Gavin Bazunu

Block301 wrote: Godzilla wrote: Ultimately, one passed the ball more accurately than the other. A Rafa Benítez fact. Both keepers were more than happy to boot it long. They both were poor at it. Bazunu still passed the ball more accurately overall with a higher volume of passes too. Bazunu had "a higher volume of passes" because the ball came to him more often.   Do you think that's a reflection on his ability as a keeper? Do you think if, say, Belgium closed down the short pass outlet better than Switzerland (forcing Kelleher to go long more often) that that reflects on the keeper too? Your bottom line that Kelleher isn't necessarily being better on the ball than Bazunu is fine.   But that's no excuse to mis-use stats.

Godzilla wrote: kevin100 wrote: Distribution isn’t one of Bazunus issues. ball playing goal keepers will make those dodgy passes every now and then when they try and pass out. Kelleher did something similar the other night although not quite as bad. Lots of talk about Kelleher needing to get out of Liverpool but Bazunu really needs to try and kick on from Southampton in the summer if they don’t go up. A season down the Championship has been good for him to regain some confidence as last year really hurt his confidence. You’d like to see him get into a top level League this summer.  If Southampton's GK coaches aren't going to address his positioning in terms facing of long distance shots, he should hire his own personal one to work on it. It's his main weakness. Lots of footballers work with personal trainers and specialists outside of club training now. I know a lot of Irish players work with Training121 coaches in Dublin. They put videos up on TikTok.

Didn't do Jeff Hendrick much good.

yeah the 2nd he conceded today was poor. should be behind Kelleher in the pecking order now. On the face of it another rough season for Bazunu. Hopefully it'll stand to him in time.

84ccfc84 wrote: yeah the 2nd he conceded today was poor. should be behind Kelleher in the pecking order now. On the face of it another rough season for Bazunu. Hopefully it'll stand to him in time.

https://x.com/TheStatsSaint/status/1774902967428124718?s=20

rebelbrowser wrote: 84ccfc84 wrote: https://x.com/TheStatsSaint/status/1774902967428124718?s=20 That's not great. Think he had bad stats last season too. I don't understand those metrics tbh and would prefer to judge a player on what my eyes see. He certainly looks a far better keeper to me than those stats - but in the data obsessed world these guys now operate in, Gavin needs to improve his stats or his career will go nowhere.

I think people are being overly critical on Bazunu yesterday.  First

2-3 years ago, there was a feeling we had an absolute worldie of a goalkeeper on our hands. Like many young players, time has also brought a reality check. He's very good goalkeeper, but I don't see him reaching the the consistent high standards of peak Shay Given. 

Banjaxed wrote: 2-3 years ago, there was a feeling we had an absolute worldie of a goalkeeper on our hands. Like many young players, time has also brought a reality check. He's very good goalkeeper, but I don't see him reaching the the consistent high standards of peak Shay Given.

Given was yesterday's Bazunu. There was similar outrage and haughtiness on display whenever anyone dared criticise him or fault him for anything back in the day. This is back when City got the money to upgrade on him with Joe Hart and went from strength to strength. Given was a solid PL goalkeeper which, at his current rate of progress, Bazunu would be doing very well to match. There's a few similarities in there - Given didn't command his area, delegated to his defense, covered up his inadequacies with a tendency to the Hollywood save for the cameras. There's no way Southampton will win the playoffs but they'll be looking to replace him either way, I suspect. The competition might be good for him because he hasn't had an adequate option pushing him from the bench this season, which is why he's kept his place in the team. Oppo teams are clearly cottoning on and beginning to target him with shots from range like France did a year ago.