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Gazzaniga Will Keep Place For The Aston Villa Game
Monday, 11th May 2015 10:17

Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Paulo Gazzaniga will keep his place for the visit of Aston Villa next weekend and Saints fans need to support that decision and indeed the goalkeeper himself.

Paulo Gazzaniga was a surprise selection for the trip to Leicester City and Ronald Koeman has confirmed he made the decision as he wanted to see the keeper in Premier League action before he decided what if any action he needed to take next season in regard to signing a replacement for Fraser Forster whilst he recovers from injury.

The truth is he will be no nearer knowing, yes Gazzaniga's misplaced clearance started the move that lead to Leicester's second goal, but both Forster and Kelvin Davis have made worse clearances and go away with it, however when you need luck sometimes it isn't there and that was the case for the Argentinian keeper, there was still a lot of work for Leicester to do to get the goal and if our players had concentrated and played to the standards they were a few weeks ago then this incident would really not have been a talking point, now Im sure that some will make much noise about Gazzaniga.

But apart from this miskick he didnt put a foot wrong, he had no chance with either goal and he made a decent save, albeit one that you would expect him to make, if that second goal had not happened he could walk off the pitch feeling pleased with his performance.

The problem now is that he has to run out against Aston Villa knowing that a fair section of the crowd are waiting to get on his back however he plays.

But those who are quick to have a go at Gazzaniga should remember the situation that he found himself in three seasons ago shortly after joining the club, after our opening four Premier League games in 2012/13 Kelvin Davis had conceded 14 goals and we had a defence that was rickety to say the least.

Gazzaniga came in against Aston Villa for the fifth game as a 20 year old goalkeeper with only 19 league starts for Gillingham in League two to his name, yet he was expected to come in and perform in front of the leakiest defence in the country.

In that Villa game he was superb and made some great saves in a 4-1 win, however it would have been too much to ask for him to be able produce match winning performances in front of a defence that was in disarray.

People forget that after a series of reasonable games in came Artur Boruc and out went Boruc after two games, at this point Gazzaniga should have been back at Staplewood learning his trade not being expected to play in some vital games.

If you speak to some people you would think he had never had a decent game in his life, they forget that in that first season, in his nine appearances Saints actually won 12 points and he did well in vital wins at QPR and home to Newcastle, he did his bit that season, his reward was to have a section of the supporters on his back everytime he has played.

Last season after Boruc went off injured at Chelsea, Gazzaniga again came on and played a further 7 times, in most of these games he did well enough, but some supporters have a selective memory, they forget his performance in a 1-1 draw with soon to be Champions Manchester City, or his role in the 3-0 win at Cardiff City,all they will remember is his game in the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City.

What some fail to take into account is that Paulo Gazzaniga was bought with the future in mind, he was not ready to be plunged in to the situation in 2012 and last season you could see he still wasn't over it, however he didn't hide and went out and did his best.

The truth is that in terms of progression it would not be out of the ordinary for him to have been making his first team debut on Saturday, I would have thought that we would have wanted to work on him for a season at Staplewood and then send him out on loan to get experience, instead he has been constantly thrown to the lions, never coming in when times have been good, but always thrown in at a time when the team is struggling and that is not good for any goalkeepers confidence, let alone one that is inexperienced.

Perhaps he will not have a future at Southampton, if he doesn't that in some part will be down to some sections of the crowd who will not let him, they cannot seem to accept the situations he found himself in, only to lame him because he was not immediately the complete article when he played in goal.

Now he is probably ready, a year spent working in the academy team will have restored his confidence, certainly Ronald Koeman has seen enough to suggest that he could be the answer next season in some capacity, but my worry is that too many are ready to jump on his back too quickly.

On Saturday we play what is effectively our cup final, we have to take all three points to ensure 7th place and to stand a chance of 6th, Paulo Gazzaniga will be in goal and he needs our support as do several other players who have been scapegoats of late.

So I ask the question, do we want Saints to beat Aston Villa and take three points on Saturday or would we prefer to be able to scream abuse at Gazzaniga and then have a good moan about how he has cost us a place in Europe.

I don't know if he is the answer to our problems in the future, what i do know is that he is pulling on a Saints shirton Saturday in our most vital game of the season, I would rather him do well than see him be destroyed by the crowd on Saturday, because if he is i feel our hopes of Europe will be destroyed with him.

