Paulo Gazzaniga could again be in goal for Saints on Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur and needs the backing of the fans rather than the vitriol of a very vocal minority.

Paulo Gazzaniga has never done anything that should warrant some of the abuse he has received from a section of Saints support over the past few seasons, he has been a model professional and always tried his best when picked, in the main he has been a steady keeper when played, but some supporters can't seem to forgive him for a blunder or two.

They cut him no slack for the fact that in his first season he arrived at Saints at 20 with little experience, only 19 league starts for Gillingham plus another appearance as sub, ironically the same number he reached for Saints with his appearance at Crystal Palace at the weekend.

Those that fire the abuse seem to forget that he was thrown into a team that had conceded 14 goals in its opening 4 matches and that a goalkeeper with far more experience in Kelvin Davis had been found wanting.

In the main Gazzaniga did a good job, but a couple of errors meant that some fans got on his back, the reality though was that Gazzaniga did a job in some vital results that first season, wins against Villa & Newcastle at home plus a relegation six pointer which Saints won against QPR, ironically Im sure that Kelvin Davis would be the first to admit that he made more errors in that season than Gazzaniga, yet he is welcomed as a hero when he plays whilst the younger keeper is abused by a minority.

The following season Gazzaniga's chances seemed to only occur when it was a difficult game, Manchester City at home saw him play well in a 1-1 draw, but supporters only remember his display when he had to play against the same side away from home in a 4-1 defeat.

Last season he played only twice, the first game at Leicester saw him do OK, but the fans were on his back for what they saw as a mistake, yes it wasn't the best kick out, but it still went a fair way and over by the touchline, you could look at Nathaniel Clyne and the way he failed to deal with it and was roasted by his man, you could also look at the way that Jose Fonte ball watched and left his man, but they weren't held to task by the boo boys, the keeper was.

The following game against Aston Villa was perhaps the first game that Gazzaniga had played in for Saints with no pressure and he put in a decent performance, all keeper make errors and you have to ook at their temperament and the way they conduct themselves.

From that point of view Gazzaniga has showed he has the aptitude to have a career in this game, despite the pressure on from elements of his own support and at times playing in front of defences and indeed a team not in form he has never hid, always tried to do the right thing. He has not been a poor keeper for Saints, you only need to lok at results overall when he has played, but he has been an unlucky one.

Last season Ronald Koeman and his coaches spent the whole season rebuilding his confidence and trying to get him back to being a keeper ready for first team action, they have continued that this season.

The fact that they preferred Kelvin when Stekelenburg was injured a couple of months ago showed that they did not want to throw Gazzaniga to the lions of a home crowd who could turn on him, it also proved that as good a servant as Kelvin has been he has had his day. When it came to the game against Palace Koeman had no hesitation in throwing him in and was rewarded by a competent display that saw Gazzaniga grow in confidence as the game went on.

Now it looks like Gazzaniga will have to play against Tottenham Hotspur with Koeman admitting.

“Depending on how is Maarten coming back. I don’t know now if he is available for next week.

“We know Paulo is a goalkeeper with a future and he played well with the under-21s and that was the reason that we put Paulo in and not Kelvin.

“He played last week, he showed good training sessions and it showed.

“He was on a high level as a goalkeeper.”

Now if Ronald Koeman had faith in Paulo Gazzaniga then the fans should as well, he needs confidence, every keeper does and it will not help him, nor the team should some of the fans be on his back from the very start.

Ironically both Kelvin Davis and Artur Boruc were the subject of supporter abuse in the early parts of their careers at St Mary's, they were experienced enough to play through it and earn the fans respect, Paulo Gazzaniga does not have that experience.

Irony is a word being used a lot in this article and I make no apologies for using it again when I say that the same fans that abuse Gazzaniga are the same ones that are accusing Maarten Stekelenburg of never making a decent save and this time last year were accusing Fraser Forster of similar.

So if we want Saints to beat Spurs on Saturday then we need to be behind all our team, but especially our goalkeeper, will we feel better celebrating a great win in the pub after the game or bemoaning the fact that the keeper arn't up to it, sometimes I think some would like a combination of the two, a good win and a whpping boy to berate.

I know what I want on Saturday, I want Southampton Football Club to beat Tottenham Hotspur and I want them to do it well with every player playing their full part.

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 10:58 - Dec 15 Nick you always seem to focus on a minority of fans. Unfortunately football is an unforgiving business. The margins are small but that's one of the reasons the players get paid what they do. Gazza is 24 now and if needs to show that he has the mentality to be a player. If a few dickheads can throw him off his game imagine what tens of thousands of opposition fans could do one they sense any frailty. Unfortunately for Gazza the only way to convince is to play well, that silences everyone. The keepers position is absolutely key and if he isn't confident is soon transmits to the team and then the fans. The best keepers have an unshakable confidence even when a mistake is their fault. Gazza should be given every support but the deciding factor as to whether he'll make it is his own mentality.

