Gavin Bazunu

[skintsaint]

8 minutes ago, Badger said:

Is that Neville Southall ? 

Played against him when he managed Dover, used to play in a local league in centre midfield for a little while till they got rid of him. Nutmegged him as well which was a buzz. He couldn't run but the ball stuck to him if it managed to find him.

[coalman]

16 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

We need experience this season rather than YTS, an agile athlete at the top of his game: 

That is a majestic piece of athleticism. Positively balletic.

[Miltonaggro]

9 minutes ago, coalman said:

That is a majestic piece of athleticism. Positively balletic.

Swan Lake meets Fantasia meets Longleat.

[coalman]

3 minutes ago, Miltonaggro said:

Swan Lake meets Fantasia meets Longleat.

... meets Ginsters

[Ribtickler]

I rate this lad, has the minerals to be a top top keeper.  

That's all i will say on the matter

[skintsaint]

7 minutes ago, Ribtickler said:

I rate this lad, has the minerals to be a top top keeper.  

That's all i will say on the matter

Welcome to the forum Gavin.

[SNSUN]

1 hour ago, Ribtickler said:

I rate this lad, has the minerals to be a top top keeper.  

That's all i will say on the matter

I noticed how porous he was last season!

 

Honestly though I was a big knocker of his last season and I do think a better keeper would have saved us some points, but had we stayed up I would have said we should loan him to the Championship for experience. Well now we're in the Championship so... sod it, he should play. At least until such time as he starts costing us points again.

[the saint in winchester]

23 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

We need experience this season rather than YTS, an agile athlete at the top of his game: 

They do say to keepers "Make yourself wide, try to fill the goal"

[Saint_clark]

3 hours ago, SNSUN said:

I noticed how porous he was last season!

 

Honestly though I was a big knocker of his last season and I do think a better keeper would have saved us some points, but had we stayed up I would have said we should loan him to the Championship for experience. Well now we're in the Championship so... sod it, he should play. At least until such time as he starts costing us points again.

That's alright then, the transfer window will still be open after the first game.

[die Mannyschaft]

On 05/07/2023 at 17:09, Miltonaggro said:

We need experience this season rather than YTS, an agile athlete at the top of his game: 

This is the Saints team. Av it.

[hypochondriac]

I think it's worth documenting on here how he does this year as he's seemingly first choice. Made a really basic error at his near post today in preseason to allow Goztepe to score. I think my concern about his performance is going to rise after that one. 

[saintant]

4 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think it's worth documenting on here how he does this year as he's seemingly first choice. Made a really basic error at his near post today in preseason to allow Goztepe to score. I think my concern about his performance is going to rise after that one. 

If we are serious about promotion we will need a new keeper.

[Galway saint]

43 minutes ago, saintant said:

If we are serious about promotion we will need a new keeper.

He was crap last year. It’s obvious he’s not up to it and never has been since he joined. Not much point spending loads of money on new players if your keeper is shit, yet still we persist with him. God knows why as we seem happy confine other shit signings to the transfer bin but we persist with him in the hope he might come good. His positioning is poor, he doesn’t command his box and he doesn’t prevent goals. He’s a nothing keeper and we can and should be looking for a significant upgrade 

[Wade Garrett]

13 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think it's worth documenting on here how he does this year as he's seemingly first choice. Made a really basic error at his near post today in preseason to allow Goztepe to score. I think my concern about his performance is going to rise after that one. 

Just seen it.  He has no business being Saints goalkeeper.

Mara and Adams looked shite as well.  Mara just looks like he can’t be bothered.

[hypochondriac]

4 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Just seen it.  He has no business being Saints goalkeeper.

Mara and Adams looked shite as well.  Mara just looks like he can’t be bothered.

Mara, Armstrong, Adams and Bazunu are all part of last year's failure and if every one of them left tomorrow it would make no negative difference to the club. You could add Salisu to that as well. 

[coalman]

14 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Mara, Armstrong, Adams and Bazunu are all part of last year's failure and if every one of them left tomorrow it would make no negative difference to the club. You could add Salisu to that as well. 