Photo: Action Images



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SaintBrock added 11:05 - May 11
We have nothing to lose for now. Robert Green should be available soon 'though.
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ExiledSupporter added 11:46 - May 11
Agree with you 100% about Gazzaniga, Nick. I would hate to see the young man's career further damaged by a minority of oafs in the ground on Saturday.

Perhaps we ought to ask why we have such difficulty bringing on our development goalkeepers, I notice that Bialkowski seems to be doing well for Ipswich now...and good luck to him too.

But can't agree about your support for the quest for Europa League football which I think is thoroughly mistaken - too stressful, too exhausting and largely unprofitable. I would much rather we were again competitive in the upper quartile of the Prem League next season than suffer the significant loss of form experienced by Wigan, Hull, Everton and Swansea, our squad will never be big enough or have enough depth for the gruelling demands of the Europa League.
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SaintNick added 12:21 - May 11
I think the Europa league could be profitable, Stoke made £6 million from it a couple of years ago, Wigan were in the Championship when they played in it, Hull got 37 points and finished 16th last season and only have 3 points less so far this, but they only played 4 Europa League games, the last one being back in August, so whatever they do this season cant be based on that.

Swansea only got 4 points less than the previous season in the year they played in it, Stoke 1 point less.

Everton have shown that it is possible to play in it year in year out and stay in the top 8

The Europa League has a lot of myths that are not born out by fact,
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Jesus_02 added 12:43 - May 11
Bart always had the potential to be a good keeper as does Gazzaniga. Unfortunatly its the one area of the team that you really cant risk inexperience so bringing young keepers through is always going to be a tough ask.

Conversly we need to have good U21 keepers to create the right enviroment to bring the U21 outfield players through.

A new Keeper is a must for next season, and to be honest an Old head on a Two/Three year contract is what is required.
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ItchenNorth added 13:24 - May 11
Yeah but show me a fact or example of where the Europa League has propelled a club of similar size to that of Saints onto qualification for the Champions League the following season or ever !? Its a millstone, just like FFP to block aspirational clubs reaching the top echelons of European football.

6 millions will barely buy one top players weaker leg either these days lol !!
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Jesus_02 added 13:38 - May 11
Its natural to fear the Europa League as its something new. However I somehow trust that Saints will have some stratagy for dealing with it (under 21s in Europe?). I could certainly help with getting an experienced keeper in .
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ItchenNorth added 13:50 - May 11
Under 21s would be my plan because lets face it; Champions League is what we all want really ! With FFP we need to continue to develop and push the youngsters so the 21s in the EL would great experience for them.
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SanMarco added 15:45 - May 11
I think it is a bit late now. I would have brought him in for the rest of the season as soon as Forster went. I sincerely believe that we would have had just as many if not more points now if we had done that.
1

Zambucco added 18:15 - May 11
Wow, so much negativity about the Europa League, it is a must if we are to progress as a club. Are we expected to miraculously bypass this league and settle into Champions league glory?
We have shown time and time again that we can defy the odds, and we shall cognitive to do so, with the structure in place at the club, it has to be the logical progression. All those who were saying we shouldn't have dreams of Europe, we should consolidate our place in the premiership, are probably those bemoaning or recent lack of form.

As for Gazzaniga, he's always looked solid to me, and deserves the chance to prove himself.

Nick please stop making such a big thing about this mythical minority, I've never heard them, where do they sit? Bloody hell I'll have a moan about Pelle, does that make me bad? I even had the nerve to moan about SRL! It's always going to be there in every club in the world. Rant over
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gpsgm added 21:06 - May 11
Agree with you 100% on Europe Zam but I heard the mythical minority and it was loud and drunk at Leicester, but it was a minority. The away fans are fantastic when we are winning but some of them lose the plot at times like this. Some idiot was calling Gazza a banker after the 2nd goal like the defence had nothing to do with it. Was it Gazza who couldn't score a goal when we dominated the 2nd half?
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BlackRod added 23:02 - May 13
What a load of old twaddle. If Gazzaniga plays we're dead. No more to be said but no-one wants all the extra games that entry to the EUROPA League will bring for the clubs finishing 6th and 7th. Shrewd move by Koeman.
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