Gavin Bazunu

[sambosa75]

Let himself down massively there.  A stark reminder that all the distribution skills in the world mean the square root of fuck all if you can’t stop shots on goal like that.  Along with Martin’s inability to build a side that turns the screw on the opposition when we dominate possession, he will cost us promotion and most likely a playoff place altogether.

[The Kraken]

Just now, sambosa75 said:

Let himself down massively there.  A stark reminder that all the distribution skills in the world mean the square root of fuck all if you can’t stop shots on goal like that.  Along with Martin’s inability to build a side that turns the screw on the opposition when we dominate possession, he will cost us promotion and most likely a playoff place altogether.

Definitely, and he absolutely looked like he knew it.

A shame as he made one exceptional save and had a number of other good moments. But he had a proper flap in the first half that, while it was called offside, didn’t inspire confidence. Awesome with his feet and doing the sweeper keeper thing, his distribution was very impressive. But he’s just far too prone to a brain fart like at the end, that was a rank bad shot to let in.

[Patches O Houlihan]

Baz man of the match for 94 minutes today. But undeniably should be saving the Watford equaliser. 

I find myself really feeling for him - today was going to be one of those days when he could have really stuck it to the naysayers. 

BUT there is a positive.

Right now he is not likely to get poached off us by a top PL team, and by sticking with him through thick and thin you would hope that there is a feeling of loyalty to the club being built up with him. Plus he has been largely very good for the last 12 games.

I still believe he will be a properly top level keeper, and we likely won't need to wait until he's 28. While for some supporters anything but an easy 3-0 is not good enough, I'm enjoying watching his development. Yes it's frustrating at times, but all the best dramas have some moments when things don't go as planned. 

Keep up the good work Baz

Edited 9 December, 2023 by Patches O Houlihan

[Lighthouse]

Amazing just how much stick Baz gets for basically being the MotM, keeping us in it and making an excellent save just before we score, but making a mistake which is ultimately punished because yet again we’re only one goal ahead.

Why does the Alcaraz thread never get bumped, even though he consistently churns in sub-par performances and has one goal this season? Along with Mara, Edozie, Adams and Sully he is far more deserving of the flak aimed at Baz.

[sambosa75]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Amazing just how much stick Baz gets for basically being the MotM, keeping us in it and making an excellent save just before we score, but making a mistake which is ultimately punished because yet again we’re only one goal ahead.

Why does the Alcaraz thread never get bumped, even though he consistently churns in sub-par performances and has one goal this season? Along with Mara, Edozie, Adams and Sully he is far more deserving of the flak aimed at Baz.

Which of those 4 players you mentioned gets a game week-in, week-out no questions asked?

[Patches O Houlihan]

2 minutes ago, sambosa75 said:

Which of those 4 players you mentioned gets a game week-in, week-out no questions asked?

Which of those players has an 'on field 2023 Alex McCarthy' as his competition?

[Lighthouse]

Just now, sambosa75 said:

Which of those 4 players you mentioned gets a game week-in, week-out no questions asked?

If you can’t get into our crap forward line because you’re even crapper, that’s really not much of a statement about your contribution to the squad. Besides, with the exception of Edozie those players all get onto the pitch at some point most game and seem to do very little.

If we’re 3-0 today, Watford pretty much give up after 80 minutes and the game dies out. Being on a knife edge every week on 90+6 is going to cost us as often as not. Doesn’t matter if it’s Baz’s mistake, THB or someone giving it away in midfield.

[The Kraken]

6 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Amazing just how much stick Baz gets for basically being the MotM, keeping us in it and making an excellent save just before we score, but making a mistake which is ultimately punished because yet again we’re only one goal ahead.

Why does the Alcaraz thread never get bumped, even though he consistently churns in sub-par performances and has one goal this season? Along with Mara, Edozie, Adams and Sully he is far more deserving of the flak aimed at Baz.

Is it amazing? Really?

Goalkeepers at any club all over the world have their errors highlighted more than any other position on the pitch. Because they are the last custodian of the goal. So many keepers through history have been critiqued at the highest level because they can make great saves but are also prone to basic errors.

This has been happening for decades, I’m amazed you find it amazing.

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

If you can’t get into our crap forward line because you’re even crapper, that’s really not much of a statement about your contribution to the squad. Besides, with the exception of Edozie those players all get onto the pitch at some point most game and seem to do very little.

