Gazzaniga Will Keep Place For The Aston Villa Game Monday, 11th May 2015 10:17 Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Paulo Gazzaniga will keep his place for the visit of Aston Villa next weekend and Saints fans need to support that decision and indeed the goalkeeper himself. Paulo Gazzaniga was a surprise selection for the trip to Leicester City and Ronald Koeman has confirmed he made the decision as he wanted to see the keeper in Premier League action before he decided what if any action he needed to take next season in regard to signing a replacement for Fraser Forster whilst he recovers from injury. The truth is he will be no nearer knowing, yes Gazzaniga's misplaced clearance started the move that lead to Leicester's second goal, but both Forster and Kelvin Davis have made worse clearances and go away with it, however when you need luck sometimes it isn't there and that was the case for the Argentinian keeper, there was still a lot of work for Leicester to do to get the goal and if our players had concentrated and played to the standards they were a few weeks ago then this incident would really not have been a talking point, now Im sure that some will make much noise about Gazzaniga. But apart from this miskick he didnt put a foot wrong, he had no chance with either goal and he made a decent save, albeit one that you would expect him to make, if that second goal had not happened he could walk off the pitch feeling pleased with his performance. The problem now is that he has to run out against Aston Villa knowing that a fair section of the crowd are waiting to get on his back however he plays. But those who are quick to have a go at Gazzaniga should remember the situation that he found himself in three seasons ago shortly after joining the club, after our opening four Premier League games in 2012/13 Kelvin Davis had conceded 14 goals and we had a defence that was rickety to say the least. Gazzaniga came in against Aston Villa for the fifth game as a 20 year old goalkeeper with only 19 league starts for Gillingham in League two to his name, yet he was expected to come in and perform in front of the leakiest defence in the country. In that Villa game he was superb and made some great saves in a 4-1 win, however it would have been too much to ask for him to be able produce match winning performances in front of a defence that was in disarray. People forget that after a series of reasonable games in came Artur Boruc and out went Boruc after two games, at this point Gazzaniga should have been back at Staplewood learning his trade not being expected to play in some vital games. If you speak to some people you would think he had never had a decent game in his life, they forget that in that first season, in his nine appearances Saints actually won 12 points and he did well in vital wins at QPR and home to Newcastle, he did his bit that season, his reward was to have a section of the supporters on his back everytime he has played. Last season after Boruc went off injured at Chelsea, Gazzaniga again came on and played a further 7 times, in most of these games he did well enough, but some supporters have a selective memory, they forget his performance in a 1-1 draw with soon to be Champions Manchester City, or his role in the 3-0 win at Cardiff City,all they will remember is his game in the 4-1 defeat at Manchester City. What some fail to take into account is that Paulo Gazzaniga was bought with the future in mind, he was not ready to be plunged in to the situation in 2012 and last season you could see he still wasn't over it, however he didn't hide and went out and did his best. The truth is that in terms of progression it would not be out of the ordinary for him to have been making his first team debut on Saturday, I would have thought that we would have wanted to work on him for a season at Staplewood and then send him out on loan to get experience, instead he has been constantly thrown to the lions, never coming in when times have been good, but always thrown in at a time when the team is struggling and that is not good for any goalkeepers confidence, let alone one that is inexperienced. Perhaps he will not have a future at Southampton, if he doesn't that in some part will be down to some sections of the crowd who will not let him, they cannot seem to accept the situations he found himself in, only to lame him because he was not immediately the complete article when he played in goal. Now he is probably ready, a year spent working in the academy team will have restored his confidence, certainly Ronald Koeman has seen enough to suggest that he could be the answer next season in some capacity, but my worry is that too many are ready to jump on his back too quickly. On Saturday we play what is effectively our cup final, we have to take all three points to ensure 7th place and to stand a chance of 6th, Paulo Gazzaniga will be in goal and he needs our support as do several other players who have been scapegoats of late. So I ask the question, do we want Saints to beat Aston Villa and take three points on Saturday or would we prefer to be able to scream abuse at Gazzaniga and then have a good moan about how he has cost us a place in Europe. I don't know if he is the answer to our problems in the future, what i do know is that he is pulling on a Saints shirton Saturday in our most vital game of the season, I would rather him do well than see him be destroyed by the crowd on Saturday, because if he is i feel our hopes of Europe will be destroyed with him. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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