Lighthouse

Norwich fans will wish they'd gone to the owl sanctuary instead.

He does no such thing, the Plymouth goal was the first goal of the season you can actually call a 'howler'. He's conceded about half a dosen he could have done better with, the same as any other keeper at this level and most in the league above.

The face you make when you realise you’re sat three meters from the emperor of the mind control lizard people.

Napalm.

That would depend entirely on whether they were really seeing the big picture of how we play or just want to clap like seals for Hollywood saves. I think some people would prefer to have a keeper who faced eight shots on target last night and threw himself heroically in front of six, rather than Baz.

There are clearly people who think Bazunu is not good enough and is a weakness in our team. His distribution is excellent, he’s calm and composed on the ball, he communicates well with the defence, he makes the routine saves comfortably and he makes some excellent saves which go beyond the ordinary from time to time. Tonight’s howler was the first such lapse in concentration he’s made this season, it happens. There have been goals he could have done better with, a handful where he didn’t get down quick enough, predominantly to his left. You say nobody wants a perfect keeper but a fair number of people want him out the team for what is his only real, relatively minor, weakness. He's a large part of the way we play, which at the moment has us conceding less than a goal a game and pretty much the best defence in the league. We aren’t going to get another keeper at this level, who plays this system as well as Baz does.

Thoroughly convincing performance in everything but the final third I thought. We rode our luck a bit with the offside but you make your own luck to an extent and we kept them comfortably at arms length for most of the rest of the match. Bar that and a brain fart at the end when Bazunu was probably thinking about his supper and a mug of coco, we never really looked troubled. I think if THB’s early header goes in, it’s a different game but it didn’t and it’ was a bit more of a slog. We do need a better striker than Adams though, he won’t get three good chances like that against better teams. It was a well taken goal when it did come but his shooting generally… good grief.

Some people seem to think he’s useless, should be nowhere near the team, is the worst keeper in the league or if they are being kind, ‘might be good enough in ten years’. There are more than enough people claiming his mistakes ‘cost us points’ as if that’s somehow unique to him and not every player, in every squad in the country. Kelvin was in the team of the season last time we got promoted. He was frequently beaten low at his near post, had the odd howler in his locker and his distribution was nowhere near as accurate and composed as Baz. The hyperbole is from people claiming he’s some sort of liability, holding this team back, when that’s very clearly not the case. Every player will make mistakes which will cost us points. If they didn’t we’d finish the season on 138 points.

These things happen, it’s not as if it’s a regular occurrence. He has been consistently on excellent with the ball at his feet and his calmness and composure are a large part of why we’ve had the joint best defence in the league over the last three months. Boruc was the best keeper we’ve had since Niemi and he was capable of plenty of howlers. Likewise Forster and Kelvin, let’s not pretend there are any perfect keepers out there who never have moments like this.

That would have been some goal by Smoking Joe.

Just f**k of Adams. Toblerone feet his whole career.

Goal! Not a goal! Goal!

Manning should do a lot of things but there we go.

Great defensive block from Smallbone… in Plymouth’s penalty area.

I think that block was one of Che Adams’ best shots on target.

Looking a bit like Rotherham, first 10 minutes looked like it could be a cricket score but we’ve run out of ideas in the final third.

Nothing will top David Silva against us in 2014.

Couldn't care less if he was on loan from Pompey, play your best team. As it happens Edozie then Fraser seems to be working fine, so I wouldn't change it, but his loan status has no bearing on that.

For all the arguments that it's mainly the defence that's improving, not Baz making saves; hang on, a few months ago it was his fault for not communicating with the defence and shouting loudly enough at the 'son-in-laws' etc. The best saves are the ones you don't have to make and if his calmness, control, communication and distribution are a huge part of that. If Baz never has to face another shot on target for the rest of the season then it'll be largely because of his own excellent goalkeeping.

Emery’s choices. Villa had a squad where Danny Ings was surplus to requirements, we had a squad where Juan Larios was starting games.

10 conceded in the last 16 games (only Leicester are slightly better with 9 in the same period) and only 2 in the last 7. Not bad for the worst keeper in the league.

That’s part of the whole process though. Saying you want to play it around neatly, be calm and composed in possession when defending AND play fast paced, direct attacking incisive football is like saying you want a 6ft, blonde, supermodel wife with size G knockers, who likes beer and fast cars. You’re basically asking for the same perfect football every other fan wants and to get anywhere near that from the absolute garbage we were playing six months ago was always a tall order. I’m not trying to say I always knew it would work out or even that I’ve always believed in RM, just that whatever happened was going to take time.

I’ve got a mate who used to support Ipswich but doesn’t really follow them any more. He’s an ex tractor fan.

I have an erection.

Smeg, Neff, Poggenpohl and Bosch!