Saints 1-0 Leicester - Match Thread

[sadoldgit]

2 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

He literally has no redeeming features to his play, nothing he does that other keepers (even on our bench) could do just as well if not better. 

Said it many times, I don't care how good he is in 5+ years time, he's costing us our place in the Premier League. With a better keeper we'd be outside the relegation zone right now. 

As someone else has pointed out, if we go down this season it isn’t the fault of the goalkeeper. We are struggling because of our inability to score from open play. That is not Bazunu’s fault. I’d be interested to see how many games we have lost that are directly attributable to him rather than defensive errors or missed goal scoring opportunities.

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, sadoldgit said:

As someone else has pointed out, if we go down this season it isn’t the fault of the goalkeeper. We are struggling because of our inability to score from open play. That is not Bazunu’s fault. I’d be interested to see how many games we have lost that are directly attributable to him rather than defensive errors or missed goal scoring opportunities.

Of course it's not directly down to him, but his position is the one which it would have been easiest to do better in. Signing a 15-20 goal striker is very, very difficult. Signing a goalkeeper who actually makes saves isn't.

[Saint Matty 76]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

As someone else has pointed out, if we go down this season it isn’t the fault of the goalkeeper. We are struggling because of our inability to score from open play. That is not Bazunu’s fault. I’d be interested to see how many games we have lost that are directly attributable to him rather than defensive errors or missed goal scoring opportunities.

I actually think this is completely wrong. If we go down this season an absolute majority of the blame is on Bazunu

Edit: apologies, definitely hyperbole. I believe this to be more true than it not being any fault of his, however.

Edited 5 March, 2023 by Saint Matty 76

[Totton Saint]

Thank goodness NF forced a draw @ Everton.

Now we have to sweat to Sunday now.  How did I get addicted to Saints 70 years ago when in  they were3rd Division South.

 

[Eric The Red]

5 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Er, nope. The label states the X axis is "total pass completion %".  

As ever with stats though they can be interpreted in many ways.  As mentioned, the completion relies on the receiver of the ball being competent. Baz could drop a 60 yard pass directly onto Armstrong's foot, but if he misses it completely it would be considered incomplete.

Weston is spot on. We can all agree that Saints are (marginally) the worst team at retaining the ball when the keeper passes it. Overall we're pretty bad but I think I prefer our position in the chart to Meslier's. Not only is their retention rate more or less as bad as ours but their long ball rate is much worse. If you press Leeds on their goal kicks you'll get the ball back around three quarters of the time

[Saint_clark]

16 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

I actually think this is completely wrong. If we go down this season an absolute majority of the blame is on Bazunu.

Yeah, I agree. Goalkeepers, when they are sh*t, take a larger share of responsibility than the rest of the team. 

The flip side is when you have a great game you get lauded as having single handedly kept your team in the game. 

[Saint_clark]

21 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Er, nope. The label states the X axis is "total pass completion %".  

As ever with stats though they can be interpreted in many ways.  As mentioned, the completion relies on the receiver of the ball being competent. Baz could drop a 60 yard pass directly onto Armstrong's foot, but if he misses it completely it would be considered incomplete.

Yep, fair enough, I did exactly what I accused him of - I read it completely wrong!

 

However, the fact still remains he is sh*t and he is not some passing maestro to make up for it as some would have you believe.

[Saint Matty 76]

5 minutes ago, Eric The Red said:

Weston is spot on. We can all agree that Saints are (marginally) the worst team at retaining the ball when the keeper passes it. Overall we're pretty bad but I think I prefer our position in the chart to Meslier's. Not only is their retention rate more or less as bad as ours but their long ball rate is much worse. If you press Leeds on their goal kicks you'll get the ball back around three quarters of the time

Don't disagree whatsoever regarding the Meslier point.

As saint_clark just mentioned though, people like to make it out like this is a strength of Bazunu's game which takes some of the heat off the rest, when in reality it's just another factor of which he's one of the worst in the league.

Anyway, more preempting future issues rather than a reflection of what's just happened. Nice to feel lucky for once.

[Weston Super Saint]

41 minutes ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

Don't disagree whatsoever regarding the Meslier point.

As saint_clark just mentioned though, people like to make it out like this is a strength of Bazunu's game which takes some of the heat off the rest, when in reality it's just another factor of which he's one of the worst in the league.

Anyway, more preempting future issues rather than a reflection of what's just happened. Nice to feel lucky for once.

