Crucial reveal shows Southampton FC have real Gavin Bazunu problem on their hands: View | OneFootball

Goalkeepers are there for one thing and one thing only right? To stop the ball from ending up in the onion bag. So when they’re not doing that to the best of their ability you’ve got a problem on your hands.

That is exactly what Southampton are faced with at the moment, with a shot-stopper in Gavin Bazunu who is doing anything but that over the course of the campaign, leading to plenty of points being dropped in the search for promotion to the Premier League.

The Saints sit fourth in the Championship table as it stands, some 12 points off of the automatic promotion places - albeit with two games in hand on second-placed Leeds United - with their future very much looking like playoff football at the end of the campaign.

Russell Martin’s side could have been much closer to being in the end-of-season shakeup if it wasn’t for the odd blunder from their glovesman; with no other custodian between the sticks giving away as many goals during the course of the current Championship campaign.

Gavin Bazunu Southampton FC goalkeeping record in the 23/24 Championship season

That’s according to football number-crunchers FBRef, who put the 22-year-old down as conceding 11.1 more goals than he was expected to throughout the current season, with 51 balls flying past him into the goal during his 38 league appearances.

The Irish international also has one of the lowest shot-saving percentages in the league at this moment in time, with only 63.2% of chances on goal from the opposition prevented from crossing the goal line.

When you are a possession heavy side like Southampton are, the opposition are rarely outnumbering you in terms of chances created, so to have someone defending your net who can’t be relied upon has been detrimental time and time again during the season.

Bazunu’s performances were called into question once again last month as the Saints lost 2-1 to relegation-threatened Millwall at St Mary’s with the goalkeeper attempting to claim a free kick swung into the penalty area, only for Japhet Tanganga to head past the despairing gloved hands into an unguarded net.

Boss Martin was seething after that defeat, condemning the concession of such easily prevented goals for the opposition.

He said: “We concede two such rubbish goals, and that takes away any feeling I really have about the performance right now, so I’m furious.

“If you played it 10 times we’d win it nine times, probably, with the chances we had, and they’ve had nothing in the game.”

It is that final bit of the statement that sums it all up; when a team dominates the ball like Southampton do, all they need is a reasonable performance from their goalkeeper to keep out the few attempts the opposition will have during the 90 minutes.

The Lions defeat is another key example of that, with Neil Harris’ side mustering just three efforts on target throughout the match, with two of those ending in goals, albeit the second of the two coming from the penalty spot.

Throw in a blunder in possession to gift Ryan Hardie a goal in a 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle and you can see why Saints fans would be on edge when their team try to play out from the back, with their number one barely instilling much confidence with the ball at his feet.

Southampton FC playoff push could be undermined by Bazunu’s blunders

With the pressure ramping up when the playoffs come about, even more scrutiny will be coming Bazunu’s way with Premier League football the ultimate goal for his side.

When the tension is palpable and with so much at stake, any sort of error is likely to be punished when you come up against some of the best attacking talent in the league; something that will scare Saints fans no end.

They know full well that their shot-stopper is prone to the odd clanger here and there, and in knockout competition that can be the difference between success and failure with limited time to right the wrongs over the course of the tie.

It begs the question of where Southampton would be if they had a more experienced face between the sticks this campaign, with a wily campaigner in goal likely to have bettered those underlying numbers over the course of the campaign and added extra points to their tally.

Only three teams have conceded more than Saints in the top half of the table this season, so they better hope they have their goalscoring boots on for the end of season lottery; as their chances of keeping a clean sheet will be slim.