I think that both Mara and Bazunu could have a future. Less so for Armstrong and Adams. We let in lots (way too many) of goals last season but Bazunu is only part of the reason for that. Our collective inability to track runners into the box or defend from crosses played a large part in that. He got almost no protection from his midfield and defence last year. That being said there needs to be a big improvement in both shot stopping and commanding his area from crosses.

It looks like he's bulked up a bit since last season. I still really want the kid to succeed here. Yesterday's goal was a shocker but these things happen and at least it happened in pre-season. 

[Doctoroncall]

28 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Mara, Armstrong, Adams and Bazunu are all part of last year's failure and if every one of them left tomorrow it would make no negative difference to the club. You could add Salisu to that as well. 

Do you think Mara will develop further here under this new regime or has it got to the point he wants out or not bothered to try?  He’s obviously talented but does he have the fortitude to progress?

It would be best to see a new no1 come in and McCarthy go. If Baz thinks he’s no1 then he needs a challenge to get there. 

[hypochondriac]

24 minutes ago, coalman said:

I think that both Mara and Bazunu could have a future. Less so for Armstrong and Adams. We let in lots (way too many) of goals last season but Bazunu is only part of the reason for that. Our collective inability to track runners into the box or defend from crosses played a large part in that. He got almost no protection from his midfield and defence last year. That being said there needs to be a big improvement in both shot stopping and commanding his area from crosses.

It looks like he's bulked up a bit since last season. I still really want the kid to succeed here. Yesterday's goal was a shocker but these things happen and at least it happened in pre-season. 

With the availability of keepers I just don't see why we'd go through the bother and hard graft of developing a keeper who might be able to be decent eventually. We'd have been better off spending a few more million and buying one much closer to the finished article. It's not like keepers cost the earth and there were plenty of options (there probably still are.)

[coalman]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

With the availability of keepers I just don't see why we'd go through the bother and hard graft of developing a keeper who might be able to be decent eventually. We'd have been better off spending a few more million and buying one much closer to the finished article. It's not like keepers cost the earth and there were plenty of options (there probably still are.)

Fair point.

[hypochondriac]

10 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

Do you think Mara will develop further here under this new regime or has it got to the point he wants out or not bothered to try?  He’s obviously talented but does he have the fortitude to progress?

It would be best to see a new no1 come in and McCarthy go. If Baz thinks he’s no1 then he needs a challenge to get there. 

I can see both sides of the argument but personally I'd bring in a new striker and probably put Tella in the team before Mara. I don't think he imposes himself on games enough and that's only going to get worse in a physical league like the championship. 

[Gloucester Saint]

16 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

I can see both sides of the argument but personally I'd bring in a new striker and probably put Tella in the team before Mara. I don't think he imposes himself on games enough and that's only going to get worse in a physical league like the championship. 

Agree with you on both Bazanu and Mara. Re Bazanu, his confidence looks screwed. There’s potential there but a loan out to L1 or L2 to a side pushing for promotion would enable him to regroup a bit with a more sensible workload and come back with more experience under his belt. 

Re Mara, same solution but different outcome. Hopefully a loan overseas to a Ligue 1 side where he’ll get games, hopefully a Tella effect and go on to recoup some of the crazy fee paid to Bordeaux off the back of that to build demand. Che needs to move on for everyone’s sakes including his own. Hopefully the rumours about several bottom half PL sides wanting him are true, recoup £12m or so and he will probably do a good job for them. Between the two of them that’s fee and wages on Piroe paid for (unless Everton go for him rather than Che, but I think Che is a Sean Dyche player).

Edited 16 July, 2023 by Gloucester Saint

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, hypochondriac said:

Mara, Armstrong, Adams and Bazunu are all part of last year's failure and if every one of them left tomorrow it would make no negative difference to the club. You could add Salisu to that as well. 

100% right.

[Wade Garrett]

20 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Agree with you on both Bazanu and Mara. Re Bazanu, his confidence looks screwed. There’s potential there but a loan out to L1 or L2 to a side pushing for promotion would enable him to regroup a bit with a more sensible workload and come back with more experience under his belt. 

