Gavin Bazunu

[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 😉 )

[Saint_clark]

27 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

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

No, but there were separate stats for long and short passes when I looked, can't be bothered to look now. 

However, it's kind of irrelevant. You can't make the argument that you're sacrificing shot stopping ability for distribution if the keeper is only good at passing short to his defenders - that's nothing special.

Edited 4 October, 2023 by Saint_clark

[Chez]

46 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

No, but there were separate stats for long and short passes when I looked, can't be bothered to look now. 

However, it's kind of irrelevant. You can't make the argument that you're sacrificing shot stopping ability for distribution if the keeper is only good at passing short to his defenders - that's nothing special.

is there a keeper stat for unpunished/punished errors and/or total fuck ups? 

I missed the Baz `miskick', but I did see Fielding make a total rik when coming to claim the corner that Downes' header looped over the bar. 

[Bad Wolf]

How come when a player is doing poorly, the critism outweighs the praise when they do better?

This seems to be a general sport thing in general.

[Saint_clark]

4 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

How come when a player is doing poorly, the critism outweighs the praise when they do better?

This seems to be a general sport thing in general.

Very badly = lots of criticism

Badly = criticism 

Slightly badly = a little criticism

Average = not much either way

Slightly well = little bit of praise

Well = praise

Very well = gushing praise

 

Bazunu is doing better that's true. He has gone from badly to average on the above scale. He's doing the bare minimum that is expected of him right now, so there isn't much in either direction.

[Bad Wolf]

8 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Very badly = lots of criticism

Badly = criticism 

Slightly badly = a little criticism

Average = not much either way

Slightly well = little bit of praise

Well = praise

Very well = gushing praise

 

Bazunu is doing better that's true. He has gone from badly to average on the above scale. He's doing the bare minimum that is expected of him right now, so there isn't much in either direction.

We really are a hard bunch to please...

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Last night:

Distribution better first half than second.

We're not trying to pass it out from the back quite so much, so he's getting in some longer passes. He's good at it.

Lost full control of the ball. Didn't hesitate to get rid of it, which was the right thing to do, rather than faff about with it, and lose it.

Got in a couple of saves.

Got in at least one good punched clearance.

Picked up a clean sheet bonus.

He did fine.

[spyinthesky]

Baz is doing OK and his distribution is very good as is his speed in/around the penalty area.

I would have liked him to be an inch or two bigger but nothing can be done in this respect.

Most/all 'keepers get better with age and Baz is a nipper in the overall 'keeper equation.

 

[disconnect]

I thought he had a good game last night, as he has most matches I've watched this season. I would say him performing at the bare minimum level expected is very harsh - I havent seen many opposition keepers who I thought looked much better than Bazunu.

[skintsaint]

3 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

I would have liked him to be an inch or two bigger

[VectisSaint]

17 hours ago, saintant said:

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.

To be fair he made 2 or 3 bad clearances/passes (assume the one you refer to was where he sliced his clearance which put us in serious trouble). Still doesn't dominate enough at corners, but generally he was very good. He did only have 2 saves to make though, which was not really testing, still you can only play against what is in front of you.

[Lord Duckhunter]

He’s getting better all the time , but as John Lennon wrote “it can’t get no worse”.

Edited 5 October, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[Dman]

19 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

How come when a player is doing poorly, the critism outweighs the praise when they do better?

This seems to be a general sport thing in general.

He's doing what you'd expect a keeper to do - that's about it

[Dusic]

His distribution the last couple of games has been so good, he makes it look easy when its anything but.

Wait til he misses a game and we have to see McCarthy do it....

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, Dusic said:

His distribution the last couple of games has been so good, he makes it look easy when its anything but.

Wait til he misses a game and we have to see McCarthy do it....

It's been OK, some poor passes along with some good ones and even the good ones aren't any better than Meslier for Leeds the other weekend. His distribution certainly isn't good enough to warrant pinning all our hopes on him, we should have signed an experienced first choice keeper. 

[notnowcato]

39 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

It's been OK, some poor passes along with some good ones and even the good ones aren't any better than Meslier for Leeds the other weekend. His distribution certainly isn't good enough to warrant pinning all our hopes on him, we should have signed an experienced first choice keeper. 

