Gavin Bazunu

[The Kraken]

4 minutes ago, Barsiem said:

Tbf, more than one poster has claimed he was the difference between staying up and getting relegated last season, so it's not surprising people still think he's being viewed in those kind of terms (I've not read the thread recently so can't comment on recent posts)

If anyone thinks that they’re misguided. He was a big contributory factor but he was far from on his own. Same this season, he’s been disappointing yet again but just one of a too big number.

[BARCELONASAINT]

3 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Aren't there loads of posts on here about the "piss awful" defenders - the fans don't like Holgate, Manning and have disliked Bednarek for eons.

What shitty point are you trying to make?

 

I think my last sentence spelled it out very clearly " Baz is not this seasons problem at all, it's our awful defence."

[badgerx16]

If you want Bazunu dropped, are you saying you would be happy with McCarthy ? Or would you want Lumley to start ?

 

Those are the options.

Edited 24 September, 2023 by badgerx16

[CB Fry]

9 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

I think my last sentence spelled it out very clearly " Baz is not this seasons problem at all, it's our awful defence."

Who are the people blaming Bazunu but not the defenders at all -  who are you talking to here?

[Lighthouse]

Really needs to start diving later, so he doesn't get a hand to shots, as that seems to be the main criticism of him at the moment. If he starts throwing himself to the floor, slightly too late, hopefully he can get into the team of the season, like Kelvin did.

[The Kraken]

7 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Really needs to start diving later, so he doesn't get a hand to shots, as that seems to be the main criticism of him at the moment. If he starts throwing himself to the floor, slightly too late, hopefully he can get into the team of the season, like Kelvin did.

Yeah, that’s definitely about right. Makes perfect sense as usual 👍

[SaintsBarry74]

Worst keeper in the championship in terms of save% and post xG goals.

Edited 24 September, 2023 by SaintsBarry74

[The Kraken]

3 minutes ago, SaintsBarry74 said:

Worst keeper in the championship in terms of save% and post xG goals.

Statistics don’t mean anything Barry, apparently. I’ve written scientific papers on it. Or something.

[SaintsBarry74]

7 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Statistics don’t mean anything Barry, apparently. I’ve written scientific papers on it. Or something.

Yep the statistics don't mean a thing I know... Baz was rock bottom last season as well why not continue the trend? I mean our defence is shit and Baz is worth about 20m quid after all.

At this point I'd rather have my dad after 5 pints in goal for us than Bazunu.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Really needs to start diving later, so he doesn't get a hand to shots, as that seems to be the main criticism of him at the moment. If he starts throwing himself to the floor, slightly too late, hopefully he can get into the team of the season, like Kelvin did.

Kelvin was far superior in the championship than we’ve seen from Baz so far. Fuck me if Leeds have the chances Sat that they got in the famous Kelvin game, it’ll be about 14. At the end of that season, Kelvin was rightly in the team of the season, I doubt this clown will even be in our team come the end of this season. 
 

Teams have shite defenders, it does absolve the keeper or mean he doesn’t have to make any saves. 

Edited 24 September, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[The Kraken]

2 minutes ago, SaintsBarry74 said:

Yep the statistics don't mean a thing I know... Baz was rock bottom last season as well why not continue the trend? I mean our defence is shit and Baz is worth about 20m quid after all.

At this point I'd rather have my dad after 5 pints in goal for us than Bazunu.

Is he available next Saturday?

1230 kickoff mind, so it’s an early start to get all 5 pints in. But surely doable.

[Saint86]

On 24/09/2023 at 17:30, SaintsBarry74 said:

Worst keeper in the championship in terms of save% and post xG goals.

The stats are skewed though... Normally the defence don't inexplicitly pass the ball to the attackers 20yards out without warning - so those keepers will be better set. Poor old Bazunu probably has no idea what's going to happen next whenever the defence are in possession - whether the ball is going to be up the pitch in 10 seconds or heading towards his top corner. 😂

[Saint86]

I don't think Boro's 1st is the criminal offence some are making out. The boro player (who is left footed) checks inside to open up his foot as if shooting across goal. Baz is then partially unsighted as he goes to shoot due to bednarek coming across. just before the boro player hits it, bazunu takes a step to his right (the left side when facing the goal) and transfers his weight - which was fatal as he then can't recover. (I assume he was anticipating the shot across goal and expecting bednarek to close out the shot to the right hand side... The shot is then rifled under Bendarek's foot down to baz's left / into the low right hand side of the goal and you can see that he doesn't react until its past bendarek (and once his weight is transferred onto the wrong foot) - It was a pretty good/fast hit and he can't recover. If the boro player had put it in the far corner he would equally not have got to it without changing his positon - so he's gambled on the defence being able to cover that near post and the striker just gets it through low and hard. It happens imo. Or said another way, if he gets free sight of the shot he wouldn't react late and would know exactly where it was going to go, but similarly the player would have had a free shot on goal.

