By 'winding up rangers fans' do you mean almost starting a riot in one of the most religiously volatile places in the world? I don't make an assumption on him being a bad egg or anything at all. I think he's a bit of a character but there are plenty of those in the world and I have nothing against him whatsoever, on a personal or footballing level. Some people do, hardly surprising. Name a player, they'll have their haters, just the way football works. There are some people that mostly unfairly have taken up against him, there are some people that don't like Adam Lallana and want him dropped, and he's the golden boy of the club. You act though like he had a full stadium of fans jeering at him and abusing him whilst he stood there distraught and hopeless wishing he could go home to Poland and be comforted against Mama Boruc's bosom. 'The way they treated him'... A few select individuals voiced their displeasure at what they perceived to be errors he had made. That's the very least you're going to get as a professional football player, I could go and play for a local Sunday League team and get that. He should have ignored it, he didn't, he made the situation worse, and then there was the dreaded INCIDENT *dramatic music*. A big fuss made about absolutely **** all, in my book, but that's just going to happen. A Premier League footballer kicks a bottle into hoardings out of frustration, it bounces in towards the crowd and hits a steward. That's gonna cause issues whether you're Artur Boruc or Ryan Giggs.
Glasgow is Glasgow and one half of the city loved him and one hated him. My point is how your fans seem to not have wanted him from before he kicked a ball due to bad press from two plus years ago in Scotland and as an outsider I see story bout fans abusing him and I go some charming fans you have at Southampton and tar you all with same brush. Clearly you all aren't mindless morons like section of crowd that day The guy could be stellar for you for rest of season or be a disaster, who knows. But he's a character and he'll dish back anything handed out at him and on one hand why not. Everyone seems to think fans can do what they want and players should just be quite ok with being abused and take it. Minute any player gives lip back fans become outraged
Can't speak for everyone but from what I saw most were fairly happy at his arrival, if not gushing with joy, always good to have someone of his quality in the a squad especially short of experience of quality at that position. Some may have dismissed him from day one due to him being 'past it' or due to the controversy around him, but that's just the case with any signing really. Some hail Gaston Ramirez as one of the greatest signings we've ever made and certainly one of the best of the last decade, some call him a waste of money and an unneeded luxury.
Boruc shouldn't have reacted as he did, but none of us can know what was going on his head. If he was just frustrated and genuinly wasn't aiming at the fans, then he should be given a fresh start if the opportunity for him arrives. I'm presuming, though, that Adkins isn't playing him for footballing reasons.
Wow. Peter Shilton was the best keeper we ever had. I remember the goal in the World Cup semi-final for Germany where he stood rooted to the spot and I also remember when we played Hamburg in about 1984/5 in the UEFA Cup at The Dell. Their goalie hit the cross bar from a goal kick with Shilts rooted to the spot again. My point? Goalie's are in a thankless position. If we keep the confidence at the back and give one of them a run of games, then we will be okay. In today's game the keepers get cruciifed with so much coverage. De Gea last season at United; Hart this season. Gazza has the shirt fro now, so let's get behind him and give him a run.
My only thought with Boruc is that if Nigel thought he could reproduce his Celtic/Serie A form instantly he would be in, but for whatever reason he feels like he needs game time to get there. Not sure when the next U21 games are coming around but maybe we will see him in one of those. But he knows it's important to make a decision and stick to it, and it looks like that's Gazza for the next few games at least. FLT you are right that a goalkeeper can't really win and I bet he feels like 60,000 eyes are on him every time he moves. It's all been a bit of a distraction from the fact that our back four have been so much better in the last two games, in fact I noticed Yoshida got man of the match from one (grown up) newspaper summary on the QPR game.