His distribution is as good as any keeper, you really are very lonely with your opinion on this aspect of his game.

[Bad Wolf]

3 hours ago, Dman said:

He's doing what you'd expect a keeper to do - that's about it

But he gets blamed for goals that no keeper could have got to so surely he should be given praise for doing what he's expected to do?

[Bad Wolf]

1 hour ago, Saint_clark said:

It's been OK, some poor passes along with some good ones and even the good ones aren't any better than Meslier for Leeds the other weekend. His distribution certainly isn't good enough to warrant pinning all our hopes on him, we should have signed an experienced first choice keeper. 

Bazunu's distribution even last season was excellent IMO. Yes there were passes that didn't go exactly where he wanted them to but that's true of any keeper. 

[Saint_clark]

1 hour ago, notnowcato said:

His distribution is as good as any keeper, you really are very lonely with your opinion on this aspect of his game.

Pure nonsense. His distribution is good but nothing special in todays game and certainly not good enough that I wouldn't sacrifice it for a much better shot stopper.

[Lord Duckhunter]

30 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

But he gets blamed for goals that no keeper could have got to so surely he should be given praise for doing what he's expected to do?

His fan club on here are quick to point out ones that aren’t mistakes, but that’s not the main criticism on here. We are constantly pointing out that he’s not expected to save them all, but some would be nice. For every 10 that werent mistakes last season, I reckon a decent keeper would have saved 3 of them at least. I’ve never seen a keeper with weaker hands, never seen one beaten so much after getting his hand to an effort. Lots of his goals are in the “should he have done better” bag for my liking, and I’m not seeing any “how did he save that” saves yet. 

[John B]

On 04/10/2023 at 16:38, Bad Wolf said:

How come when a player is doing poorly, the critism outweighs the praise when they do better?

This seems to be a general sport thing in general.

As a first reaction I think people like to think badly of players these days not sure it was so prevelant years ago.

 

I cannot remember being critical of players when I was watching players regularly years ago but KWP is the only current player I feel players well regularly as I expect all the others will back balls ups during the game 

[Galway saint]

he’s done what you would expect in the last two games. nothing to get excited about. some routine saves but he has looked more assured and that’s a positive.

can’t recall whether there were any low shots to his left during the last two games as thats been his achilles heel 

 

 

 

 

[notnowcato]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Pure nonsense. His distribution is good but nothing special in todays game and certainly not good enough that I wouldn't sacrifice it for a much better shot stopper.

If you say so 🙄

[danjosaint]

4 hours ago, Saint_clark said:

Pure nonsense. His distribution is good but nothing special in todays game and certainly not good enough that I wouldn't sacrifice it for a much better shot stopper.

100% agree, his kicking is miles better than AM but let's not get to carried away, his kicking against Stoke was such a mixed bag, some excellent confident calm out wide and some balls he over cooked them or nowhere near target or miskicked, give me a better shot stopper and vocal keeper all day long 

[Osvaldorama]

Does he ever make a save?

[Block41 Saint]

Found myself asking would Bazunu save that with the Sulemana/Smallbone chances today. I think the answer is no. 

[Saint Matty 76]

Do we continue thinking stats just “don’t matter”?

[Saint Matty 76]

Statistically the worst the PL has ever seen. Currently the worst in the Championship.

Whether you want to believe statistics or not, it’s grim reading. He is not good enough.

Great with his feet, terrible goalkeeper.

[Draino76]

I have the crazy idea of signing the Rotherham goalie in the transfer window.

25 years old and would cost probably under 1 million.

[danjosaint]

No no no don't you know in the championship the shots aren't as hard or placed in the corners so he'll be fine blah blah blah 

Yes he's crap, poor positioning , no presence, weak wrists  with ok kicking

Edited 7 October, 2023 by danjosaint

[AlexLaw76]

Has Baz ever had a game for us, like the Rotherham keeper?

nope, and probably never will

[Saint_clark]

55 minutes ago, Draino76 said:

I have the crazy idea of signing the Rotherham goalie in the transfer window.

25 years old and would cost probably under 1 million.

Really good shout. Won't happen. The club are stubbornly sticking to the idea that he is top quality.