Also, its not just Bazunu who has taken the step to his right. THB is leaning exactly the same until its hit.

Edited 26 September, 2023 by Saint86

[Lord Duckhunter]

I can’t recall in nearly 50 years of watching saints a keeper that has so many excuses made for him. He’s either the unluckiest keeper to ever play the game, or he’s pony. 
 

I’m not expecting him to save all the goals he’s let in, but fuck me, he should be saving some of them. A decent keeper would have. 

[Saint86]

37 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I can’t recall in nearly 50 years of watching saints a keeper that has so many excuses made for him. He’s either the unluckiest keeper to ever play the game, or he’s pony. 

I’m not expecting him to save all the goals he’s let in, but fuck me, he should be saving some of them. A decent keeper would have. 

Well he isn't "pony". So given the choices you've offered, i guess that makes him "the unluckiest keeper to ever play the game"...

On reflection, he does have the misfortune to have signed a long contract that obliges him to play in a Russell martin defence where the defenders pass the ball to the opposition, without warning, multiple times per match... and often with a free run at goal... So maybe there is something in that.

[sydney_saint]

1 hour ago, Saint86 said:

I don't think Boro's 1st is the criminal offence some are making out. The boro player (who is left footed) checks inside to open up his foot as if shooting across goal. Baz is then partially unsighted as he goes to shoot due to bednarek coming across. just before the boro player hits it, bazunu takes a step to his right (the left side when facing the goal) and transfers his weight - which was fatal as he then can't recover. (I assume he was anticipating the shot across goal and expecting bednarek to close out the shot to the right hand side... The shot is then rifled under Bendarek's foot down to baz's left / into the low right hand side of the goal and you can see that he doesn't react until its past bendarek (and once his weight is transferred onto the wrong foot) - It was a pretty good/fast hit and he can't recover. If the boro player had put it in the far corner he would equally not have got to it without changing his positon - so he's gambled on the defence being able to cover that near post and the striker just gets it through low and hard. It happens imo. Or said another way, if he gets free sight of the shot he wouldn't react late and would know exactly where it was going to go, but similarly the player would have had a free shot on goal.

Also, its not just Bazunu who has taken the step to his right. THB is leaning exactly the same until its hit.

Aren't goalkeepers initially often unsighted? At least for most shots from outside the box, as there is usually at least one defender rushing out to get a block in. I reckon if you freeze alot of shot from outside the box, more often then not there will be someone in the way. That's why reflexes, positioning etc are so important, so that they can react better and late. I'm no goalkeeping expert though. But I do know we let in alot of goals from long range shots. I don't think i can ever remember a goalkeeper where we have been this desperate to find excuses for. I wonder how many Championship sides would be happy to trade keepers. (note I do think he has been a bit better last couple of games. But he's comfortably below a number of keepers in this league still)

Edited 26 September, 2023 by sydney_saint

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 hours ago, Saint86 said:

 

On reflection, he does have the misfortune to have signed a long contract 

There’s only one misfortunate party in that deal, and it’s not him. Surprised he didn’t drop the fucking pen when he signed, he’s not kept hold of much since. With his positioning he probably sat in the wrong chair at the signing. 

Edited 26 September, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[revolution saint]

12 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

There’s only one misfortunate party in that deal, and it’s not him. Surprised he didn’t drop the fucking pen when he signed, he’s not kept hold of much since. With his positioning he probably sat in the wrong chair at the signing. 

I thought you liked Baz?

[saint lard]

I’ll be honest.  his distribution in the last couple of games has been exceptional. 
Unfortunately he is  usually shit at stopping goals. 

[Lighthouse]

Did absolutely nothing wrong today and his distribution was excellent. 

[notnowcato]

His distribution is as good as any keeper. 

[Turkish]

7 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Did absolutely nothing wrong today and his distribution was excellent. 

Agreed thought he was good today. Didn’t have a lot to do but what he did he did well, like you say his distribution and sweeping behind then back 4 was impressive 

[HarvSFC]

Made a smart stop at 1-0 when one of the Leeds players cut in from the left and hit an effort from range too. Parried it away from safety as well. Also dealt with a lot of their corners that were close to him. I know they scored from a corner, but it was well away from him when it went into the box. Good, solid game. 

[Tamesaint]

1 hour ago, HarvSFC said:

Made a smart stop at 1-0 when one of the Leeds players cut in from the left and hit an effort from range too. Parried it away from safety as well. Also dealt with a lot of their corners that were close to him. I know they scored from a corner, but it was well away from him when it went into the box. Good, solid game. 