To be fair, it's mainly commentators that spout that guff.

The chart proves nothing either way...

[derry]

I think we need a bit of perspective regarding Bazunu. Anybody who thinks that putting in McCarthy or Cabellero will improve things is living in cloud cuckoo land. Has McCarthy ever saved a penalty because he has made diving the wrong way into an art form. Coming out feet first to avoid getting hurt. Virtually never saving anything on his near post. At least Bazunu shows courage and doesn't pull out at the near post, he had a decent game at Chelsea, was dropped in it by Bednarek at Leeds and in my opinion stopped Souttar from heading the ball down for fear of getting a slap in the face. That's why he hit the bar. I think Bazunu saw he was unchallenged by our non marking defenders and did his best to stop him.

Our zonal non marking system is a clusterfuck. For example Elyonoussie allowed Onana to brush him aside at Everton, Just a regular occurrence with different culprits. Our defenders and midfielders tackle like pussies. We need a ruthless attitude. We don't have that. Elyonoussie and many others wave a token foot then pull out. Bazunu is often left isolated. He's young and trying his best. He needs support. His passing statistics have as much to do with players not winning balls or ducking out.

[Saint Gifford]

To be fair I like my omelette 

1- 3 large eggs

2- Don’t whisk, use a fork

3- Medium heat

4- Crepe pan

5- Butter

6- Olive Oil

7- Salt

8- Pepper

9- Rest before fully cooked as will continue to cook off the heat

10- Splash of Habanero Tabasco

11- Chopped Parsley

Extras could be 5 from Salami, Cheese, Tomato, Oven cooked, Grilled. 

There are a lot of ways to make an omelette.
 

Picking out one ingredient or process is all opinion.
 

Long way around saying it’s unfair to blame one part of the recipe for a crap omelette. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VectisSaint]

6 hours ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

I actually think this is completely wrong. If we go down this season an absolute majority of the blame is on Bazunu

Edit: apologies, definitely hyperbole. I believe this to be more true than it not being any fault of his, however.

It clearly is not the fault of Bazunu. We have lost so many games by 1-0 and a few 2-1, you cannot blame the keeper for a loss when we have scored 0 or even 1. Agreed we have lost 4 games by 3 or more goals, but again it is hard to say that we lost these games because of the keeper. I know the stats say he is the worst keeper in the PL but ask yourself would Willy or McCarthy have been demonstrably any better in turning around results. McCarthy used to get slated on here because he never saved anything, especially near post, I don't think AM would have improved any of our results. Willy maybe might have made a point of two difference but I'm not even sure that a 40 year old who has made just over 30 PL appearances in about 7 years would really have been much more effective. It's interesting that by the end of the season Bazunu will probably have made as many PL appearances as Willy in his entire career. We are not winning games because of our inability to score goals, simple as, allied with some clusterfuck defending by our largely hapless (or hopeless) CBs.

[cambsaint]

I just wish that correspondents to this list could try to make mainly constructive criticisms and even more importantly stop using foul language to 

describe our players. We are supposed to be supporters not detractors. We have already got a reputation as very demanding supporters.

It was heartening to hear good support on the TV on Saturday. I and my friends always said a win was a win, however fortunate.

I know supporting Saints can be disappointing (I too started in Div 3 South), but in retrospect the good times far outweigh the bad times,

even when we had Rupert and had to be rescued from bankruptcy. "Do as you would wish to be done to"; is a good motto to lead your life 

by. How would some of you like to be described as you describe OUR players. 

[Saint Matty 76]

2 hours ago, VectisSaint said:

It clearly is not the fault of Bazunu. We have lost so many games by 1-0 and a few 2-1, you cannot blame the keeper for a loss when we have scored 0 or even 1. Agreed we have lost 4 games by 3 or more goals, but again it is hard to say that we lost these games because of the keeper. I know the stats say he is the worst keeper in the PL but ask yourself would Willy or McCarthy have been demonstrably any better in turning around results. McCarthy used to get slated on here because he never saved anything, especially near post, I don't think AM would have improved any of our results. Willy maybe might have made a point of two difference but I'm not even sure that a 40 year old who has made just over 30 PL appearances in about 7 years would really have been much more effective. It's interesting that by the end of the season Bazunu will probably have made as many PL appearances as Willy in his entire career. We are not winning games because of our inability to score goals, simple as, allied with some clusterfuck defending by our largely hapless (or hopeless) CBs.

I don’t think Caballero or McCarthy are particularly good options either, for what it’s worth.

