he should have narrowed the angles by coming out more. If he was 3-4 yards closer to Willock, the only option would have been to try and lob him which at full pace would have been an incredibly difficult finish. Instead, he stayed too deep which allowed Willock to just toe poke it into the corner. I'd also like to see him punch more from corners rather than trying to catch everything, clear the danger. 

[skintsaint]

2 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Where are you getting those stats from? As De Gea is on 64% from what I can see.

https://scores.nbcsports.com/epl/player_leaders.asp?category=107

One thing is, Bazunu can't get worse can he? 😆

[SambaMaverick]

Bazunu has let in 7.1 more goals than is expected of him through FBRef's post-shot expected goals metric. Yes, that is the worst in the league.

The metric disregards external factors like the defence in front of him. It just focuses on the quality of the opponent's shot and his likelihood of saving it.

Pickford, Kepa, and Alisson all at the top of the charts so that lines up with the eye test, and I've not been that impressed with Bazunu's shot-stopping at all. Sunday was perhaps the worst example.

Edited 8 November, 2022 by SambaMaverick

[JRM]

3 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

Bazunu has let in 7.1 more goals than is expected of him through FBRef's post-shot expected goals metric. Yes, that is the worst in the league.

The metric disregards external factors like the defence in front of him. It just focuses on the quality of the opponent's shot and his likelihood of saving it.

Pickford, Kepa, and Alisson all at the top of the charts so that lines up with the eye test, and I've not been that impressed with Bazunu's shot-stopping at all. Sunday was perhaps the worst example.

I think if we'd signed him from Pompey for £2M we'd have a lot lower expectations than having paid Man City £15M (even though he'd never played for Man City)

[Wade Garrett]

I wasn’t impressed with his footwork for the 3 goals that beat him to his left.  Very slow, as if left is his weak side.

He’s done ok though.  He is young and still needs coaching.  He has weak areas in his game and needs to work really hard on the training pitch.

[Stu Man Do]

Sad that we seem to be in the process of ruining another promising young keeper. We’ve well overpaid for him, for that money I’d have expected an experienced competent GK. 

 

Strong Portvilet vibes about chucking all these young guys in at the deep end and hoping it just works and we can flog them on for multi millions. 

[AlexLaw76]

Do not rate him what so ever. 

Angus Gunn Mk2

[trousers]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Do not rate him what so ever. 

Angus Gunn Mk2

173

[goodymatt]

Mixed bag yesterday. Awful positioning for their first goal (his feet movement in opposite directions has cost us a few goals this season e.g. Wolves) but he then made 2 excellent saves later on. The one where he dived across and stopped Salah finishing was an incredible full stretch save tbf