GAVIN BAZUNU SAYS he is learning the quality of resilience after a difficult debut season as a first-choice Premier League goalkeeper.
Southampton are heading for relegation to the Championship: they are bottom of the table, eight points from safety with three games remaining. If Southampton don’t beat Fulham this weekend, they will be officially down.
In a misfiring team, Bazunu has endured a difficult season, resulting in his being dropped for Alex McCarthy against Bournemouth at the end of April. Southampton lost that game too, but Bazunu has remained on the bench since.
And when Jamie Carragher trained his sights on Southampton’s season on the most recent edition of Monday Night Football, he focused of the performance on the 21-year-old goalkeeper, whom he described as a “big problem.”
“A big problem for them has been the goalkeeper they bought in from Manchester City, a young goalkeeper, still finding his way in the game”, said Carragher of Bazunu. Digging into stats, Carragher pointed out that Southampton had conceded 16 goals more than what would have been expected by their Expected Goals numbers.
Bazunu has since spoken to Sky Sports, in which he reflected on the season.
“We have a very young squad which can make it difficult, a lot of players playing at this level for the first time, including myself”, said Bazunu. “We have come on the wrong sides of results at times, like with Forest and Arsenal, having really good performances and just not picking up the points we needed.
“Football is full of disappointments, and the ones at the top are the ones who have experienced that disappointment and been able to fight back, and get back up off the ground after they have been knocked down. That is what this season has constantly been: it’s been about learning how to get back up, learning how to be resilient, to bounce back after defeats and poor performances, and somehow keep that level of confidence.
“That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned this season, no matter what happens, you have a next game, and you have to continue to fight and work towards that.”
