Gavin Bazunu G Standard Liege (loan from Southampton) b.2002

[JR89]

Luton have granted Southampton permission to speak with Nathan Jones.

[SkStu]

Interesting development. I was watching them yesterday (first half only) and there is just something where my faith in Bazunu gets a little shaken watching him. He doesn't look confident at that level yet is the best way i can describe it.

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, I think he looks more at home for Ireland and looked more comfortable in himself in L1. He looks more like a guy worrying about stuff going wrong than a guy relishing the prospect of playing well.

[ontheotherhand]

I'd agree. He looks to be going through a bit of a rough patch and isn't making saves that he is capable of making. Possibly needed to go to a club where he wouldn't be quite so under pressure all the time. Anytime I see Southampton it looks like they have never played together at the back. Some of that is going to be down to Gavin himself of course but a more settled (better) unit in front of him would have helped all round. He must feel like every attack is going to involve a shot on target.

[third policeman]

It's beginning to look like not playing regularly might work out well for Kelleher.

[ontheotherhand]

It's beginning to look like not playing regularly might work out well for Kelleher.

Had a feeling you might have that response! ;)

I'd still prefer Bazunu being out there making mistakes and being uncomfortable. It will stand to him in the long run but was always going to involve rocky spells.

[third policeman]

Had a feeling you might have that response! ;)

I'd still prefer Bazunu being out there making mistakes and being uncomfortable. It will stand to him in the long run but was always going to involve rocky spells.

Maybe I was being a bit tongue in cheek there, but maybe Bazunu’s elevation to the PL was a bit too premature. I only hope that he comes through this spell without it affecting his confidence.

[elatedscum]

In fairness to Gavin and his ex-manager, most of that squad are championship level. Look at the back 4 that played the last game, Larios at right back, 18 years old, signed from City in the summer. He came off injured in the first half and was replaced by another 18 year old signed from City, Romeo Lavia. At centre back, Bella-Kotchap, 20 years old, very promising, signed this summer from Bochum in Germany but doesn’t look ready yet. Salisu at 23 was his partner, he’s never stood out to me. Perraud the most experienced is 25, signed from Brest last summer (2021).

Obviously Ward Prowse is pretty good but there’s too many ordinary footballers. Che Adams certainly doesn’t look like he should be leading the line for a premier league side and he’s a long way from guys like Danny Ings. I’d trust Michael Obafemi to impact better at that level than him. Adam Armstrong isn’t a PL player either. Sekou Mara is 20 and hasn’t scored a goal since signing.

Travers is struggling much much more than Bazunu. He was considered one of the best keepers in the championship last season and you’d have felt the premier league was the obvious next step. But his confidence is just shot. He was somewhat culpable for the third and fourth goals last weekend. The third was a corner headed through his legs and the fourth was a through ball which he didn’t really come off his line quick enough or far enough. For reference the pass is hit from the approx 35 yard range, Travers is on his 6 yard box, then takes a step backwards. He only moves forwards once the ball goes inside the box. The shot is hit at the penalty spot and he’s still inside his 6 yard box despite having 3 seconds to close the angle and possibly reach the ball first.

Hopefully kelleher plays on Wednesday for Liverpool. I’d say both Bazunu and Travers are a little less developed than I would have thought at the start of the season.

[ontheotherhand]

Maybe I was being a bit tongue in cheek there, but maybe Bazunu’s elevation to the PL was a bit too premature. I only hope that he comes through this spell without it affecting his confidence.

He's a strong lad mentally and it's not like he's having a complete shocker. Hopefully he's just a bit off in terms of positioning due to the faster pace of the game added to the chaos of having an unreliable group in front of him.

I think he'll be fine but it might be a rocky first year. Id expect him to get dropped at some point even. They will try everything to right the shop.

A more gradual rise to the Premiership may have been better all round though. A lot of pressure on him there now with the price tag and position.

If we end up with 3 premiership backup keepers we won't be much worse off than we were with Randolph most of the time. If Bazunu does get dropped I wonder would Kenny put Kelleher in for the friendlies? Will he regardless of what's happening at club level? Hard to say. He may need to use those games to boost Gavin's confidence now. Has Kelleher played a game yet this season or are they waiting for the cups?

[third policeman]

He's a strong lad mentally and it's not like he's having a complete shocker. Hopefully he's just a bit off in terms of positioning due to the faster pace of the game added to the chaos of having an unreliable group in front of him.

I think he'll be fine but it might be a rocky first year. Id expect him to get dropped at some point even. They will try everything to right the shop.

A more gradual rise to the Premiership may have been better all round though. A lot of pressure on him there now with the price tag and position.

