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

We've developed a habit of having two other players in the box when Bazunu takes a goal kick, which to me invites pressure on the team, since the opposition can push up. A few times against the Dutch, Bazunu's goal kick didn't leave the box, the defender who received the ball passed it back to him, who had to kick long to clear the (at least) two opposition players who had pushed into our penalty area. Bazunu's passing ability is good enough that his long kicks tend to find an Irish player, but it's up there with "defender does Cryuff turn in his own box" in terms of giving me heart palpitations.

Yep but we were able to develop play nicely by beating their press on a few occasions. It's like setting a trap for the opposition. Key was Cullen being brave receiving the ball on the half turn in tight situations. I see your point about palpitations but I quite like that we have the belief to try these things. I think it's fair to say we were better than the Dutch at it!

Yes, exactly. Stretches the opposition, gives more space, and in theory, makes it easier to play out from the back. As you can't be offside direct from a goal kick, you can also use a pacey striker like Ogbene to loiter in the opposition's half to further stretch their team.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

We've developed a habit of having two other players in the box when Bazunu takes a goal kick, which to me invites pressure on the team, since the opposition can push up. A few times against the Dutch, Bazunu's goal kick didn't leave the box, the defender who received the ball passed it back to him, who had to kick long to clear the (at least) two opposition players who had pushed into our penalty area. Bazunu's passing ability is good enough that his long kicks tend to find an Irish player, but it's up there with "defender does Cryuff turn in his own box" in terms of giving me heart palpitations.

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Its designed to create space for another player to receive the ball - the problem is that the midfielders have to get into space to receive it.

The main issue he had with distribution was that he over shot the forwards on a number of occasions - he needed to take the pedal off the gas a bit.

its not lookin good

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

its not lookin good

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You'd probably cut him some slack on the three-on-one goal in fairness

that one is tough alright. his numbers are just shocking now, i think its time to start worrying.

Perhaps Southampton need a manager, that knows how to get a team to defend !

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

that one is tough alright. his numbers are just shocking now, i think its time to start worrying.

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Oh for feck sake - which of these four goals were the responsibility of Bazunu - defensively Southampton are absolutely shocking, atrociously bad - yet it is all about the 'numbers'.

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

Perhaps Southampton need a manager, that knows how to get a team to defend !

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Martin must be under serious pressure and unless the club are convinced that he can fix the defending then he could be gone. The Southampton squad should be good enough to get them at least into the play-offs - but that won't happen if they keep defending like they have been.

Southampton have simply been shocking for the past 2 games. Defensively (including midfield) they are a shambles. Baz did reasonably well today.

Even the Southampton forum aren't blaming Bazunu. Sounds like there's a lot more going wrong there than him. Awful move all things considered. Maybe he'd like to come home for a season and replace Alan Mannus.

He wasn't mentioned in the commentary or the post match scrutiny. His defence & midfield who kept coughing up cheap ball unable to play out are getting the attention tonight. Haven't watched their other games but did watch tonight, Leicester kept creating one on ones without having to work too hard to.

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Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke

He wasn't mentioned in the commentary or the post match scrutiny. His defence & midfield who kept coughing up cheap ball unable to play out are getting the attention tonight. Haven't watched their other games but did watch tonight, Leicester kept creating one on ones without having to work too hard to.

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The big difference between the two teams is that Maresca addressed some of the issues they had - through the spine of the team - and filling the gaps left by player departures. Then he organised them in a way that they could maximise the sum total of their parts. Now it helps that Leicester had a stronger squad and should never have been relegated ahead of a bad Everton team - but they should go back up in one of the automatic spots (particularly if Vardy can knock in a few goals).

Martin has done nothing to solve Southampton's problems in defence and midfield - Southampton were a shambles last season, particularly after Jones replaced Hassenhuttl - and they are still a shambles. What they really need now is someone who can organise them defensively - even if that means getting away from the pretty passing football - because at the moment that are utterly exposed anytime the opposition launch an attack. It is clear that the Southampton players were getting frustrated with how things are unfolding - they know they are better than that. When Smallbone begins to run around the pitch just hacking people down you know that things are falling off a cliff there.

All of this is not good for Bazunu - letting in 9 goals in the last two games (even if, imo, he bears little responsibility for any of them) will damage any goalkeepers confidence - and goalkeepers suffer when their confidence goes. It must be incredible frustrating for him - Southampton looked like a really good spot when he signed for them - and then he had to play through a disasterous season, which has continued onto the new season. It will take being very strong mentally as an individual to drag himself out of the situation.

I only saw the first half on Friday (Derry v Rovers was the main act) but Twitter was overwhelmingly positive about Bazunu after the first 45 mins. "keeping us in it" "not his fault we can't defend" etc. Maybe the second half was worse, I don't know. The way Leicester scored within 20 seconds of each kick off was criminal on Southampton's part. Twitter hasn't always been kind to him so this was nice to see.

Southampton's defence imploded again last night.

Southampton had a ton of chances to get back into / win the game, particularly in the second half - but it shows what you can do with a disciplined defence, like the one McKenna has in place.

Smallbone was copping some flak on Southampton twitter I think. Manning too.

poor for the 1st goal today

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

poor for the 1st goal today

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He could have done better - but again - the Southampton defence gave the ball away easily and then never closed down the shooter. Bazunu looked like he was caught on the wrong foot, but there was a lot of pace in the shot. The Southampton defence also imploded for the penalty - and Holgate has been a disaster so far. Bazunu did make a couple of decent saves but, like the rest of the Southampton team, he looked nervous yesterday.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Smallbone was copping some flak on Southampton twitter I think. Manning too.

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Smallbone came in for some serious criticism yesterday