Re Mara, same solution but different outcome. Hopefully a loan overseas to a Ligue 1 side where he’ll get games, hopefully a Tella effect and go on to recoup some of the crazy fee paid to Bordeaux off the back of that to build demand. Che needs to move on for everyone’s sakes including his own. Hopefully the rumours about several bottom half PL sides wanting him are true, recoup £12m or so and he will probably do a good job for them. Between the two of them that’s fee and wages on Piroe paid for (unless Everton go for him rather than Che, but I think Che is a Sean Dyche player).

Confidence has nothing to do with shot-stopping.  Bazunu is shite.

[AlexLaw76]

Mara is crap and be amazed if he does remotely well in the championship.

He is living off a pass against Leeds and a goal in the Cup

That is it

[Mr Brightside]

30 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Mara is crap and be amazed if he does remotely well in the championship.

He is living off a pass against Leeds and a goal in the Cup

That is it

It’s hard to argue with your points or make much of a case for him based on what we’ve seen so far. But, and I’m not sure why, I still think there’s a player in there somewhere who could do well in the Championship. Yes he’s had his chances, but think he, and others like Sulemana, would benefit from a proper run in the team. If he still flatters to deceive then get rid, but maybe showing some belief in him will help his confidence and get him more involved in games. Not sure that will happen though. 
 

Back to the topic of Baz, he has had a good run in the team and it’s hard to make a case for him to be our first choice going into this season. Would like to see us bring in a more experienced keeper who will have more confidence and dominate the box. Can help Baz too, as sure in time he’ll be decent, just wasn’t ready to be thrown in at the deep end. 

[St. Ciervo]

7 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Confidence has nothing to do with shot-stopping.  Bazunu is shite.

Goal keeping is mostly mental. Without confidence, you do stupid things like predict instead of react. It looks similar to that goal vs. Goztepe where he predicted a shot to the far post and basically jumped out of the way of the ball. We all agree...that was a train wreck. 

[FarehamSaintJames]

I reckon you could name maybe three players that you’d want to keep, but I’d struggle to name five.

That’s how woeful our squad is.

Bazunu doesn’t fill me with confidence, but then again none of the team did last season. Midfield was non-existent which leaves the defence exposed. If that is improved and we develop a consistent form of formation and game play I’ll be a bit happier.

But you could replace 90% of our squad and it wouldn’t be a great loss.

[Saint_clark]

We won't get promoted with him in goal, barring a freak season like we had with Forster under Poch where our defence allows the lowest amount of shots on target.

[Bad Wolf]

8 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Mara is crap and be amazed if he does remotely well in the championship.

He is living off a pass against Leeds and a goal in the Cup

That is it

I agree but I thought he was one of our better players yesterday!

[Badger]

What was Bazunu doing for their goal yesterday?? 

[Galway saint]

22 minutes ago, Badger said:

What was Bazunu doing for their goal yesterday?? 

Looks like he thought he would cross it and forgot to cover his near post.  Sort of thing you’d get hammered for in sunday league. It’s a typical bazanu goal to concede from a nothing shot. He’s a real penchant for conceding weird goals because his positioning and decision making are shit so he manages to contrive to concede from innocuous shots or headers. I fear he will be our number 1 next season which I would find incredible given how poor he is and makes promotion very tough. Surely anyone with an ounce of footballing intelligence can see that he’s not up to it

[saintscottofthenortham]

I've only just seen that goal from yesterday...

Strewth.

His positioning has been consistently bad, but that was taking things to an entirely new level. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

At first, I really didn't think there was an awful lot he could have done for some of the goals. But I didn't appreciate that his positioning was off to the extent it was, until it was pointed out. With diagrams, as I recall. 🙂 Once I'd seen that a few times, you could see the same things happening over and over.

SR used the same approach to that position as they tried to with others. I guess if you get a Lavia or a Tino type of return then great. Both of those would get injured and/or need rested, so McCarthy and Willy could step in. But we didn't get a goalkeeper at that level. Considering how rare it is to get a player there, at that level, at his age, that's not a massive surprise. I know McCarthy was injured, but when fit, as the season went on, was easily able to be better. Willy would have been too. But possibly due to trying to get McCarthy out the door to reduce the wage bill, or sheer bloody mindedness, they kept him in there far too long.