If we end up with 3 premiership backup keepers we won't be much worse off than we were with Randolph most of the time. If Bazunu does get dropped I wonder would Kenny put Kelleher in for the friendlies? Will he regardless of what's happening at club level? Hard to say. He may need to use those games to boost Gavin's confidence now. Has Kelleher played a game yet this season or are they waiting for the cups?

Kelleher was injured and missed most of preseason and the six or seven weeks of the season, so had only been back on the bench over the last few weeks, but should get a game tomorrow. It’s a paradox but not playing regularly hasn’t looked like it’s been a problem when he’s played for us or Liverpool. He seems very assured and comfortable.

[ontheotherhand]

Kelleher was injured and missed most of preseason and the six or seven weeks of the season, so had only been back on the bench over the last few weeks, but should get a game tomorrow. It’s a paradox but not playing regularly hasn’t looked like it’s been a problem when he’s played for us or Liverpool. He seems very assured and comfortable.

Let's see how comfortable he is behind this seasons version of Liverpool...?

Jokes aside, I hope he does well. Having 3 young keepers with potential is grand and all but they will inevitably go through a few rough patches so having one performing well when we need it is key.

[SkStu]

He's a strong lad mentally and it's not like he's having a complete shocker. Hopefully he's just a bit off in terms of positioning due to the faster pace of the game added to the chaos of having an unreliable group in front of him.

I think he'll be fine but it might be a rocky first year. Id expect him to get dropped at some point even. They will try everything to right the shop.

A more gradual rise to the Premiership may have been better all round though. A lot of pressure on him there now with the price tag and position.

If we end up with 3 premiership backup keepers we won't be much worse off than we were with Randolph most of the time. If Bazunu does get dropped I wonder would Kenny put Kelleher in for the friendlies? Will he regardless of what's happening at club level? Hard to say. He may need to use those games to boost Gavin's confidence now. Has Kelleher played a game yet this season or are they waiting for the cups?

He's definitely not having a shocker. Totally agree. He just looks a bit stiff, a bit uncomfortable, afraid of making a major mistake. I think you also raised a great point earlier about the defence in front of him being a messy unit. He is definitely good enough and I have a lot of belief that he will get there. I think he needs a game where he puts in a MOTM performance, i think that will get him believing in himself and loosening up.

[JR89]

Half the goals he's conceded have come in three games and most his games it's only been the one goal conceded. Think they brought in a whole new defence in the summer and at the weekend they had two lads in there who were less experienced than Bazunu. Watching a couple of games this season and the defence itself has often been let down by the midfield in front of them so not surprised they'd go for someone like Nathan Jones whose got Luton performing above expectations by being compacted, organised, and hard working.

[pineapple stu]

Half the goals he's conceded have come in three games and most his games it's only been the one goal conceded.
I think that's twisting the maths of it though. You could just as easily say flip he's only kept one clean sheet in 14 games, which isn't great. Heck, to have shipped four three times already this season is ropey.

Ultimately only three teams have conceded more, and it seems the stats are saying they're conceding more than they should. I think there's no getting away from those two stats.

And taken as read that he's improving and getting games, etc, etc

[Jd2793]

not watched a lot of southampton but his numbers look in or around par. thats not bad imo. obviously has a lot to deal with infront of him and that'll be the managers job to fix.

[pineapple stu]

In fairness, a random punter on the internet saying "Not watched a lot of Southampton but his numbers look in or around par" isn't something I'd take over Opta stats (or whatever source the BBC used)...

[Jd2793]

In fairness, a random punter on the internet saying "Not watched a lot of Southampton but his numbers look in or around par" isn't something I'd take over Opta stats (or whatever source the BBC used)...

eh? this is what im basing my comment on https://twitter.com/Jhdharrison1/status/1583782728050221056
14/20 ranking all GK actions(not just prevented goals), -0.03 vs avg prem keeper i.e nearly at par. Seems good enough to me!

[pineapple stu]

Fair enough, but that's quite different from your original post!

Wonder why the different to the MotD figures then?

[Demesne Lad]

not watched a lot of southampton but his numbers look in or around par. thats not bad imo. obviously has a lot to deal with infront of him and that'll be the managers job to fix.

Nathan Jones, ahead of Luton's 2016/17 season in League 2, released 12 players and signed 8. Before Stoke's 2019/20 season in the Championship, he brought in 10 new players. He was sacked after just 14 games, but said he had no regrets about moving from Luton to Stoke. (Wikipedia). Obviously a man of firm conviction in his own judgement and one can expect some significant changes in the next couple of months. Hopefully Bazunu's position will be safe.

[JR89]

Doubt he'll be given any meaningful funds to buy players and Southampton probably went with the cheapest option who'll work with the group of players available. Dyche would have been a much better defensive manager but would have wanted good wages and transfer funds. McCarthy could get in as I doubt Jones will want his keeper coming out far sweeping up.

