That's something he was actually good at though. The biggest flaw of his is his shot stopping imo which is irrelevant to the style except for perhaps facing less shots. Ultimately though it's still a big issue if we concede from a high percentage of shots on target.
Well if he does end up being our keeper next season, I really hope you're right because I thought he was actually OK with his distribution, just not his shot-stopping and general command of his area. Hopefully the loan may have changed that though. I know it's a low bar but I'd still be happier with McCarthy. I'm one who thinks we wouldn't have got promoted with Bazunu (although maybe that wouldn't have been a bad thing!) Edit: Again, Libby beats me to it!
I guess the argument is that our style of play under Martin often led to us losing the ball in bad places with little/no cover. So the chances we were giving up and the goals we were conceding were often such that Baz had very little chance unless he pulled off a top class save. I assume the xg of the goals we conceded under Martin were pretty high and thusly the chance of him making saves lower. That said, I'm not sure his save percentage was any good on his loan spell either. I'm definitely in the please let's not have Baz as our no.1 next season camp.
Think it’s a mixture tbh. Sure his main strength is his ability with his feet, but because we pissed round at the back so much under Martin you could’ve had two keepers in goal and conceded loads due to the chances we gave up. Be interesting if anyone did a compilation of all the goals we conceded with Bazunu and see how many were really his fault from a shot stopping perspective. You’d hope he would probably make some saves where you wouldn’t blame him if the shot went in like all keepers should at this level, but I do think the stats are skewed somewhat just because of the types of chances we were giving other teams. Not saying I think he is a great keeper or anything just that I think the criticism of him is maybe too much.
Yeah that's what I was alluding to by we might concede less shots, I meant less good chances really I guess. Either way I'm not one for stats etc but I remember feeling "he should have saved that" on loads of occasions throughout his two seasons. I honestly think it'd be a disaster to have him as first choice. Would much prefer McCarthy.
I agree, but although his distribution was good (better than McCarthy IMO), you cannot underestimate how much the passing around at the back makes them nervy. Also, if we are not playing suicide ball, maybe his positioning is automatically better. Again, not saying he is the next Buffon (maybe buffoon), but not as bad as he was.
I’m not a fan of Bazunu. He has never struck me as a “natural” goalkeeper, more a manufactured keeper. His positioning isn’t great and apart from a few reflex saves, when the ball is hit too close to his body and he throws an arm or a foot out, he’s generally too slow to react to shots - which possibly ties in with his low save to shots percentages. He’s also too slight in build which allows him to get jostled too easily at corners. One thing to factor into the next season is the 8 second rule or concede a corner rule. I am presuming that this rule only applies to the ball being in the keeper’s hands and not at his feet, and seems a bit ridiculous because there is already a rule in place that refs haven’t implemented, although the refs are being pressured to go in heavy on this at the world club championship (?) when it starts.
Yeah, Bazunu wasn't only bad under Martin. He was crap in 2022/23 as well. I can't remember specifics that far back so I've just looked at the stats for 2022/23. We conceded the second highest number of goals in the league and, while I'm not going to claim xG is the be-all and end-all, on the comparison of xG vs the number of goals actually conceded, we conceded 22 goals more than you'd expect. The next worst team in the Premier League was Leeds, who conceded 12 goals more than you'd expect.
He was crap in his loan this season too. Although he had only just come back from injury so you can't judge him too much on that but it does add to the pattern that he might, in fact, just be crap
Bazanu is 23. That's pretty young for a goalie. There's a chance he could develop into a better keeper. Of course, this isn't a given, nor is that journey pain-free nor something we should rely on, but it is a consideration if we can't find a replacement.
Baz is the equivalent of when you get a keeper sent off, and you don’t have another on the bench, so you put the RB in goal. Decent enough with his feet, but…
it is very young to be thrown into top flight football, I think most GKs in the prem are late 20s or early 30s. Brightons is young I think but the exception. It's another one on our recent football strategy disaster list that he was deemed good enough at that age whilst almost every other team know gks peak much later on in their careers