Where SR also got caught out with their approach, was the number of ready made, experienced and capable goalkeepers that became availalbe during that window (as hypochondriac mentioned). But with Bazunu on his way in, and likely guaranteed a good run in the first team, SR had made their call. Like so many of them, it turned out to be the wrong one.

I think they are going to stick with him again. He made a cracking save, but also that error in pre-season so far. If he is first choice, I hope that Martin has more sense than to stick with him, if it's more of the same. The window is gently closed, so as not to wake the neighbours, after a few games, so that should give SR plenty of time to either go with McCarthy, or get someone much like the options availalbe last summer in.

Edited 16 July, 2023 by Holmes_and_Watson
Typos

[Saint_clark]

24 minutes ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

I've only just seen that goal from yesterday...

Strewth.

His positioning has been consistently bad, but that was taking things to an entirely new level. 

Another incident earlier in the highlights where the ball is going down the left and he is in front of his near post (as in, not between the posts) and the ball is squared to be tapped into an empty net. Not sure how they didn't score but he wouldn't have been able to save it even if they'd put the ball in the middle of the goal.

[Galway saint]

A good example of his shit positioning is the header conceded away to West Ham. On first glance you think there was nothing he could have done despite the header being so far out but on further analysis he got himself in the wrong position again so leaves himself too much to do. If he was bigger then he’s more chance of recovering and its also perhaps inexperience but he needs shifting and someone else bringing in

[AlexLaw76]

Who will have a better season. Bazunu or Gunn?

[Weston Super Saint]

9 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Who will have a better season. Bazunu or Gunn?

Lis  

[pimpin4rizeal]

12 hours ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

I've only just seen that goal from yesterday...

Strewth.

His positioning has been consistently bad, but that was taking things to an entirely new level. 

Yeah.. still see many here claiming he’s  gonna be great this season or will definitely come good. Based on what exactly ? Hologram man has hardly put in any good performances all season looks even worse then Gunn so far ..why can’t we just buy a normal experienced keeper they are not expensive  anyway ?

[Weston Super Saint]

1 minute ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

Yeah.. still see many here claiming he’s  gonna be great this season or will definitely come good. Based on what exactly ? Hologram man has hardly put in any good performances all season looks even worse then Gunn so far ..why can’t we just buy a normal experienced keeper they are not expensive  anyway ?

He made a really good save last week and that should be cause for celebration, apparently.

[disconnect]

12 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

At first, I really didn't think there was an awful lot he could have done for some of the goals. But I didn't appreciate that his positioning was off to the extent it was, until it was pointed out. With diagrams, as I recall. 🙂 Once I'd seen that a few times, you could see the same things happening over and over.

SR used the same approach to that position as they tried to with others. I guess if you get a Lavia or a Tino type of return then great. Both of those would get injured and/or need rested, so McCarthy and Willy could step in. But we didn't get a goalkeeper at that level. Considering how rare it is to get a player there, at that level, at his age, that's not a massive surprise. I know McCarthy was injured, but when fit, as the season went on, was easily able to be better. Willy would have been too. But possibly due to trying to get McCarthy out the door to reduce the wage bill, or sheer bloody mindedness, they kept him in there far too long.

Where SR also got caught out with their approach, was the number of ready made, experienced and capable goalkeepers that became availalbe during that window (as hypochondriac mentioned). But with Bazunu on his way in, and likely guaranteed a good run in the first team, SR had made their call. Like so many of them, it turned out to be the wrong one.

I think they are going to stick with him again. He made a cracking save, but also that error in pre-season so far. If he is first choice, I hope that Martin has more sense than to stick with him, if it's more of the same. The window is gently closed, so as not to wake the neighbours, after a few games, so that should give SR plenty of time to either go with McCarthy, or get someone much like the options availalbe last summer in.

Personally thought McCarthy was no better than Bazunu when he came in, and if we're playing the ball out from the back with McCarthy in goal, we're going to concede a lot of comedy goals this season...!

Edited 17 July, 2023 by disconnect
typo

[Turkish]

23 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

With the availability of keepers I just don't see why we'd go through the bother and hard graft of developing a keeper who might be able to be decent eventually. We'd have been better off spending a few more million and buying one much closer to the finished article. It's not like keepers cost the earth and there were plenty of options (there probably still are.)

