Yes Artur Boruc made a mistake at Arsenal, but now is not the time to crucify him, now is the time to get behind him and make sure that we don't turn a drama into a crisis.
Artur Boruc did not make the best of starts to his career at Southampton Football Club, that cannot be denied and there can be no excusing the "waterbottle" incident, however lets be honest about that it was nothing more than a bit of petulance and shouldn't be held against him for the rest of his time at St Mary's.
Since he returned to the team on New Years Day this year against Arsenal he has put in a series of performances that both last season and this have firstly given Saints the platform to avoid relegation last term and therefore be at Arsenal on Saturday instead of perhaps Barnsley and secondly helped us be in the top five in the Premier league this term with almost a third of the season gone.
Saturday was a c**k up of major proportions, even the most fanatical of Boruc's supporters would admit that, but we should firstly remember the performances that he has been putting in and secondly that with any mistake made its not about the actual mistake but how you recover from it and what you do next.
Yes on Saturday Boruc should have hoofed the ball upfield, but we have to remember that's not how Saints like to play, at the back be it Boruc in goal or any one of the back four, it has been drilled into them to pass their way out of trouble rather than punt it up field and invite the opposition to come straight back at us, when those passes work out. supporters are quick to acclaim the team as a wonderful footballing machine and talk of how we could qualify for the champions league, when as on Saturday they go wrong then some fans are quick to jump on players backs, what they have to realise is that every side will make mistakes and the way we play from the back means we are going to get caught out sometimes, however in the grand scheme of things as our defensive record has proved, we will perhaps concede fewer goals, even with the odd mistek than we will do in hoofing it forward and inviting sides to come straight back at us.
Artu Boruc has played a bigger part than most in that defensive record, in several games this season he has pulled out all the stops and saved us more points than he has cost us, the win at Liverpool will be remembered for Dejan Lovren's winning goal, thoe at the game will testify that without several world class stops by Boruc we might have been 2 or 3 goals down by that time, similarly the Swansea game at home after the early Adam Lallana goal the Welsh side battered us for about an hour and without some fine stops by Boruc it could have been an entirely different score.
But his contribution to the side has been far more than just stopping shots, the way he commands his box has been another factor in our defensive record, by catching crosses so often he takes the pressure of the side and doesn't allow the opposition to put us under pressure, similarly his kicking, yes he got caught out on Saturday, but usually he not only takes the pressure off of us by passing the ball out of his area instead of just punting it up, but with his usually accurate passing ability he has started a lot of attacks and allows us to press the opposition, his detractos will point to the goal against Hull and claim he should have hoofed that, but the mistake was not Boruc's he passed to Wanyama's feet and that's all you can ask of a player, if Wanyama had passed to Fonte in the right back position then we would not be talking about that goal to be blunt.
So now is the time to back Artur Boruc, he has earned the right for that with his displays over the past 11 months, what have we got to gain by crucifying him for this error, absolutely nothing, goalkeeping is about confidence and although Boruc has that in droves and as he showed in his comeback game against Arsenal, he doesn't let his game get affected by those who felt we would perhaps stand a better chance of beating Arsenal by ironically cheering our goalkeeper every time he caught the ball, the truth is we should want him to succeed not fail, the sad thing though is that some fans out there seem to revel when certain players make mistakes, Guly & Fox to name two prime examples, even Wanyama has come in for stick despite a series of good displays, now it seems some wont forgive Boruc for those two games over a year ago.
Personally I want to see Boruc put this behind him and put in a display at Chelsea that keeps us up there in the top five although I fear some would rather he make another mistake at Stamford Bridge so they can howl abuse at him.
Of course everyone has their opinion, but when you are a football supporter, opinions should be for the pub and internet message boards, when a player, any player is out there in a Saints shirt then he should have our support.