If we’re 3-0 today, Watford pretty much give up after 80 minutes and the game dies out. Being on a knife edge every week on 90+6 is going to cost us as often as not. Doesn’t matter if it’s Baz’s mistake, THB or someone giving it away in midfield.

A ridiculous argument. we weren’t 3-0 up, we were 1-0 up in the 6th minute of injury time and the keeper has a not overly difficult save to make to secure the 3 points and let it in. And it’s not like he hasn’t conceded that sort of goal before, he’s done it plenty of times this season. 

[Lighthouse]

19 minutes ago, Turkish said:

A ridiculous argument. we weren’t 3-0 up, we were 1-0 up in the 6th minute of injury time and the keeper has a not overly difficult save to make to secure the 3 points and let it in. And it’s not like he hasn’t conceded that sort of goal before, he’s done it plenty of times this season. 

You've missed the point entirely. We're only 1-0 up because the rest of the team has spent the last 95 minutes missing passes and shots which weren't overly difficult, which would have put us comfortably ahead. So once again, because of a substandard effort by our forward line, we're in a sudden death position, where any mistake from the keeper costs us two points. He hasn't done it plenty of times, he's made a reasonable, average number of mistakes which I'd expect from any keeper. 

[Turkish]

12 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

You've missed the point entirely. We're only 1-0 up because the rest of the team has spent the last 95 minutes missing passes and shots which weren't overly difficult, which would have put us comfortably ahead. So once again, because of a substandard effort by our forward line, we're in a sudden death position, where any mistake from the keeper costs us two points. He hasn't done it plenty of times, he's made a reasonable, average number of mistakes which I'd expect from any keeper. 

 

What you seem to fail to grasp is that that’s how it works for goalkeepers. You make a mistake, you don’t save something you should, you show paper wrists in the 96th minute to cost your team a win and it’s get highlighted, that’s how it is. That’s why the best keepers are the ones that don’t make many mistakes and save shots in the 6th minute of injury time to win their team a game. 

[Wade Garrett]

Terrible mistake for the goal.

The saves made looked pretty routine to me.

Hugely disappointing.

[The Kraken]

Just now, Wade Garrett said:

Terrible mistake for the goal.

The saves made looked pretty routine to me.

Hugely disappointing.

His save in the first half, low down to turn it around the post; I wouldn’t consider that routine, I’d say that was an excellent save. 

His flap at the goal conceded was indeed terrible. Awful.

[Roo1976]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Definitely, and he absolutely looked like he knew it.

A shame as he made one exceptional save and had a number of other good moments. But he had a proper flap in the first half that, while it was called offside, didn’t inspire confidence. Awesome with his feet and doing the sweeper keeper thing, his distribution was very impressive. But he’s just far too prone to a brain fart like at the end, that was a rank bad shot to let in.

was just going to say excellent performance on the whole just fluffed his lines and blotted his game by an awful cluster fuck (again) should have saved it,but hes growing  into the keeper we hoped he might be(maybe).

[Roo1976]

3 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Terrible mistake for the goal.

The saves made looked pretty routine to me.

Hugely disappointing.

Dissapointing yes ,but as ateam were either on it in one half and not the whole game,well thats my view of where we are atm. Playoffs should be attainable but who knows whats round the corner.

[austsaint]

4 hours ago, Roo1976 said:

was just going to say excellent performance on the whole just fluffed his lines and blotted his game by an awful cluster fuck (again) should have saved it,but hes growing  into the keeper we hoped he might be(maybe).

Shame for the lad, he had such a good game up to that point.    A couple of saves that were anything but routine - the shot from Asprilla destined for the corner of the net being one of them.    Maybe Bazunu was obscured by Bednarek but he looked slow to react, slow to get the hand down.

[Wade Garrett]

13 hours ago, The Kraken said:

His save in the first half, low down to turn it around the post; I wouldn’t consider that routine, I’d say that was an excellent save. 

His flap at the goal conceded was indeed terrible. Awful.

I would definitely consider it routine and one that most competent keepers would make.

[Wade Garrett]

What has impressed me about his game this season is how good he is off his line.  He’s also shown he’s not afraid to deal with crosses.

He needs to improve his shot stopping though.  He was so slow down for their goal and doesn’t look as strong diving to his left (Newcastle at home last season a good demonstration of this). The good news is that is something that good coaching should improve.

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

I would definitely consider it routine and one that most competent keepers would make.

