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.