Are Stills hands tied regarding Stephens and Bazunu ?

[Andrew Watson]

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

[Lighthouse]

1 minute ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

Nope.

[bangkoksaint]

If he was and he has any sense then he should have walked at that point.

[Gloucester Saint]

There’s certainly a keenness at the club to recover some money on Gavin as an asset, but also there’s a practical risk element around how much budget Still has to bring in another central midfielder, two/three wide players and a couple of #10s. Working on the basis there of THB staying and TD/MF both leaving.

If he wants a couple of standout £8-15m bracket players as replacements to re-invest, assuming we get top coin for those two above, rather than SR £5m kiddie projects, then he might opt to take more of a risk in the keeping department if THB stays to get his higher shortlist wide player/midfield targets. That’s the trade he may have made with Spors and Dragan.

Time will tell if it pays off. We’ve all done it at work when we’ve got a budget, you prioritise where to re-invest with most impact. His comments suggest someone like Ryan coming in as competition to me on a free and medium wages so Gavin won’t have the untouchable status he enjoyed under Martin. Ditto Smallbone and others.

Jack Stephens - don’t know. Had the feel of a Chairman decision to me.

Edited August 5 by Gloucester Saint

[Convict Colony]

Baz won Portsmouths player of the year didnt he playing in system where he didnt have the ball spending 50% of the match with incompetent defenders just in front him and him being a the proverbial coconut shy.

I think we will see and feel more confidence with him this season but as Will says, the best players will play, so if his form dips its mccarthy time.

Stephens i think someone made an interesting point that potential he could maybe play 1 or 2 season and the 3rd season much reduced wages as he transitions into a support role a la lallana.

[West end Saints]

1 hour ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

No

[Holmes_and_Watson]

4 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

Sort of.

If Still thought he was appalling, and his keeper coach agreed, there would have been discussions around Ramsdale going or a replacement.

He's previously played far beyond when he should have been taken out of the firing line. I've wondered sometimes if there's a clause where we had to play him certain minutes or we got to reduce our Man City payment installments. That was what it was coming to, watching him pick the ball out the net.

SR seem incredibly keen to persevere in thinking they'll get a big return on their Baz investment. About 5 mins after we got him, a procession of better, more experienced, and often cheaper 'keepers started moving clubs.

As Gloucester says, there's also other resource and budget issues, that may focus Still's attentions elsewhere.

 Like everyone, I hope the Scowly one has a great season. But it's a bit more hope than expectation, than I would like.

Stephens is a bit different. In summary, amid all the player trading churn, they've got a moderately Shouty squad player of stability who's committed to the club. Rather than a cliquey, want away centre half who will cause problems. His experience will be seen as a way of progressing the application of the younger squad members.

[Graffito]

How the hairy bollocks would anyone on this message board know the answer to that?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, Graffito said:

How the hairy bollocks would anyone on this message board know the answer to that?

SaintsWeb switches from speculation and opinions to independently verifiable facts...

[Bakovnetski]

4 hours ago, Convict Colony said:

Baz won Portsmouths player of the year didnt he playing in system where he didnt have the ball spending 50% of the match with incompetent defenders just in front him and him being a the proverbial coconut shy.

I think we will see and feel more confidence with him this season but as Will says, the best players will play, so if his form dips its mccarthy time.

Stephens i think someone made an interesting point that potential he could maybe play 1 or 2 season and the 3rd season much reduced wages as he transitions into a support role a la lallana.

There's no way that Stephens will go down the coaching route to the same degree as Lallana. He has zero knowledge outside his position and even then has no idea what that is or any tactical awareness. 

Edited August 5 by Bakovnetski

[SW11_Saint]

6 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

No.
Honestly, people just need to get over this obsession with Bazunu & Stephens. It’s getting ridiculous. 

[SW11_Saint]

26 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

There's no way that Stephens will go down the coaching route to the same degree as Lallana. He has zero knowledge outside his position and even then has no idea what that is or any tactical awareness. 

You know this how? 

[Andrew Watson]

An obsession? Still was months away from joining when Bazunu was lined up to be first choice this year.

[SW11_Saint]

21 minutes ago, Andrew Watson said:

An obsession? Still was months away from joining when Bazunu was lined up to be first choice this year.

Because we knew we were going down, and Ramsdale would be off. Bazunu is the obvious choice to be #1. 

[Saint86]

7 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

And so the weird and toxic narratives begin.

[Harry_SFC]

7 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

You know this how? 

By watching him play

[SW11_Saint]

18 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

By watching him play

“He has zero knowledge outside his position and even then has no idea what that is or any tactical awareness.”

Right - so from sitting in the stands, you know exactly what coaching acumen Stephens has? What he does/observes in training? What he’s learnt an out tactics working under about half a dozen managers? 