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A1079 added 11:33 - Dec 15 Nick, you seem to have a very damning view of fellow Saints fans. It often makes me wonder whether we are the worst fans in the league. I accept that sometimes as fans we could support better than we do vocally, especially at home, but we are not unique in that problem. There are always a minority, there are everywhere, but to focus on them drowns out the solid majority who support their team through thick and thin and not every bit of criticism is unjustified (though I see little to be gained by booing your own players during a match). We are not dealing with little innocent wall flowers here. They are professionals, paid a lot of money to play well, so you expect them to perform to that level. We do not have the privilege to be part of the board or influence it close by, but we are a paying customer and if we feel dissatisfied with what is on offer, occasionally we have to somehow get that message across. But on the whole, I rarely hear derogatory abuse or moans and even against Liverpool, many of the fans stayed until the bitter end and got behind the team. If you want to know fickle fans, try Arsenal and the likes of Piers Morgan - hell, then our players would have something to moan about.

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SaintNick added 11:35 - Dec 15 But it is a very vocal minority, Gazza has only played 3 times in nearly 2 years, you are right he needs to show he has the mentality, I think he has shown he has the mentality it is whether that minority will let him though. My point is though that he needs to be backed in showing it, no player and i mean "NO" player can flourish with the amount of abuse some of our fans give certain players

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TreeHugger added 12:12 - Dec 15 Hi performance against palace was exceptional. Hopefully he can maintain some consistency. If so, we have a very good keeper on our hands!
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SonicBoom added 12:18 - Dec 15 It's always been like this. I remember going as a kid and my old man telling e that Alan Ball won the world cup. I saw him play for Saints and he seemed got loads of abuse. I remember being amazed but he was past his best and fans don't have patience. At ANY club.
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halftimeorange added 12:49 - Dec 15 If Paulo plays against Spurs then I will be hard pushed to enjoy the game as the minority referred to sit directly behind me and when I have berated them for their hostile mindless observations I, too, have been subjected to abuse so much so that it has all but ended in a rumpus. For Paulo to succeed he needs to make a blinding save in the first minute which will elicit comments from behind me such as "That was a one-off" and that save has to be followed by numerous acrobatic catches, superb kicking and throwing and complete domination of both our defence and the Spurs attack. What a pity that he'll have to do it when he's surrounded by so many out of form or indifferent colleagues. This will be a test of both our temperaments!

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A1079 added 13:09 - Dec 15 Gazzaniga did well at Palace and had it not been for him, we would have lost by a greater scoreline, though a loss is a loss no matter how you dress it up. It is wrong to get on Gazzaniga's back when as Halftime and Sonic so rightly point out, he is going into what is currently a poorly performing team for which he cannot be blamed. Whoever is in goal come Saturday, it really comes down to how those in the outfield play and they really will need to lift their game. Putting aside that Newcastle beat Spurs, I don't think there is much confidence amongst the fans that we will make it a second defeat for Spurs. But, as Big Mac said once when we were 3-1 down against Ipswich at halftime, mountains are there to be climbed. Whilst on the subject of abuse, I hope Saints fans concentrate on supporting vocally the team instead of pointless abuse against the man in the opposition's technical area.

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dirk_doone added 14:38 - Dec 15 I guess it must be the area you sit in, Nick, but I honestly don't hear any abuse directed at our players. I must admit I do find the lack of vocal support from our 'home kop' in the Chapel End frustrating, and wish that the Northam corner singers would at least move directly behind the goal so that they could make themselves heard. Most of the noise nowadays comes from the away fans in the Northam, apart from a few boring songs about Pompey from the Northam corner, a bit of goading of the away fans from the Itchen corner, and the occasional OWTS which spreads around the ground for a few seconds 3 or 4 times a game. 90% of our fans just sit there stoically in silence for 90% of the time, and certainly don't boo or shout abuse.

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Alehouse added 16:13 - Dec 15 Gazza's performance on Saturday was the outstanding goalkeeping performance for Saints this season. On the basis of that game he should play and get our full support. Steklenberg is a hologram as was clearly illustrated against Liverpool.
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zonehead added 06:20 - Dec 16 Gazza was always a milli second too late on every shot on goal so fair play to the coaching staff they seemed to have got him up to speed at last, and seems more vocal at the defence, he should start the next game
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IWOZTHERE added 09:29 - Dec 16 Surely RK must select him? If you're only as good as your last game then he must be our best player! Season defining couple of games for us , possibly career defining for him? No pressure!!!
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Dan_P326 added 11:10 - Dec 16 His reactions were exceptional against Palace over the weekend, I couldn't see Steklenburg making some of those saves and ultimately things could have been alot worse without him between the sticks. He was also in quite good control of his defence considering this is his first game of the season. Only thing I would mention as a negative is that his distibution could do with a bit of improvement, some of his kicks were a bit wayward.

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SaintBrock added 18:50 - Dec 17 I wouldn't play the lad. Spurs will be all over us on current form and picking the ball out of his net four or five times will not be good for the morale of this young players. Inevitably he'll get abuse whether its his fault or not. This one is for the big men with thick skins and deafness to taunts from fickle fans.
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