Opinion is divided in Paulo Gazzaniga, sadly there are those that just won't give him a chance and look to crucify him in every game, here we look at his season and why he should be given a chance.
Paulo Gazzaniga has not had the rub of the green at Saints, he arrived two years ago as a raw 20 year old with only 19 league appearances to his name all in League 2 for his previous club Gillingham, that was no grounding for the maelstrom he was thrown into.
In fact every time Paulo gets to play its always in a time of crisis, he made his debut after Saints had conceded 14 goals in their opening 4 games last season and for some reason when he is called upon it always seems to be in the middle of a tough spell.
Yes he has made mistakes but he has also done some good things and i feel with paulo its about getting confidence, Artur Boruc had to endure a baptism of fire but he was experienced enough to deal with it, Gazzaniga is not and its bad enough being plunged into hard games that you are not quite ready for, let alone have the fans on your back.
Perhaps Gazzaniga's problem is that despite his lack of experience, his league career at Saints is only 16(1) games which added to his Gillingham appearances dont even give him a full season in total, he has barely been given the chance to get that confidence up by playing in cup matches etc, the question is why did Kelvin play all of the cup games, surely it would have been better to let Gazzaniga get his confidence up, yet some wonder why he makes mistakes, I think here we have an answer.
But when thrown in although he has made mistakes he has still contributed to gaining points, the draw at Newcastle, the win at Cardiff and of course the home draw to eventual champions Manchester City showed that he isnt as bad as some would make out.
But as mentioned he needs experience, in today's game you need to gain that before you are thrown into a Premier league goal, take Jack Butland, he is the most promising young goalkeeper in England a year younger than Paulo, he has an England cap, Stoke paid £4 million for him, yet he has played a total of 3 Premier league games out of his career total of over 100 games, Stoke know that he could be destroyed if he isn't ready to play in the Premier, they send him out on loan to get that experience, when he has it he will be much better for it.
Gazzaniga does not have that luxury, he justs get thrown in at the deep end every time and then people wonder why he isnt ready for it.
Next season I would like to see Gazza put out on loan for the year, get his confidence back, we should get in a capable Premier experienced deputy to sit on our bench, there are plenty of them around, Hull got Steve Harper from Newcastle for instance, let Gazza go out of the limelight and learn his trade properly, if he does that and the fans give him a chance, he might just come back a quality keeper for this club for many years, perhaps he wont, but it is worth a try.
I give Gazzaniga 6 1/2 out of 10 for this season, yes he has made mistakes, but he has also shown that he can come back from them, 6 for his performances, but an extra 1/2 for standing up tall in when thrown into situations he is not ready for, something that is not his fault.