Would I have tried one of them by now because I don’t actually think our goalkeeping situation could get worse? Yes.

[Weston Super Saint]

5 hours ago, cambsaint said:

I just wish that correspondents to this list could try to make mainly constructive criticisms and even more importantly stop using foul language to 

describe our players. We are supposed to be supporters not detractors. We have already got a reputation as very demanding supporters.

It was heartening to hear good support on the TV on Saturday. I and my friends always said a win was a win, however fortunate.

I know supporting Saints can be disappointing (I too started in Div 3 South), but in retrospect the good times far outweigh the bad times,

even when we had Rupert and had to be rescued from bankruptcy. "Do as you would wish to be done to"; is a good motto to lead your life 

by. How would some of you like to be described as you describe OUR players. 

Like some of our players, if I was paid many millions of pounds every year on a lucrative multi year contract, I wouldn't give a flying fuck how anyone described me for not playing well.

[Saint_clark]

13 hours ago, derry said:

I think we need a bit of perspective regarding Bazunu. Anybody who thinks that putting in McCarthy or Cabellero will improve things is living in cloud cuckoo land. Has McCarthy ever saved a penalty because he has made diving the wrong way into an art form. Coming out feet first to avoid getting hurt. Virtually never saving anything on his near post. At least Bazunu shows courage and doesn't pull out at the near post, he had a decent game at Chelsea, was dropped in it by Bednarek at Leeds and in my opinion stopped Souttar from heading the ball down for fear of getting a slap in the face. That's why he hit the bar. I think Bazunu saw he was unchallenged by our non marking defenders and did his best to stop him.

Our zonal non marking system is a clusterfuck. For example Elyonoussie allowed Onana to brush him aside at Everton, Just a regular occurrence with different culprits. Our defenders and midfielders tackle like pussies. We need a ruthless attitude. We don't have that. Elyonoussie and many others wave a token foot then pull out. Bazunu is often left isolated. He's young and trying his best. He needs support. His passing statistics have as much to do with players not winning balls or ducking out.

Fuck me, I cannot believe this "Bazunu decided to flap his hand in Souttars face to put him off" nonsense is gaining traction. 

McCarthy made saves you wouldn't expect him to make, last season he kept 7 clean sheets in the league. Bazunu saves nothing unless it is directly at him and sometimes even then he still concedes.

[Mr Nimbus]

My streak of calling inaccurate scores pre-match continues.

I'm going to go against everything I believe in football and say from now all that matters are results. You could make the argument, we are one poorly handled shot at Leeds away from 3 clean sheets in a row. 

At no point this season did I think I would be writing that. There are loads of things to improve, but I don't think we are any worse than the rest around us. All of us are terrible. 

We are alive and thats something I didn't think would happen after Wednesday night.

 

[sadoldgit]

17 hours ago, Saint Matty 76 said:

I actually think this is completely wrong. If we go down this season an absolute majority of the blame is on Bazunu

Edit: apologies, definitely hyperbole. I believe this to be more true than it not being any fault of his, however.

If only it were that simple but I think that relegation will be a combination of a number of factors - poor recruitment, poor team selections, poor tactics, numerous poor mistakes by a number of different players, injuries to key players. Just to dump most of the responsibility on a goalkeeper who doesn’t have the best defensive cover in front of him is way too simplistic. No club gets relegated because one player has a poor season.

[spyinthesky]

Reflecting back on the game, I come up with the following comments.

1. Leicester werent that great but they created far more chances than we did.
2. I think JWP is a top player for us but that was the second pen he has missed this season.
3. Maddison is a cut above JWP in his all round game but both are excellent players.
4. Alcarez was lucky not to have been sent off for the tackle in the first half.
5. Saints were generally unlucky against Grimsby with VAR and the yellow that should have been red.
     The luck went with us big style v Leicester but we cant rely on luck for the rest of the season.
6. It was nice to leave St Marys for a change without having to listen to celebrating opposing fans.
7. Unfortunately I dont think we have the squad to stay up.

[SambaMaverick]

One thing Selles has got to get a handle on (and fast) is the sub situation.

He should've got Alcaraz off at HT as subbing him early in the second half left us with only 2 substitution windows.

He also seems married to changing the strike force completely on 60 minutes of every game, which left the whole attack needing to get up to speed in a crucial part of the game against Leicester and Leeds.