I was very pleased to see that our new signings have settled in bcause some were beginning to think we bought badly. Clyne and Yoshida look settled in. We aren't seeing so much of Davis, but he is up against more competition for a place. I don't think Gazza was bought to be our immediste first team keeper...so a bit tough for him. He has many good points, but, though I can tolerate the odd mistake whilst he is gaining experience, I don't like his habit of fending off easy stops into dangerous areas. Grab the ball for heaven's sake or put it out. However, Adkins feels Boruc isn't right (for some reason), so feel we will stick with Gazza and hope he becomes the keeper he could be.
Is Adkins partly to blame for Gazzaniga's form dip? The answer would be yes. After all he looked good and sure of himself before he got dropped for no reason.
He looked good and sure of himself before his mistake against Swansea. And he was dropped because a more experienced keeper of proven quality came into the squad... Didn't work out the way Nigel hoped but there was certainly a reason.
Comparing Gazza to Shilts, really?! That's two errors in his career FLT and only one led to a goal. Gazza's unfortunately made two in two games (and it would've been three if Taarabt's shot that he fumbled hadn't hit him in the head), so not really comparable is it. I'm just surprised given the vilification of the likes of Fox and Guly for the slightest of mishaps that the majority are still so smitten with Gazzaniga. He's had ten games now and hasn't put in one performance that would be considered above average at this level, while looking increasingly uncomfortable in the last couple of games. To those saying 'stick with him, he'll learn from his mistakes' (etc.), can we really afford in our position to have a goalkeeper in the process of that learning curve? Like it or not, on the basis of the last two games, he WILL continue to make errors in the remaining 26 games this season which could well cost us points. Someone made a point earlier about his appearance skewing people's judgement. I think there might be something in this. He's good-looking, wears fancy boots, and has a cool name that rolls off the tongue. Had we signed, say, John Smith, an English, pimply 20 year old from Gillingham, whose only past experience is 20 games in League Two, I suspect the general perception of him might be different!
I'd say Gazza's made five or six errors in the last two games. Two resulted in goals, but it could have been a lot worse.
I do think for some people it is partly Gazza's perceived talent and the rough around the edges Boruc's perceived villainy that make them favour Gazzaniga rather than actual footballing reasons. In reality, Gazzaniga has not done a great deal right and in the last two games made serious errors, but he has the makings of a good keeper but has not shown enough of that to justify him being the unchallenged number one. Boruc has not done a great deal right either, had a disciplinary issue as well as a few less cut and dry errors. But Boruc has shown in his past to be of great quality and on his heyday was one of the best in the world. The problem is, none of us know the actual depth of Gazzaniga's talent, or his confidence and state of mind. And none of us know if Boruc is a disruption to the dressing room or team, if he is truly match-fit and if he still has the qualities of yesteryear. We have not seen enough of either them on or off the pitch to have a good enough idea about these things to balance the scales between calculated assumptions (which is most of what we do as football fans) and just guessing and speculation (which is also a lot of what we do as football fans). So I will reiterate once again that I think we just have to trust and hope that the great and wise Nigel does know these things, get behind Nigel, and get behind whoever he picks. Again, personally I would tilt marginally towards keeping Gazzaniga in the side, because despite his individual errors, as a team we have functioned far better in the last two games, and perhaps Boruc would disrupt that through his own faults or just through the simple process of swapping keepers and the connection between defence and goalkeeper. But for all I know Fonte and Yoshida would much rather have and be much more comfortable and confident with the experienced Boruc between the sticks, or maybe they would prefer the calm and level Gazzaniga to the nutty holy goalie. But I, despite how much I would like to be, am not Nigel and am not in Nigel's position. Some day...
I'm confused, you refer to "your fans" but your profile says you're a southampton fan. Plus all your posts on here seem to be about Boruc. I smell a rat, who are you?
She is a Rangers fan and her husband is a Fiorentina fan, thus very familiar with Boruc and mostly interested with him. I think she may have put Southampton as she is a fan by association of Boruc. Her backstory is too solid for her to be one of our resident ban-evaders. Unless they are upping their game considerably.