It's mad to do it in such a critical position. Even a competent keeper last season would have got us a few more points and at least kept us in the running rather than cut adrift at the bottom. In my view you cant dick about with the positions of goalkeepers and centre backs. These are the foundations of the team you could maybe get away with one YHGTI centre backs with a decent, experienced one alongside them but not two and then a keeper who had never played above league one level before.  You dont even need to spend more, Leno cost just over half what we paid for Bazunu, SAm Johnstone was on a free, Hendersen on loan, all would have been than Bazunu last season.

[Saint_clark]

3 hours ago, Turkish said:

It's mad to do it in such a critical position. Even a competent keeper last season would have got us a few more points and at least kept us in the running rather than cut adrift at the bottom. In my view you cant dick about with the positions of goalkeepers and centre backs. These are the foundations of the team you could maybe get away with one YHGTI centre backs with a decent, experienced one alongside them but not two and then a keeper who had never played above league one level before.  You dont even need to spend more, Leno cost just over half what we paid for Bazunu, SAm Johnstone was on a free, Hendersen on loan, all would have been than Bazunu last season.

And Navas went to forest in January when we should have really looked at upgrading him once we realised how he was struggling.

[suewhistle]

18 hours ago, saintscottofthenortham said:

I've only just seen that goal from yesterday...

Strewth.

His positioning has been consistently bad, but that was taking things to an entirely new level. 

 

I've been a stand-in keeper at low grassroots level and although I've been beaten at my near post that positioning and goal was embarassing.

[bpsaint]

We probably have the worst pair of keepers in the Championship as it stands, that much I’m sure of.

That, along with our awful forward options as it currently stands, is why we will be nowhere near promotion. Here’s hoping something changes massively on that front.

[Lighthouse]

3 hours ago, bpsaint said:

We probably have the worst pair of keepers in the Championship as it stands, that much I’m sure of.

That, along with our awful forward options as it currently stands, is why we will be nowhere near promotion. Here’s hoping something changes massively on that front.

Ridiculous hyperbole, you honestly think we’d have done better last season with Ryan Alsop and Lee Nichols to choose from? Remember, Kelvin Davis was an excellent Championship keeper but hopeless in the PL, I don’t see any reason why Baz and McC would be a liability at this level.

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Ridiculous hyperbole, you honestly think we’d have done better last season with Ryan Alsop and Lee Nichols to choose from? Remember, Kelvin Davis was an excellent Championship keeper but hopeless in the PL, I don’t see any reason why Baz and McC would be a liability at this level.

It doesn't matter what division you keep goal in if you're as badly out of position as Baz often is. Take his fault for the goal at the weekend. What makes you think that kind of keeping will be adequate this season? 

[stknowle]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

It doesn't matter what division you keep goal in if you're as badly out of position as Baz often is. Take his fault for the goal at the weekend. What makes you think that kind of keeping will be adequate this season? 

No no, the strikers in the championship take longer to get set for a shot thereby enabling Bazza to correct his bad positioning before the shot comes in. And that.

[Miltonaggro]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

It doesn't matter what division you keep goal in if you're as badly out of position as Baz often is. Take his fault for the goal at the weekend. What makes you think that kind of keeping will be adequate this season? 

Same issue in terms of physical strength, a serious area of weakness for Bazunu. Not the kid’s fault but this won’t improve significantly in the next couple of weeks. Still hoping they sign a solid experienced keeper to compete. 

[AlexLaw76]

He is terrible.  We will probably wish we had Angus Gunn back at some point this season

[Lighthouse]

4 minutes ago, egg said:

It doesn't matter what division you keep goal in if you're as badly out of position as Baz often is. Take his fault for the goal at the weekend. What makes you think that kind of keeping will be adequate this season? 

Because he’s up again much worse opposition. If you’d watched Kelvin in 2012/13 you’d have said he was hopeless, at fault for a lot of goals, terrible kicking, flapping at crosses and regularly beaten at his near post. What makes you think that kind of keeping would be adequate in the Championship?