Vacancy- Ball Playing Goalkeeper Wanted Apply St Mary's Stadium Tuesday, 20th Aug 2024 09:07 Southampton achieved promotion through the play offs, after an injury to Gavin Bazunu forced Russell Martin to modify his possession football style, but we all knew that in the Premier League we would need a new goalkeeper. To make it clear from the start, this is not a witch hunt against Alex McCarthy, the 34 year old has been a good servant to Southampton since signing in August 2016 and has played 125 Premier League games for the club plus another 8 in the Championship including the 3 play off games. But in his 8 seasons at the club, he has never been the undisputed number 1 for the entire season and had rarely played in the 3 seasons prior to this one.
However no one can deny that he didn't step up to the plate for the final League games last season, plus the play offs, however when Russell Martin made the big decision to jump him above Joe Lumley when Gavin Bazunu was injured in the warm up before the Preston game, he was making a far bigger decision about the way that Saints would play. It became clear from the start that McCarthy was not comfortable from the start in playing the possession football game and after a 5-0 drubbing at Leicester, Martin changed the playing style, we no longer played the ball along our own six yard box and if we did then McCarthy played it long. This effectively won us promotion and Alex McCarthy played a full part. But every Southampton supporter knew that something had to give in the Premier League and with Russell Martin stating that he was not changing his principles, a new goalkeeper had to be a priority. Sadly one had not arrived by the time the opening game against Newcastle came along and it was McCarthy who started the season in between the sticks, there was no other choice, Joe Lumley had played just 18 minutes in pre season and although he was more comfortable with his feet than McCarthy, clearly Russell Martin did not feel he was up to the job.
At Newcastle we appeared to be playing the possession football game as per the most part of last term and the folly of doing that came up and bit us in the rear, under no real pressure Alex McCarthy tamely played a 10 yard pass straight to a member of the opposition. Yes it should have been easy, but it emphasised just how far off the level needed in his game with his feet, Alex McCarthy is, given that there was only a minute before half time and Newcastle were down to 10 men there was no need to take the risk of playing in our own box in a tight situation, yet we still did it, whether that was Alex McCarthy's fault for not hoofing it, or whether he was under strict instructions from the manager will remain unclear. I don't blame Russell Martin completely, getting the right keeper in was never going to be easy, but as we approach the last week of the transfer window, the situation is becoming quite grave.
If we do not sign a keeper, then avoiding relegation will be near on impossible, we have already thrown away 1 point and some would say 3, how many more would we drop ? If that turns out to be the case, then surely Russell Martin has to change his playing style drastically. I think we are playing a very dangerous game, we are banking on signing one of our targets in the last week of the season, the media think those targets are Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal, Sam Johnstone of Crystal Palace and Christos Mandas of Lazio.
I would say that if we are signing the inexperienced youngster Mandos, then we are in big trouble, we all know what happened when we threw in a 19 year old Gavin Bazunu two years ago, in our position we need a keeper that has the experience at the top level. So that leaves just Ramsdale and Johnstone and neither of their clubs seem keen on letting him go. Arsenal seem to want to sell and the player himself and Saints would prefer a loan deal, the Gunners are said to be ready to loan him out if they cannot find a buyer, but we are playing a game of cat & mouse here, ready to take our chances in playing McCarthy for the first 3 league games. So as the transfer window slamming shut approaches we are still in limbo, this is going to be a pivotal moment in the season, we need a keeper up to the job and as of yet we haven't got one. So if any Premier League experienced goalkeepers who can play with the ball at their feet are reading this, please apply directly to Southampton FC, St Mary's Stadium, Brittannia Road Southampton, enclosing your CV. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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