[tdmickey3]

38 minutes ago, SambaMaverick said:

One thing Selles has got to get a handle on (and fast) is the sub situation.

He should've got Alcaraz off at HT as subbing him early in the second half left us with only 2 substitution windows.

He also seems married to changing the strike force completely on 60 minutes of every game, which left the whole attack needing to get up to speed in a crucial part of the game against Leicester and Leeds.

Yep, bringing Ely and A Armstrong was ridiculous, they are terrible

[Fitzhugh Fella]

20 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Yep, fair enough, I did exactly what I accused him of - I read it completely wrong!

 

However, the fact still remains he is sh*t and he is not some passing maestro to make up for it as some would have you believe.

With respect, I beg to differ about him being "shit". I would still pick him over McCarthy. Yes he has made mistakes but quite literally so has everyone (on and off the pitch). He's very young, it's his first season in the PL and he is playing in front of a nightmare of a defence with none of them having any leadership qualities. His kicking is definitely better than McCarthy's who has also done plenty of those "awful kicking straight to an opponent" errors. I know it was only Div 1 last season but the one or two Portsmouth fans I have spoken to absolutely raved about him. Finally this is not the time to drop your 'keeper. What happens if McCarthy makes a terrible gaffe at Old Trafford - we then have two goalkeepers with confidence issues. I accept he is far from brilliant (at this moment in time), but we need to back rather than barrack him (and cross our fingers).

[Osvaldorama]

31 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

With respect, I beg to differ about him being "shit". I would still pick him over McCarthy. Yes he has made mistakes but quite literally so has everyone (on and off the pitch). He's very young, it's his first season in the PL and he is playing in front of a nightmare of a defence with none of them having any leadership qualities. His kicking is definitely better than McCarthy's who has also done plenty of those "awful kicking straight to an opponent" errors. I know it was only Div 1 last season but the one or two Portsmouth fans I have spoken to absolutely raved about him. Finally this is not the time to drop your 'keeper. What happens if McCarthy makes a terrible gaffe at Old Trafford - we then have two goalkeepers with confidence issues. I accept he is far from brilliant (at this moment in time), but we need to back rather than barrack him (and cross our fingers).

Honest question - Just how bad would he have to be before you change your mind. 

I think Bazunu is the worst keeper I’ve seen for us in the PL, and the stats seem to back that up.

Mccarthy would instantly improve us IMO. (and I am not saying I rate him massively either.). It’s at least worth a try IMO. Confidence in the keeper can improve your defence. 

[James]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Honest question - Just how bad would he have to be before you change your mind. 

I think Bazunu is the worst keeper I’ve seen for us in the PL, and the stats seem to back that up.

Mccarthy would instantly improve us IMO. (and I am not saying I rate him massively either.). It’s at least worth a try IMO. Confidence in the keeper can improve your defence. 

Is he really worse than Gazzaniga? Probably is which is saying something...

[derry]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Fuck me, I cannot believe this "Bazunu decided to flap his hand in Souttars face to put him off" nonsense is gaining traction. 

McCarthy made saves you wouldn't expect him to make, last season he kept 7 clean sheets in the league. Bazunu saves nothing unless it is directly at him and sometimes even then he still concedes.

This is nonsense. Of course Bazunu went for the ball as aggressively as he could. He didn't quite reach the ball but Souttar had to be aware that he was going for the ball and could get caught in the face if he attempted to head the ball down so he pulled out to protect himself and headed the ball up onto the top of the crossbar. If Bazunu had got it wrong he could have given away a penalty but he didn't and his action probably gave us three points. McCarthy has never in his whole career managed to nail down a number one position. He has been substandard and a liability in many aspects. He has been really lucky here that he has been given a lucrative extension when really he should have been let go.

[LuckyNumber7]

42 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Honest question - Just how bad would he have to be before you change your mind. 

I think Bazunu is the worst keeper I’ve seen for us in the PL, and the stats seem to back that up.

Mccarthy would instantly improve us IMO. (and I am not saying I rate him massively either.). It’s at least worth a try IMO. Confidence in the keeper can improve your defence. 

I just don't see any argument for keeping Bazunu in the side. He offers absolutely nothing positive and his nervousness just feeds through the whole defence. McCarthy or Caballero might come in and be just as bad but at this point we have nothing to lose, they literally cannot be any worse.

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

2 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

Honest question - Just how bad would he have to be before you change your mind. 

I think Bazunu is the worst keeper I’ve seen for us in the PL, and the stats seem to back that up.