I agree. It only looked that good for him because he's normally so slow to dive for those kinds of shots, this time he actually committed early. 

[Little Lat Pahars]

8 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I agree. It only looked that good for him because he's normally so slow to dive for those kinds of shots, this time he actually committed early. 

Are you talking about the save in the 2nd half low to his right that he tipped round the corner?

[Galway saint]

it’s a long shot and a routine save down to his left.

its his achilles heel.

he was winning me round but its a glaring technical deficiency. 

 

[Saint_clark]

14 minutes ago, Little Lat Pahars said:

Are you talking about the save in the 2nd half low to his right that he tipped round the corner?

Not sure what half it was in as I was working so only saw the highlights that went up shortly after the game, but yeah low to his right. 

[hypochondriac]

38 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

I agree. It only looked that good for him because he's normally so slow to dive for those kinds of shots, this time he actually committed early. 

It was a good save but it's not exactly Niemi level where you watch open mouthed that he managed to pull off a stop. 

[Little Lat Pahars]

20 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Not sure what half it was in as I was working so only saw the highlights that went up shortly after the game, but yeah low to his right. 

I think you're letting your bias get in the way of objectivity here. It was a really good save (not world class as Hypochondriac has pointed out but still a really good save), even the Watford commentators who don't have any bias towards Bazunu were saying what a good save it was.

[Challenger]

A couple (or more) goals to the good and the odd mistake will be irrelevant.

Like I said in another post, aiming for a 50% pass mark in an exam leaves no margin for error if you make one slip up.

The REAL problem lies at the other end of the pitch.

[Harry_SFC]

A few people here are quick to slag off Bazunu when he makes an error (fair enough) but then when he makes a great save it's just "routine".

It wasn't world class but if you don't think that was a brilliant save then you're agenda is getting the better of you.

[Saint_clark]

Just watched it again, good save sure but when I look at saves like that I imagine if it had been conceded would we be saying he could do nothing about it or that he should have done better? That's a save you'd expect a first choice keeper to make, end of. 

It bounced twice before it got to him, that shows it wasnt hit particularly well.

[The Kraken]

9 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Just watched it again, good save sure but when I look at saves like that I imagine if it had been conceded would we be saying he could do nothing about it or that he should have done better? That's a save you'd expect a first choice keeper to make, end of. 

It bounced twice before it got to him, that shows it wasnt hit particularly well.

Agree to disagree I think. The first one I still think was a very good save, low down and right in the corner.

The goal was an absolute howler though. Still not sure how it went in.

 

[Lighthouse]

It was a very good save, some people just need to talk down everything Bazunu does. He could have done better with the goal, as with a couple of the Sunderland goals and one against Boro. On the flip side his shot stopping is generally sound, he communicates very well with his defence, comes out and deals with stuff (the Cardiff header) and his district excellent. Since getting our act together in September we’ve conceded 1-0-1-1-2-1-0-1-1-0-0-1. That’s 9 goals in 12 games, which should be good enough to win any league. 

[Whitey Grandad]

It was a poor effort from Bazunu but it shows the importance of having a shot no matter how speculative it might seem.

[badgerx16]

When the shot low to his right came in my immediate reaction was that it was a goal, but he pulled out a good save. When the shot in added time came in it was so obviously scuffed that there was no way it was going in.

Sums Bazunu up in 2 moments.

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

It was a good save but it's not exactly Niemi level where you watch open mouthed that he managed to pull off a stop. 

Most Premier league keepers would have saved that and at least half of the keepers in this league. He cost us the points yesterday, pure and simple. Same old same old, he’s absolutely woeful at dealing with long range efforts.  When we come to the business end of the season he’s going to kill us unless he addresses this major deficiency. 

[Challenger]

3 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

It was a very good save, some people just need to talk down everything Bazunu does. He could have done better with the goal, as with a couple of the Sunderland goals and one against Boro. On the flip side his shot stopping is generally sound, he communicates very well with his defence, comes out and deals with stuff (the Cardiff header) and his district excellent. Since getting our act together in September we’ve conceded 1-0-1-1-2-1-0-1-1-0-0-1. That’s 9 goals in 12 games, which should be good enough to win any league. 

The problem is those 9 goals have probably cost a point apiece.

[Lighthouse]

4 minutes ago, Challenger said:

The problem is those 9 goals have probably cost a point apiece.

