The third in the series of player reviews looks at Artur Boruc, perhaps in hindsight one of the crucial signings of the season.

Artur Boruc arrived at Saints in September, ironically on the very weekend that Paolo Gazzaniga made his debut and Saints gained their first points of the season in beating Aston Villa 4-1, being a free agent after his departure from Fiorentina, he was able to sign outside of the transfer window.

However there was some question about his fitness, in that he had not had the benefit of pre season training etc, so it would be another month before he made his Saints debut, those that hoped he was fit and ready would be sadly disapointed as it was quite clear that he was still carrying a few pounds and nowhere near as sharp as he should be, it was a gamble that didnt pay off, Saints got walloped 4-1 and Boruc was attributed a more than fair share of the blame.

His home debut a week later against Spurs saw a section of the crowd behind the Chapel goal hurl abuse at Boruc as Saints went in at half time 2-0 up, in retaliation he appeared to throw his water bottle at the crowd, in truth it was nothing more than a show of dissent rather than a baseball type pitch at the supporters, but the Club had to be seen to do something and he was susspended and Gazzaniga restored to the goal.

For the next couple of months nothing was heard of Boruc, the optimists hoped that he was getting fitter but most thought that we had perhaps seen the last of him and that in the January transfer window, we would do what we should have done in the summer and sign a fit and experienced Premiership quality keeper.

However the tale was to have another twist, Kelvin Davis didnt cover himself in glory as 10 man Stoke came back from 3-1 down to force a draw and perhaps in a desperate gamble, Boruc surprisingly was named to face Arsenal on New Years Day, no one really saw it as anything more than a stop gap, however the season was about to take a turn for the better.

His opening ten minutes or so against the Gunners was a nightmare, with his first touch he dropped a simple catch and for a period it seemed he had teflon gloves on, however those that were giving him the benefit of the doubt as the crowd started to get on his back, noticed that although he wasnt catching the ball, his confidence wasnt dented and he kept coming for those balls he should have been coming for, when he caught the next cross it was greeted by a huge ironic cheer from sections of St Mary's, however he would virtualy not drop another one the whole season, a point silenced some of the doubters but he still wasnt seen as the answer.

A home drubbing against Chelsea in the FA Cup didnt do much to improve his standing, but like Gazzaniga before him it would be Aston Villa whp would provide the opposition in what would be one of those turning points in the season.

In a tough difficult game and one that would have put a big dent in our chances of staying up if we had lost, indeed I still think now if we had lost we would have gone down, Boruc though was outstanding, it wasnt just hios shot stopping it was his command of the box as the second half saw Villa suddenly come to life and bombard our goal, we held out thanks to his display and those who travelled up to the Midlands thought that perhaps we might have our keeper after all.

After that game he barely put a foot or glove wrong and established himself in the side and if you wanted another season changing moments, his penalty save in the final minute of the game at Norwich was another one. However goalkeeping isnt just about saves, a good keeper will not have to make as many saves as a poor one, Boruc's command of his area took the pressure off our defence at a crucial time of the season.

The signing of Artur Boruc didnt turn the season or save Saints, in fact the signing of him rather than a fit and ready keeper back in September almost cost Saints their Premier place, however putting him in against Arsenal did turn the season and that being the case I would say that Boruc was a key player in our staving off relegation and being able to commence next season in the Premier League.

That being the case I think he deserves a 9/10 and certainly in signing a new contract he has saved the club a few million quid in buying a keeper of similar standing, at 33 he is still young in keeper terms and could hold the Saints first team spot for a few more years at least, in which time we will have found out if Gazzaniga truly is one for the future.             

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 10:37 - May 27 So as a 9/10 you are saying that out of the 19 premier sides you wouldn't swap him for any of their goalkeepers except in the case of 2 teams?
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stmichael added 10:42 - May 27 I am glad he signed but did anybody note a drop in his performances in the last few games? A mistake at reading cost us a goal (which was not given), he should have saved Andy Carroll's shot and at least 1 probably 2 of the goals against WBA were very saveable. Given that good keepers should be making good saves and not just routine saves i would also have expected some keepers to have kept out Gareth Bales strike. An important signing yes but 9/10 not for me.