Mccarthy would instantly improve us IMO. (and I am not saying I rate him massively either.). It’s at least worth a try IMO. Confidence in the keeper can improve your defence. 

I think if Iheanacho scores when he played it straight to him to equalise, and then Souttar scores the winner when he doesn't get to the cross then he is out of the side in a lot of people's minds because his mistakes led to goals, but we were just immensely lucky in reality.

For me, we aren't getting any benefit from Bazunu (his kicking and playing out from the back in a high line isn't helping us) so why not start with the best shot stopper of the three keepers we have, most likely McCarthy. 

[West end Saints]

Doubt after one goal conceded in three games Selles will be changing keeper. 

[the saint in winchester]

This thread seems to have evolved into an evaluation of Bazunu, whether he is wholly responsible for our position in the table. He kept a clean sheet on Saturday. His strength is distribution, a sweeper-keeper. He's not the biggest problem, and managers choose to select him to continue his development.

Yes, we are NOT the better side on Saturday. We scored one good goal and then decided to defend to the end. A more capable side than Leicester would have overcome us.

JWP needs to be released from penalty duty. Surely someone else can take varied penalties? We all knew where JWP would put that penalty, including Danny Ward.

Anyway, a win's a win. We need to perform better against Utd to get anything. At this stage, I think we are the worst team in the league and I can't see us avoiding the drop. But I hope to be proved wrong.

[Whitey Grandad]

13 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

This thread seems to have evolved into an evaluation of Bazunu, whether he is wholly responsible for our position in the table. He kept a clean sheet on Saturday. His strength is distribution, a sweeper-keeper. He's not the biggest problem, and managers choose to select him to continue his development.

Yes, we are NOT the better side on Saturday. We scored one good goal and then decided to defend to the end. A more capable side than Leicester would have overcome us.

JWP needs to be released from penalty duty. Surely someone else can take varied penalties? We all knew where JWP would put that penalty, including Danny Ward.

Anyway, a win's a win. We need to perform better against Utd to get anything. At this stage, I think we are the worst team in the league and I can't see us avoiding the drop. But I hope to be proved wrong.

Yes, we scored one good goal and had a penalty saved. leicester barely had a shot on target.

[JRM]

Watched the highlights back again and we really were lucky with some of the chances Leicester missed, I know we also missed a pen but on another day could have quite easily lost that. 

Thanks Leicester, don't think we can rely on getting that lucky many more times this season 

[Verbal]

1 hour ago, West end Saints said:

Doubt after one goal conceded in three games Selles will be changing keeper. 

Quite. Starting GB next match would as unsurprising as delldays coming out as gender-fluid.

[Scummer]

15 minutes ago, the saint in winchester said:

At this stage, I think we are the worst team in the league and I can't see us avoiding the drop. But I hope to be proved wrong.

Interestingly, since January 1st we are 14th with 3 wins in our last 8. Bournemouth, Palace, Leeds, Everton, Leicester all have worse form than us (and Newcastle but I can't see them getting sucked into a relegation battle...

[Mr Nimbus]

1 hour ago, the saint in winchester said:

This thread seems to have evolved into an evaluation of Bazunu, whether he is wholly responsible for our position in the table. He kept a clean sheet on Saturday. His strength is distribution, a sweeper-keeper. He's not the biggest problem, and managers choose to select him to continue his development.

Yes, we are NOT the better side on Saturday. We scored one good goal and then decided to defend to the end. A more capable side than Leicester would have overcome us.

JWP needs to be released from penalty duty. Surely someone else can take varied penalties? We all knew where JWP would put that penalty, including Danny Ward.

Anyway, a win's a win. We need to perform better against Utd to get anything. At this stage, I think we are the worst team in the league and I can't see us avoiding the drop. But I hope to be proved wrong.

I think Bournemouth are worse than us. TBF most of the bottom half are utterly terrible

Edited 6 March, 2023 by Mr Nimbus

[SotonianWill]

6 hours ago, James said:

Is he really worse than Gazzaniga? Probably is which is saying something...

gaza wasn’t a bad shot stopper but couldn’t kick the ball off the ground. it would seem finding a keeper that does both distribution and shot stopping will cost a lot of money and is seldom available so we have to choose one.

looks like we’ve chosen good distribution which is worrying as we need the alternative. 

[6ft8saint]

Why cant we go back to long ball we ain't man city. This is terrible 

[6ft8saint]

Hate to say this but on this performance we deserve to go down