Plus his save at the end at the near post. The Northam singing his name should also help his confidence. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Just to agree with much of the above. Impressed not only with the accuracy of the distribution, but with the weight of the delivery. I've seen many a 'keeper get it too the player, but with a pace that they struggle to control, by which time the advantage of getting the ball out to them has been lsot. Baz gets it to the player in a way they can actually do something with it. Nice to see.

Less out from the back again yesterday too. The full backs didn't post missing and we had a lot more effort in covering each other. All of which will hopefully offer him more protection. Nothing he could do for the goal. I'd have been looking at any of the crowd in front of him first anyway.

[Roo1976]

On 30/09/2023 at 14:47, Lighthouse said:

Did absolutely nothing wrong today and his distribution was excellent. 

not in the 2nd half it wasnt ,a few under hit passes to float the ball to KWP had us in difficulties, and at the time we could have given a needless goal away. Well thats how my brother and I saw it.

[Dman]

On 30/09/2023 at 22:31, HarvSFC said:

Made a smart stop at 1-0 when one of the Leeds players cut in from the left and hit an effort from range too. Parried it away from safety as well. Also dealt with a lot of their corners that were close to him. I know they scored from a corner, but it was well away from him when it went into the box. Good, solid game. 

I said the same at the time. In games gone by he was parrying them straight into the middle of the goal. 

I'm not a huge fan of Baz, but he's been far from our worst player this season - solid enough at this level imo. 

[Turkish]

42 minutes ago, Dman said:

I said the same at the time. In games gone by he was parrying them straight into the middle of the goal. 

I'm not a huge fan of Baz, but he's been far from our worst player this season - solid enough at this level imo. 

im far from convinced. He did well saturday but didn't have a lot to do, that save was fairly routine, although he did the right thing with it though. He seems to have paper wrists, the amount of times he get a hand to a shot and it still goes in is a real concern. He's more likely to cost us points than win us them at the moment but he is YHGTI so hopefully a season or more likely two in the championship will do him good. 

[Charlie Wayman]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

He did well saturday but didn't have a lot to do

Faint praise indeed.

Straight from the "we only beat poor teams" book of quotes!

[Turkish]

42 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Faint praise indeed.

Straight from the "we only beat poor teams" book of quotes!

Well he didn't did he. We defended well, i only really remember him having one shot to save, which i said he did well although definitely one he should be saving. He did well from crosses and corners and distribution was good. He didn't have a lot to do but he did what he had to do well, i'd say that's a fair summary. 

[Lighthouse]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Well he didn't did he. We defended well, i only really remember him having one shot to save, which i said he did well although definitely one he should be saving. He did well from crosses and corners and distribution was good. He didn't have a lot to do but he did what he had to do well, i'd say that's a fair summary. 

For months I’ve been reading about how a proper keeper screams at his defenders, gets them organised and the fact that they’ve been so awful is partly his fault. You can’t have it both ways, if he’s had a quiet game with not much to do, he must have done an exceptional job of screaming at his defenders and organising them.

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

For months I’ve been reading about how a proper keeper screams at his defenders, gets them organised and the fact that they’ve been so awful is partly his fault. You can’t have it both ways, if he’s had a quiet game with not much to do, he must have done an exceptional job of screaming at his defenders and organising them.

What are you blathering on about now? I said he did what he had to do well. Maybe we defended better because we set up better, not charging forward like school kids leaving wide open spaces all over the pitch. 

[saintant]

Baz was decent again tonight apart from one scare when he dashed out to clear and kicked it against a Stoke player. Dealt with everything that came his way and distribution was excellent. Not keen on a few of his floaty passes to Manning who isn't great when he has to hurry.

[notnowcato]

He’s had games where he’s performed better than tonight but conceded goals. 
 

Considering what he’s been through since joining us I’m really impressed with the way he handles himself. If he can take his shot stopping up a level or 2 we have a top, top keeper. 

[St. Ciervo]

The man gets a clean sheet and this thread goes nearly silent... 🙄

[John B]

On 15/09/2023 at 22:48, Daft Kerplunk said:

Anyone blaming Bazunu tonight wasn’t watching the absolute weak melts playing in front of them today. Piss poor by many, senior pros hiding. Not many positives at all. But Bazunu not to blame at all.

There was one great positive we fucking won 

[AlexLaw76]

6 hours ago, notnowcato said:

He’s had games where he’s performed better than tonight but conceded goals. 
 

Considering what he’s been through since joining us I’m really impressed with the way he handles himself. If he can take his shot stopping up a level or 2 we have a top, top keeper. 

which games?

[Daft Kerplunk]

3 hours ago, John B said:

There was one great positive we fucking won 

Indeed we did, but when I wrote this post on 15th September, we hadn’t 🤩

[notnowcato]

37 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

which games?

He had more to do in the Lids game for starters. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I thought he had a really good game. Great distribution and good saves towards the end to keep us in it.