[third policeman]

Flat footed for Liverpool goal but brilliant save from Salah.

[nigel-harps1954]

Southampton defence is properly dreadful. Fantastic save from Bazunu from Salah, probably caught out with Liverpool first, not a lot he could have done for their second.

He's on a hiding to nothing with this side though.

[joey B]

Southampton are a shambles but still think he’s in the right place,Ramsey had a couple of seasons in bad sides in the premier league and it did him no harm and he’s in a side top of the league now…..

[Colbert Report]

He's earning his keep, the defense in front of him are terrible. He was caught badly for the Firmino opener though.

[elatedscum]

He's earning his keep, the defense in front of him are terrible. He was caught badly for the Firmino opener though.

Weirdly - the 20 year old German: Bella-Kotchap is in the German squad for the World Cup

[nigel-harps1954]

:eek:

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[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

That's really not good. No command of his area. He does seem low on confidence.

[Stuttgart88]

As soon as the ball popped back up in the air he seemed initially to chase it to his left before scrambling back, deceived by what his teammate was going to do. By that stage he was never going to be able to compete with the goal scorer who could get between Bazunu and the ball quite easily. As a keeper you'd really want to be attacking a ball like that with forward momentum but his first couple of steps meant he had no weight / momentum behind his jump. I'd be looking at his teammate too. Horrible sliced clearance.

[Stuttgart88]

Weirdly - the 20 year old German: Bella-Kotchap is in the German squad for the World CupFirst name Heinz?

[SkStu]

Ah here Stutts. That type of humour won’t cut the mustard with too many on here.

[ontheotherhand]

he's probably sauced.

[tommy_c12000]

Shocking mistake by Gavin, very soft goal from lallana header. He’s under pressure now

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

It's really not going well for Bazunu of late. Confidence is shot.

[tommy_c12000]

A solid near post catch, and a 50/50 that he came out aggressively and won. Solid response from Gavin. But that goal is unforgivable at this level

[Jd2793]

shocker. going through a real tough spell.

[pineapple stu]

That is a right howler alright. The Lincoln goal was poor but with mitigating circumstances as Stutts noted. This one was all his own unfortunately.

2-0 now too

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[tommy_c12000]

Probably not at fault for second goal. Southampton so so poor

[Jd2793]

looks like he was at fault for the 2nd one aswell? need to see a replay though. feel for him , hes going through an awful rut.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

He'll likely be dropped now! It really is very unfortunate but he's young and we've seen keepers go through bad spells and recover numerous times.

[tommy_c12000]

Difficult one for him to deal with, didn’t get touch on it though but it was a great pull back, far enough away from the keeper

[pineapple stu]

looks like he was at fault for the 2nd one aswell? need to see a replay though.

Probably not at fault for second goal. Southampton so so poor

Hard to tell from this, but looks like he should be getting to that cross, if only to punch it away?

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[Stuttgart88]

Really poor for first goal. Confidence is shot. Looks like he maybe thought of parrying it and then changed his mind in case it went to an attacker. Should have been a routine catch though.

Second: my immediate opinion was he should have got a bigger touch on it. The cross wasn’t that firmly hit. The slight touch he did get made his defender mi**** it.

I really feel for him. Southampton are brutal but this is the type of game where your keeper can be keeping you in it. He’s not.

[tommy_c12000]

Surely we can’t blame him for the 3rd as well?!?!

hopefully it means that we will see Moran and Ferguson

[Jd2793]

3rd was outrageous. no fault for that one thankfully.

[ontheotherhand]

A little spell on the sidelines might not be the worst for him now. Needs to study the last few weeks and figure out some adjustments.

[CSAD]

A little spell on the sidelines might not be the worst for him now. Needs to study the last few weeks and figure out some adjustments.

How does being on the sideline and not playing help him? If Southampton think McCarthy is the answer then what’s the question?

[tommy_c12000]

Southampton doing well 1-1 against Fulham, much better team in second half. Would be great for Gavin if they won.

Unfortunately he hasn’t looked too convincing again. Dropped a lame cross in first half, got lucky. Bizarrely mistimed his punch out in second half, should have been pretty easy to deal with and almost cost Southampton a goal. Similar to his mistiming for his error last game. Distribution poor, and playing deeper than usually indicating his low confidence. Hopefully team can get a result may help Gavin

[tommy_c12000]

Cruel blow for Southampton conceding late goal to likely lose. These are tough times for Gavin, character building hopefully!

[tommy_c12000]

Bizarre defending from Southampton again, largely centre halve’s fault but Bazunu at fault too. Peno conceded. Bad

[tommy_c12000]

Good save from Gavin though!