Worth noting this is a guy who has been asked to move out of his comfort zone and play fullback and even midfield on occasion too. To say he had ‘zero knowledge’ is just ludicrous. 

[SW11_Saint]

6 hours ago, Saint86 said:

And so the weird and toxic narratives begin.

I often wonder if other clubs spew such bile & hatred upon their own players, or is it just a ‘Southampton thing’? 

[Give it to Ron]

28 minutes ago, SW11_Saint said:

I often wonder if other clubs spew such bile & hatred upon their own players, or is it just a ‘Southampton thing’? 

Go read a Rangers forum we are cheerleaders compared to them

[Dusic]

The real question we should be asking ourselves - is Andrew Watson even his real name?

[AlexLaw76]

31 minutes ago, SW11_Saint said:

I often wonder if other clubs spew such bile & hatred upon their own players, or is it just a ‘Southampton thing’? 

you do realise we have a pretty compliant and polite fan base?

[egg]

56 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

By watching him play

The CB's see the whole game ahead of them. They see how a bad team set up can expose the team defensively and going forwards. It's the best position to observe and understand the game from. Many successful coaches were CB's for good reason. 

[saint michael]

Will be interesting if he does play Bazunu if the new gk coach and system makes a difference. He is still young and developing. Scares the shyte out of me when a shit on target at the moment though 

[Willo of Whiteley]

15 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

Nope.

You’ve made that conspiracy in your head.

Bazunu has had a good pre-season overall, you can’t fault him much.

Stephens in club captain, and as much as he isn’t the best, we’ve arguably played better with him in the side.

I don’t think he’s ever a worthy starter but to imply that Will Still has his hands tied is ridiculous.

[SW5 SAINT]

I don’t think he would he would have accepted the job under those conditions. I don’t think either that he would have been short of other options……

Edited August 6 by SW5 SAINT
Edit

[Bakovnetski]

9 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

You know this how? 

Maybe a wild guess that Lallana would be a better coach, and watching Stephens on the park doesn't fill anyone with confidence.

[SW11_Saint]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

you do realise we have a pretty compliant and polite fan base?

Not on here where those two are concerned! Thankfully at SMS the fans are more supportive to whoever is turning out. 

[SW11_Saint]

1 hour ago, Give it to Ron said:

Go read a Rangers forum we are cheerleaders compared to them

It’s all relative…

[SW11_Saint]

28 minutes ago, Bakovnetski said:

Maybe a wild guess that Lallana would be a better coach, and watching Stephens on the park doesn't fill anyone with confidence.

Exactly. Supposition…

[Pamplemousse]

I've got no concerns over Jack or Gav playing. Both will need to be replaced if we get to the Premier League but at this level both are fine.

[Smirking_Saint]

[danjosaint]

17 hours ago, Andrew Watson said:

As I have mentioned, I was told at the end of April that Bazunu would be number one goalkeeper for this season. Does anyone else think that it is possible that Will Still was told that Bazunu and Stephens were both  to play major roles this season ?  Just a thought.

Yes

[Lighthouse]

A significant number of players have been brought in, not made much impact and been moved on for whatever money we can recoup for them. We never told Russ or Juric they must play Edozie, Larios, Mara or any other player, so I fail to see any reason why we’d do that with Still and Bazunu. More to the point no credible manager would ever come here if they were told Rasmus, or anyone else, would be picking the team over their head. Five consecutive managers have decided Bazunu is better than McCarthy, to me it’s pretty clear why. Some people are going to have to get over their fantasy of only getting promoted because of the former being injured.

Likewise Stephens, he’s been picked more than enough times by various managers, going back to Claude Puel. He’s clearly competent enough to be an option in the Championship, even if he shouldn’t be starting PL games.

[Oh no Mick Mills]

4 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

I often wonder if other clubs spew such bile & hatred upon their own players, or is it just a ‘Southampton thing’? 

Probably....it's a human thing 

[Bakovnetski]

7 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

Exactly. Supposition…

It's funny, I thought that's how this forum works.

[Turkish]

On 05/08/2025 at 17:20, Lighthouse said:

Nope.

You don’t think it’s at all possible that a manager is being instructed by the board to play or not to play certain players?

[Baird of the land]

It’s hilarious that some people think still is being forced to play an experienced cb that was our captain when we got promoted from this division.

[Gloucester Saint]

12 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

I often wonder if other clubs spew such bile & hatred upon their own players, or is it just a ‘Southampton thing’? 

You’ve not been to many other grounds and clubs I take it?

Just a few examples:

- Watch the clips after Nathan Jones’s only PL win at Everton. Their fans turned on them with some vitriol and went further in the car park directly physically accosting their players and then blocked roads around Goodison Park stopping their escape hurling further abuse and objects.