0.75 goals conceded per game would literally have been the best defence in the league last season. It’s utterly laughable that people talk about this as ‘costing us points’.

[CB Fry]

38 minutes ago, Challenger said:

The problem is those 9 goals have probably cost a point apiece.

Is your expectation that we should be conceding zero goals across 12 games?

[AlexLaw76]

3 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

Is your expectation that we should be conceding zero goals across 12 games?

Probably just not yesterday's goal would be a starter-for-10

[Patches O Houlihan]

26 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

0.75 goals conceded per game would literally have been the best defence in the league last season. It’s utterly laughable that people talk about this as ‘costing us points’.

It feels like about 25% of the commenters here expect us to win easily 3-0 every week. Anything other than that and they have to go looking for a scapegoat. On match days when we win this board is quiet as the grave 15 mins after the match. But if we draw then Baz, RM, Manning get it in the neck; + whichever player's aggressive through ball that they've been pushing to see gets cut out by a defender and lumped up the pitch for a goal.

 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

It feels like about 25% of the commenters here expect us to win easily 3-0 every week. Anything other than that and they have to go looking for a scapegoat. On match days when we win this board is quiet as the grave 15 mins after the match. But if we draw then Baz, RM, Manning get it in the neck; + whichever player's aggressive through ball that they've been pushing to see gets cut out by a defender and lumped up the pitch for a goal.

 

I dont believe people think we should win 3-0 every week at all. What I think people believed, is that top 2 would not be over as a contest by now. Which was reality many weeks ago

[Patches O Houlihan]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

I dont believe people think we should win 3-0 every week at all. What I think people believed, is that top 2 would not be over as a contest by now. Which was reality many weeks ago

But that isn't because we are significantly under performing as a team. As far as I'm aware we are within a point or two of the 'average top Championship team' points haul at the relevant stage of the season, and have been for the last month or so. 

The issue is that Ipswich and Leicester are having freak seasons. Usually Leeds & Saints would be the league leaders, having built a useful; cushion over the chasing pack. 

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

But that isn't because we are significantly under performing as a team. As far as I'm aware we are within a point or two of the 'average top Championship team' points haul at the relevant stage of the season, and have been for the last month or so. 

The issue is that Ipswich and Leicester are having freak seasons. Usually Leeds & Saints would be the league leaders, having built a useful; cushion over the chasing pack. 

Freak seasons? Maybe, but we are all playing the same teams, right?

I see the 12 game unbeaten run is getting much hype online, by the club and fans. During the period of those 12 games, both Leicester and Ipswich had dodgy results..yet, we have only gained 1 whole point on Ipswich. Is it a freak season, or have we dropped (drawn) a couple too many, compounded with losing to Ipswich at home (in a terrible performance)?

Edited 10 December, 2023 by AlexLaw76

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Freak seasons? Maybe, but we are all playing the same teams, right?

I see the 12 game unbeaten run is getting much hype online, by the club and fans. During the period of those 12 games, both Leicester and Ipswich had dodgy results..yet, we have only gained 1 whole point on Ipswich. Is it a freak season, or have we dropped (drawn) a couple too many?

It’s a freak season. Even including our awful September we’ve averaged enough points per game to finish on 87, which last season would have put us 3rd and 4 points behind Sheff United. Ipswich and Leicester are on course for 111 and 113 points respectively, both comfortably a record total for this league.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

It’s a freak season. Even including our awful September we’ve averaged enough points per game to finish on 87, which last season would have put us 3rd and 4 points behind Sheff United. Ipswich and Leicester are on course for 111 and 113 points respectively, both comfortably a record total for this league.

They wont get that level come the end of the season, but we need to maintain this sort of 'unbeaten run' to realistically reel them (and leeds) in.  That aint going to happen either, not whilst most of our games are decided by 1 goal.

[Patches O Houlihan]

It probably doesn't help that all our 50/50 games against the expected league leaders appeared in such a tight space of time, just after we lost our big PL stars and before the Championship team had had a proper chance to gel and get used to the new style.

I don't have the stats to hand right now. I might go and have a look. 

2022-23 Burnley finished first on 101 points (2.20 points/game average). Sheffield Utd were second on 91 point (1.98 points/game average)

2021-22 Fulham finished first on 90 points (1.96 points/game average). Bournemouth were second on 88 points (1.91 average)

2020-21 Norwich won 97 points (2.11 average). Watford second 91  points (1.98 average)

2019-20 Leeds won 93 points (2.02 average) West Brom second 83 points (1.80 average)

 

Right now with 20 games played Leeds are averaging 2.05 points, and Saints are averaging 1.90 points, which normally, assuming teams improve a bit over the course of the year would be bang on top two team status. BUT Leicester are currently on 2.45 average, and Ipswich are on 2.40 average.