[John B]

51 minutes ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

Indeed we did, but when I wrote this post on 15th September, we hadn’t 🤩

Thats footbasll sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

 

If you cannot accept that and expect perfect results most weeks I think you should think of doing something other than following the Saints

 

Currently they are a work in progress as a team and have collected enough po[nts to be still in the prpmotion race after 20% of the season which is reasonable with the squad we have at the moment and with proper investment at the end of the year could be in the PL next season

 

 

[Saint Garrett]

He's getting better and better, which I think most of us expected to happen this season. His confidence is growing which is absolutely massive for him and this side in general. His distribution is fantastic, and completely key to how we want to be able to play.

I still have concerns about his shot stopping, but he will grow in that area too. He's still so young, a lot of keepers aren't playing regular football until they're 25/26 and their prime is seen to be around 30. He's 21.

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

He's getting better and better, which I think most of us expected to happen this season. His confidence is growing which is absolutely massive for him and this side in general. His distribution is fantastic, and completely key to how we want to be able to play.

I still have concerns about his shot stopping, but he will grow in that area too. He's still so young, a lot of keepers aren't playing regular football until they're 25/26 and their prime is seen to be around 30. He's 21.

I look forward to having faith in our keeper in 4 or 5 years time.

[Lighthouse]

24 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I look forward to having faith in our keeper in 4 or 5 years time.

How’s that save percentage, that you’re updating after every game?

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

He's getting better and better, which I think most of us expected to happen this season. His confidence is growing which is absolutely massive for him and this side in general. His distribution is fantastic, and completely key to how we want to be able to play.

I still have concerns about his shot stopping, but he will grow in that area too. He's still so young, a lot of keepers aren't playing regular football until they're 25/26 and their prime is seen to be around 30. He's 21.

Last two games he's not really been tested regarding shot stopping, the saves he's made have been ones you'd expect, couldn't do anything about the Leeds goal. But what he's had to do he's done well which is all you can ask. I still have concerns about his paper wrists, we've conceded a lot of goals this season where he's got a hand to it but not been strong enough to keep it out, which is a problem. But overall he seems to be improving. 

[Saint_clark]

11 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

How’s that save percentage, that you’re updating after every game?

Got depressed after the Sunderland game and stopped doing it. However since you're so interested; 

He's now conceded 42.6% of shots on target.

20 out of 47.

Save rate of 57.4% - second worst in the league, only better than Middlesbrough.

Interestingly his distribution which is lauded as making him stand out in this league doesn't really reflect that - he's 7th in the pass completion list for keepers, behind Leicester, Middlesbrough, Watford, Norwich and Hulls keepers. 

He tops only two categories so far - amount of goals conceded, and amount of goals conceded above the amount of XG which predicts we have conceded 4.7 goals more than we should have so far. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Saint_clark said:

Got depressed after the Sunderland game and stopped doing it. However since you're so interested; 

He's now conceded 42.6% of shots on target.

20 out of 47.

Save rate of 57.4% - second worst in the league, only better than Middlesbrough.

Interestingly his distribution which is lauded as making him stand out in this league doesn't really reflect that - he's 7th in the pass completion list for keepers, behind Leicester, Middlesbrough, Watford, Norwich and Hulls keepers. 

He tops only two categories so far - amount of goals conceded, and amount of goals conceded above the amount of XG which predicts we have conceded 4.7 goals more than we should have so far. 

His save rate stat flashed up on the telly during the match last night. Interestingly it's still pretty shit then. As i said above he's not really had a lot to do the last couple of games in terms of shot stopping. 

Edited 4 October, 2023 by Turkish

[danjosaint]

Without bashing him, yes he's getting better, and pretty good with his kicking but it still isn't great he put out of play so many last night plus his miskick that could have cost us at the start, he also had really poor judgement and poor wrists when he tried to punch out a couple of corners , he looked shaky as shit, as someone said not overly tested last 2 games he just make a couple of decent routine saves 

Edited 4 October, 2023 by danjosaint

[Daft Kerplunk]

4 hours ago, John B said:

Thats footbasll sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

 

If you cannot accept that and expect perfect results most weeks I think you should think of doing something other than following the Saints

 

Currently they are a work in progress as a team and have collected enough po[nts to be still in the prpmotion race after 20% of the season which is reasonable with the squad we have at the moment and with proper investment at the end of the year could be in the PL next season

 

 

Cool, thanks for the advice 😎

[notnowcato]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

Interestingly his distribution which is lauded as making him stand out in this league doesn't really reflect that - he's 7th in the pass completion list for keepers, behind Leicester, Middlesbrough, Watford, Norwich and Hulls keepers. 

 

Does the pass complete stat take into account length of pass?  Is there an expected pass complete stat for goalkeepers?  (Sorry Whitey 😉 )