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davepid added 10:46 - May 27 I think this a very fair summary from Nick of Boruc and our keeping for throughout the season. He also seems to enjoy his football and possibly in years to come he could develop a real rapport with the supporters.
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patred added 10:55 - May 27 the fault with signing an unfit player cannot be laid at the feet of the player, by all accounts Boruc had intended to take sometime off from the game. An offer came in he couldn't refuse. And, why should he? If Saints thought they were buying a ready made player, and lets face it a ready made keeper was needed, then they were sadly dissappointed, or worse still totally inept in recruiting him. Didn't anyone see he was so unfit when had a medical ? or even when they interviewed him? Truth was they were so desperate to sign a keeper they failed to do in the window, they clutched at any straw. Luckily Boruc got fitter eventually, but in that time we could have been so far behind that his signing could have been rendered irrelevant. Thanks to some good performances from the very young, and very inexperienced Gazza, which bodes well for the future, we just managed to stay within touch. Later, the question of players fitness not being checked before signing rear up again when we signed Forren.. This has to looked at urgently, and those responsible should be bought to task, or removed from the recruiting programme.

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SaintNick added 11:10 - May 27 I gave Boruc 9/10 for his contribution to the cause, he came good at a time when we needed a goalkeeper who could come in and command his area, it wasn't a case of man of the match performances week in week out, but of doing his job to a certain level which we had been lacking. Perhaps his performances weren't as good in the closing games, but that could be said about most of our team, a six game spell failing to win was probably our worst spell of the season apart from the opening six

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stmichael added 11:23 - May 27 Thanks to some good performances from the very young, and very inexperienced Gazza, which bodes well for the future, we just managed to stay within touch. WHEN WAS THAT THEN PAT , HE THREW THE BALL IN HIS OWN NET PRACTICALLY EVERY GAME. the fault with signing an unfit player cannot be laid at the feet of the player, by all accounts Boruc had intended to take sometime off from the game. THE PLAYER IS TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS OWN FITNESS. HIS TOTAL LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM IS DOWN TO HIM AND IT ALMOST COST HIM IS SAINTS CAREER IF NOT HIS CAREER FULL STOP. Gazza is young and inexperienced and should not have been anywhere near the 1st team , hope is recovers from it but in my opinion cant see he is any better than Bart. Artur has been given a 2nd chance and he just about claimed it. Still not sure how hungry he is (perhaps thats the problem) but could be 1st choice for a couple of seasons now if he wants it. By far the most professional keeper at the club again was Kelvin. I guess that Gazz is learning alot from him and perhaps Artur can too. I expect KD to make a few appearances again next season and he will NOT let us down. Fully deserved his new contract and you could argue his 2nd half save and clean sheet against Chelsea was crucial in our survival bid.

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SaintNick added 11:35 - May 27 Mike don't be such a drama queen, throw his ball into his net virtually every game !!!! What about his debut at home to Villa, 4-1 win three points, no mistakes, 2-0 win against Newcastle, no goals conceded, 3-1 win at QPR. Your right Gazza shouldn't have been anywhere near the first team, so whose fault is that ? it wasn't his that's for sure. Perhaps before ripping into a young keeper for mistakes you should look at Kelvin, he made just as many errors during his games last season, I agree good back up, but the problem lies not with blaming a young keeper (you should remember how bad kelvin was in his first two years ) but with those who left us starting the season with two keepers who for one reason or another weren't up to the job and then signed another who was two months from fitness

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LennyJam added 11:48 - May 27 9/10, absolutely
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ExiledSupporter added 16:41 - May 27 What extraordinarily diverse and in some cases perverse, opinions appear on this site ...and especially about goalkeepers. I sympathise with your task ahead, especially when you get to the players who for all sorts of reasons, some of them despicable, seem to inflame passions. Take dear old slynch, always provocative, often iconoclastic, sometimes quite inexplicable and occasionally so wide of the mark that I lack any way of quantifying his misjudgement. I can't resolve whether he is a genius and I am an idiot or he is bonkers and I am simply sane! The inference that Nick rates Boruc as better than 90% of other keepers is, of course, wide of the mark, but in an interesting and challenging way. On the other hand St Michael and Patred, for instance, seem to have been observing an entirely different set of events to those seen by other correspondents. I can't imagine how to respond to this odd conception of "throwing the ball into the net " regularly even though I know it isn't meant literally. On the other hand how can signing an unfit player be the player's fault as St Michael seems to be suggesting. To take this position to its logical absurdity, if Cortese and Reed decided to sign me as their reserve keeper on the basis of seeing me put in a magnificent performance between the sticks against a side of u6s, then that too would be my fault...and no blame would attach to them in any way. Well have we all taken leave of our senses. Thankfully not, but some of us are clearly struggling upwards on the lower slopes of insanity...and St Nick and some of the other regular correspondents are not. Excuse me now, must go, my nurse has come in with that peculiarly comfortable white jacket with the wrap around arms and interesting buckles...

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ItchenNorth added 13:18 - May 28 Boruc was the signing of the season for me and i'd (just) put him in the top 10 keepers in the Prem; what more can you ask at present !
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