That's what I mean by a freak season.

 

 

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

It probably doesn't help that all our 50/50 games against the expected league leaders appeared in such a tight space of time, just after we lost our big PL stars and before the Championship team had had a proper chance to gel and get used to the new style.

I don't have the stats to hand right now. I might go and have a look. 

2022-23 Burnley finished first on 101 points (2.20 points/game average). Sheffield Utd were second on 91 point (1.98 points/game average)

2021-22 Fulham finished first on 90 points (1.96 points/game average). Bournemouth were second on 88 points (1.91 average)

2020-21 Norwich won 97 points (2.11 average). Watford second 91  points (1.98 average)

2019-20 Leeds won 93 points (2.02 average) West Brom second 83 points (1.80 average)

 

Right now with 20 games played Leeds are averaging 2.05 points, and Saints are averaging 1.90 points, which normally, assuming teams improve a bit over the course of the year would be bang on top two team status. BUT Leicester are currently on 2.45 average, and Ipswich are on 2.40 average.

That's what I mean by a freak season.

 

 

We are all playing the same teams, so we shall see. I cannot see BOTH Ipswich and Leicester maintaining this form for another 20 games...but i can't see us doing so either, which would be pretty poor IMO.

On another note, with the complete disparity in finances with parachute payments, these 'freak seasons' may become more common over the coming years, depending who gets relegated.

Edited 10 December, 2023 by AlexLaw76

[Patches O Houlihan]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

They wont get that level come the end of the season, but we need to maintain this sort of 'unbeaten run' to realistically reel them (and leeds) in.  That aint going to happen either, not whilst most of our games are decided by 1 goal.

I broadly agree with this. But I think we'd do better to focus on scoring more goals rather than giving Baz a hard time. 

4 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Since getting our act together in September we’ve conceded 1-0-1-1-2-1-0-1-1-0-0-1. That’s 9 goals in 12 games, which should be good enough to win any league. 

This I also agree with

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Patches O Houlihan said:

I broadly agree with this. But I think we'd do better to focus on scoring more goals rather than giving Baz a hard time. 

This I also agree with

I agree with that, hence my point further up (or on another thread), we just will not maintain our own form (let alone claw back 10 points on 2nd place), whilst most of our games are decided by 1 goal.

 

[Patches O Houlihan]

Just now, AlexLaw76 said:

I agree with that, hence my point further up (or on another thread), we just will not maintain our own form (let alone claw back 10 points on 2nd place), whilst most of our games are decided by 1 goal.

 

I think its reasonable to expect us to loose at least another 4 or 5 games. So on that basis I agree. 

So I guess we ought to get the players fired up with a tournament mentality to win the playoffs, practise penalties, and turn Baz into a penalty stopping machine!

[The Kraken]

We could definitely do with scoring more but, to put it in context, we’re the 5th highest scorers in the league. It’s hardly atrocious.

Our goals against is still pretty poor after the disastrous September but even that is much improved of late.

I still think we’re a little below pre season expectations, but not by much. Leicester and Ipswich have turned it all upside down, they’ve both been incredible.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, The Kraken said:

We could definitely do with scoring more but, to put it in context, we’re the 5th highest scorers in the league. It’s hardly atrocious.

Our goals against is still pretty poor after the disastrous September but even that is much improved of late.

I still think we’re a little below pre season expectations, but not by much. Leicester and Ipswich have turned it all upside down, they’ve both been incredible.

Ipswich have got to drop more than the odd point over the next few games, surely?

• Watford19:45Ipswich Town
   

Saturday 16th December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Ipswich Town12:30Norwich City
   

Saturday 23rd December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Leeds United12:30Ipswich Town
   

Tuesday 26th December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Ipswich Town19:45Leicester City

[CB Fry]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ipswich have got to drop more than the odd point over the next few games, surely?

• Watford19:45Ipswich Town

Saturday 16th December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Ipswich Town12:30Norwich City

Saturday 23rd December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Leeds United12:30Ipswich Town

Tuesday 26th December

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Ipswich Town19:45Leicester City

Lose all four and still be above us?