- West Ham at home to Burnley which was a full scale pitch invasion during the second half, mainly aimed at their owners but their players copped plenty too. It also got very tasty at Upton Park after our last minute winner in 2003.

- Skates loads of times, not least the abuse Carl Tiler got after an error ridden game v Palace. Even the skates at work the next day were staggered at the level and scale of the hatred spewed at the Fish Shed.

- Man U most of last season at Old Trafford 

- Liverpool fans at TAA after his move was nearly complete to Real

- Eric Dier took so much of it from one section of Spurs fans he climbed in that section to confront them

- Granit Xhaka moved overseas to get away from the Arsenal booboys

- Chelsea fans and Brian Laudrup, not sure he wanted to be there, and Chris Sutton. Going further back, targeting their own player Paul Canoville for horrific racist abuse.

Edited August 6 by Gloucester Saint

[Football Special]

11 hours ago, Pamplemousse said:

I've got no concerns over Jack or Gav playing. Both will need to be replaced if we get to the Premier League but at this level both are fine.

Genuinely did you go regularly in the last championship season? Baz was not fine then, if we persist with him it just highlights the complacency within the club 

[Whitey Grandad]

10 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Genuinely did you go regularly in the last championship season? Baz was not fine then, if we persist with him it just highlights the complacency within the club 

Yet we got promoted. 

[Football Special]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Yet we got promoted. 

Jeez Grandad we're going to keep going round in circles on this one aren't we 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Yet we got promoted. 

So? He was crap.

 

[egg]

38 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Yet we got promoted. 

In spite of him, not because of him. 

That said, we're going into the season with him as our man, and hopefully he can continue his decent pre season form. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Jeez Grandad we're going to keep going round in circles on this one aren't we 

It bears repeating. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So? He was crap.

 

So crap that we got promoted,  apparently. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, egg said:

In spite of him, not because of him. 

That said, we're going into the season with him as our man, and hopefully he can continue his decent pre season form. 

There seems to be a failure of logic around this evening. 

[Saint_clark]

On 05/08/2025 at 18:54, Convict Colony said:

Baz won Portsmouths player of the year didnt he playing in system where he didnt have the ball spending 50% of the match with incompetent defenders just in front him and him being a the proverbial coconut shy.

I  think we will see and feel more confidence with him this season but as Will says, the best players will play, so if his form dips its mccarthy time.

Perhaps. However the disastrous debut Prem season he had after being ridiculously thrown in at such a young age could have handicapped him mentally for his entire career. It's part of the reason so many of us were vocally against him being first choice even before we'd seen him play. 

[Wade Garrett]

On 05/08/2025 at 17:26, Gloucester Saint said:

There’s certainly a keenness at the club to recover some money on Gavin as an asset, but also there’s a practical risk element around how much budget Still has to bring in another central midfielder, two/three wide players and a couple of #10s. Working on the basis there of THB staying and TD/MF both leaving.

If he wants a couple of standout £8-15m bracket players as replacements to re-invest, assuming we get top coin for those two above, rather than SR £5m kiddie projects, then he might opt to take more of a risk in the keeping department if THB stays to get his higher shortlist wide player/midfield targets. That’s the trade he may have made with Spors and Dragan.

Time will tell if it pays off. We’ve all done it at work when we’ve got a budget, you prioritise where to re-invest with most impact. His comments suggest someone like Ryan coming in as competition to me on a free and medium wages so Gavin won’t have the untouchable status he enjoyed under Martin. Ditto Smallbone and others.

Jack Stephens - don’t know. Had the feel of a Chairman decision to me.

Bazunu is the biggest risk to Dragan’s investment.  We aren’t getting promoted with him in goal.

[Wade Garrett]

23 hours ago, SW11_Saint said:

“He has zero knowledge outside his position and even then has no idea what that is or any tactical awareness.”

Right - so from sitting in the stands, you know exactly what coaching acumen Stephens has? What he does/observes in training? What he’s learnt an out tactics working under about half a dozen managers? 

Worth noting this is a guy who has been asked to move out of his comfort zone and play fullback and even midfield on occasion too. To say he had ‘zero knowledge’ is just ludicrous. 

He has experience playing different roles and is equally shite in all of them.

[Charlie Wayman]

On 05/08/2025 at 18:54, Convict Colony said:

Baz won Portsmouths player of the year didnt he playing in system where he didnt have the ball spending 50% of the match with incompetent defenders just in front him and him being a the proverbial coconut shy.

I think we will see and feel more confidence with him this season but as Will says, the best players will play, so if his form dips its mccarthy time.

Stephens i think someone made an interesting point that potential he could maybe play 1 or 2 season and the 3rd season much reduced wages as he transitions into a support role a la lallana.

Imagine Stephens as first team coach……...