Gazza made a stand up one on one save at 0-0 and made another top diving save yesterday. these seem to be completely uncredited.
The first one was very wide and it would have been shocking if he'd let it in, pretty simple block. And the diving save from the long-range shot he let it go completely through his hands. If it hadn't hit his head it would have been a massive clanger. So he doesn't really deserve much credit for those. The other two saves he made were straight at him and he only held one which was a weak looping header. By the way, that video is utterly brilliant.
As long as I remember at Southampton (about 25 -30 years), goalkeepers have been one of our strong positions, along with strikers. We've never had too much problem with those positions in general; it's just absolute madness what is going on down there with our GK situation. Three keepers (one only bought in on emergency), two of whom have little and no experience at this level, and absolutely no consistency whatsoever in who plays each week. It is absolutely imperative in my view to keep a decent, consistent man in between the sticks throughout a season. Everyone from Swansea to Norwich to Newcastle upon promotion have made sure this spot has been filled with high quality, and arguably their keepers played a huge role in their first season success. Our lack of forethought here is a travesty, and an extremely high risk strategy which has lost us on balance a minimum of six points so far, and I'm well annoyed at it.
was at bottom of page I'll quote it to new page. It's really funny I feel sorry for Nigel for this mistake! I think we'll beat Newcastle if we play Gazzaniga in goal again. Dropping him might piss the team off
I was gonna resurrect this thread last night but didn't want to look smug, so glad someone did it for me. I'm surprised people are still going for Gazza as no.1 after the last two games. Haven't seen two more uncomfortable performances since Bart vs Blackpool. I also don't understand on what basis he's a 'great young 'keeper', as many suggested. His distribution is on the whole superb for his age, but other than that he's only made one (Villa), maybe two impressive saves in the ten-ish games he's played, whilst conceding some very disappointing and vital goals (Dyer vs Swansea, Jelavic vs Everton, Hoilett vs QPR). This certainly isn't a witchhunt, and i'm generally rational in my support of the team, I'm just surprised at such patience being shown towards a player who is quite clearly the weak link in our eleven. Let him have a year or two in the lower leagues and then reassess. I hope he comes good for us, but now isn't the time to blood him. He's the weakest starting 'keeper in the Premier League by quite some way. For those suggesting that we 'haven't got better so might as well stick with him', did you never watch Celtic in the mid to late 00's? If no, then you're in for treat.
You are surprised? We have no wins or points at all without Gazzaniga playing . He's getting slack because of that and the fact he is an extremely young inexperienced keeper. Gazzaniga's errors aren't comparable to Bart's error. That was horrendous and cost us the win streak. I don't remember anyone wanting Bart as number 1 either
Come on, he's played in easier games. I'd like to see shots to saves ratio for each of them because that's a lot more illuminating than simply goals conceded (although it would still be skewed in Gazza's favour because of the weaker opposition).
I don't think Davis should really have been dropped to start with. Can't remember him doing much wrong, though he is certainly suspect against long range shots. Nothing springs to mind against Davis although I tried to erase the start of the season from my memory. He does have quite a nervy demenaor about him that I don't like however. Now I'd like to stick with Gazzaniga for continuity and the fact we are doing better as a side with him. Thought I'd add that Gazzaniga's distribution isn't great so far I've got the stats. It's worse than Davis and Boruc for completition at the moment.
Boruc: 2 Games - 10 Shots on Goal - 6 Goals - 4 Saves - 40% Save Percentage. Davis: 4 Games - 28 Shots on Goal - 14 Goals - 14 Saves - 50% Save Percentage Gazza: 6 Games - 24 Shots on Goal - 10 Goals - 14 Saves - 58% Save Percentage Skimmed through the match stats and got that quickly. Not sure it tells you a great deal to be honest but there you are!
I haven't voted yet as I am genuinely not sure about this. It would be Davis... If only he didn't wait until every opposing player was back in a good defensive position before passing it out after getting the ball. Gazza made mistakes but you surely cannot compare his performance to Barts in that horror show? It was like he thought that the ball was red-hot, so little did he want to pick it up! Boric may be the better keeper but can we have someone with the wrong attitude ruining the morale. Fortunately, I can leave that to Nigel and then pontificate about the decision later.
Ok I've done some numbers: Davis Man City - 11 shots faced, 3 conceded Wigan - 5 shots faced, 2 conceded Man Utd - 7 shots faced, 3 conceded Arsenal - 11 shots faced, 6 conceded Total - 4 games, 34 shots faced, 14 conceded Shots per game - 8.5 Conceded per game - 3.5 Shots saved percentage - 58% Gazzaniga Villa - 3 shots faced, 1 conceded Everton - 10 shots faced, 3 conceded Fulham - 7 shots faced, 2 conceded West Brom - 4 shots faced, 2 conceded Swansea - 2 shots faced, 1 conceded QPR - 5 shots faced, 1 conceded Total - 6 games played, 31 shots faced, 10 conceded Shots per game - 5.2 Conceded per game - 1.7 Shots saved percentage - 68% Boruc West Ham - 6 shots faced, 4 conceded Spurs - 4 shots faced, 2 conceded Total - 2 games played, 10 shots faced, 6 conceded Shots per game - 5 Conceded per game - 3 Shots saved percentage - 40% Conclusion Davis has played by far the hardest games, and has faced far more shots on average per game. It's worth bearing in mind 2 of his saves were from penalties. Gazzaniga's save percentage is quite impressive, but he has faced weaker opposition so many of those shots were probably weaker than the ones Davis faced, and he hasn't had any penalties to deal with. He has made a few glaring errors which we are all familiar with, at least two of which led directly to goals. Boruc's figures are highly unimpressive but two games is not enough to draw any conclusions. One of the six goals he conceded was a penalty. Take from that what you will, but it's useful to have the numbers laid out I imagine. Slightly different figures for shots faced from Mikey's above, someone else can work out which of us is right! But it wouldn't change the conclusion much.
Think that's because mine doesn't include any shots that were blocked, whereas some places include shots that were blocked but were clearly going on target? But like you say, doesn't make a huge amount of difference. I think it's hard to read much into any of the stats, there are too many variables... Own goals, deflections, mistakes, shots that were literally gentle bobblers into their hands... I think it's fair to say that none of them have really distinguished themselves, all have made errors, but all of them have reasons they should be in the team, Kelvin the loyal servant, Gazza the young talent and Boruc the previously top-level keeper... That's probably why this discussion is so open and varied. I don't think there is one right answer or anything resembling one right answer. That's why, as I've already said a few times, I'll leave it up to Nigel!
Yeah there are too many variables. You'd need to have a whole season's worth of data for each keeper to even begin to make a judgement on who is best really. I guess we can infer from those figures, and the fact he's playing, that Gazzaniga is the most impressive in training, but he seems understandably nervous in games. It's difficult to decide because they all have different flaws. It might, bizarrely, be Davis who ends up as our most reliable keeper!
Hmm interesting save percentage stats Also Remember we have conceded deflections/own goals they shouldn't go against the keepers
Think we have all been hard on Davis looking at the stats and the teams he faced. Perhaps he should be given another chance.
I may have to take a bow....I suggested at the beginning of the season that SKD would be a perfect coach and third goalie (since there is no point in laying out on a goalie who may be needed but scarcely plays). Have to admit I didn't see him being dropped so quickly.
