So been a lot of debate about these two this season and seems to have accelerated in the last few days so though it'd be interesting to have a poll on who you'd prefer. Might keep all the discussion in one place also. In the red corner you have Alex McCarthy, generally a decent shot stopper and good at commending his box but very prone to making errors like he did last night with the ball at his feet. In the blue corner you have Gavin Bazunu, very rarely makes howlers like last night (can only think of one with the ball at his feet since being here), but also very rarely makes great saves and makes less saves in general. Less commanding of his box than McCarthy. Have to say despite last night's error I still prefer Alex. Really poor error last night and should have hoofed it, but ultimately all goalkeepers make howlers on occasion and I think he's a better all round keeper. Better shot stopper, dealing with crosses, and generally commanding his box/the back line for me. Unfortunately we shouldn't really be having to have this discussion as we should have addressed this position in the Summer but we are where we are...
Baz. Yet another brainfart from McCarthy last night shows he can't be trusted. McCarthy isn't a good enough shotstopper to look past these errors.
MCCarthy for me. I don’t dislike Baz, but McCarthy is better at doing the goal keeper thing of actually stopping the ball going into the net. Prone to mistakes like last night, but I also think he can recover from them better.
McCarthy. 100%. That doesn't mean I'm particularly keen on him starting either, though 100% we should've addressed it in the summer, instead we're left with 3 keepers who aren't good enough.
Baz doesn't really strike me as a natural goalkeeper at times and lacks a lot of basic fundamentals (to continue with boxing analogy). I'm too lazy to look it up but I often wonder if he came into football quite late.
Bazunu. Given the opportunity to progress, he’ll continue to improve and this division is the perfect place for him to do that. McCarthy, on the other hand, had reached his ceiling
Without him, we'd have gone in last night at HT 3 or 4 down ... it was a stupid mistake, yes, but he did also keep us in the game. Worth overlooking for me.
Macca. Yeah he makes some big mistakes, but in fairness to him he only plays about once a month so he’s probably permanently a bit rusty. A run of games might wake him up a bit. He’s capable of playing a blinder (ie; playoff final), which I’ve just never seen from Bazunu. On Baz, I just feel he doesn’t have a big enough personality for our team at the moment. We’re lacking in confidence and I think an older, more experienced keeper would help. And yeah, he rarely makes big saves.
If Bazunu had made that mistake last night you'd have Saints fans frothing at the mouth. He has become a player people love to hate. He has been better this season as well. I can't think of an obvious mistake he has made and he has definitely been more commanding when coming out to punch/claim the ball.
I may be misremembering, I dont know, but either way, my point stands in that he's made good saves that's kept us in a game which I doubt Bazunu would have made.
Hate is a bit strong isn't it? Not sure many people actually hate him, just don't rate him. Re obvious mistakes that's never been Baz's problem. He very rarely makes those, he just very rarely makes great saves either.
