Liverpool Vs Southampton: Gavin Bazunu lays down marker Lessons from Southampton FC

Posted by World Wide Tickets And Hospitality on July 18th, 2022

On Saturday, preparations for the 2022/23 season of the Liverpool Premier League went up a nick as Saints took on RB Leipzig in Wolfsberg, Austria. The regular 90 minutes were followed by an extra 15 as no less than 24 Saints players made it onto the pitch. The German side qualifiers after finishing fourth in the Bundesliga last season of Football Premier League triumphed 3-1 but there was still quite a lot for Saints fans to rise as Ralph Hasenhuttl commended his side.

Leipzig took the chief shortly after half-time through Angelino’s low free-kick but Adam Armstrong got his side back on level footings with his first goal since November. Parity didn’t last long though as Emil Forsberg recovered Leipzig’s advantage before Ilaix Moriba closed the result with a looping drive from distance. With four more pre-season Premier League Football fixtures on the calendar before the real thing begins at Tottenham Hotspur.

It took less than ten minutes of first-half action for Gavin Bazunu to show why the Saints were so desperate to sign him this summer for the Liverpool Premier League. And it took less than ten minutes of second-half action for Alex McCarthy to show why that signing was so important. With Fraser Forster's departure from the club this summer following the expiry of his contract, Saints went in search of a talented young goalkeeper who could take over as the long-term number one while challenging for the starting job directly. 

Arriving from Manchester City in June for a fee, 20-year-old Bazunu fit the bill with two impressive campaigns in Football Premier League One and 10 Ireland caps showcasing the future of Saints’ goalkeeping department. The future could be here before now. While there’s no need to read too heavily into pre-season Football Premier League line-ups, Hasenhuttl giving Bazunu the first chance to impress on Saturday should not be ignored. The youngster didn’t leftover his chance. 

Bazunu’s stand-out instant came early on when he somehow sloped Dominic Szoboszlai’s vicious hit over the bar. It was his first save in a Saints shirt and an unforgettable one at that but perhaps even more imposing was his calm assuredness with the ball at his feet, regularly finding his teammates with short and long-range passing. For more to know about Southampton Vs Liverpool Tickets Click here.

Equally, he directed his box with the ball in the air, demanding multiple crosses without looking remotely anxious. Said to be mature beyond his years, Bazunu’s first 45 minutes as a Saints player was every bit as good as promoted and there is no doubt that he is leading the race to start on August 6th in North London in the Liverpool Premier League. 

Discrepancy both as a shot-stopper and with the ball at his feet has beleaguered McCarthy’s St Mary’s career and it was no dissimilar on Saturday. Chosen to stay forward of Forster, most Saints fans feel less than content with the idea of McCarthy starting this season of Football Liverpool Premier League. 

It’s punitive to place sole blame on McCarthy following Angelino’s well-hit free kick, but the goalkeeper surely didn’t cover himself in glory as he took his first step towards the far post supposing the effort to go over the wall before being too slow to get back the other way when the ultimate shot inwards at his near post about the coming season of Football Liverpool Premier League.

Some will guilt McCarthy for Leipzig’s second as well, the goalkeeper bestowing Forsberg with a moderately kind angle to finish from but the finish was still arrowed into the bottom corner. Meanwhile, Moriba’s third appeared to be in the back of the net before anyone could react. Bazunu is no average goalkeeper and he presented just that on Saturday let’s see if McCarthy can rise to the test but as of now, the new signing has to be foremost in the race for the starting job.

Ralph’s Surprising Tactical Set-Up for the Coming season

Perhaps most notable in Southampton’s first game Football Premier League of 2022/23 is that through 105 minutes of football, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side didn’t once use their traditional. Last season, Saints set up in the Premier League Football games, a number that was down from the previous campaign.

Again, it’s impossible to take everything from pre-season of Football Premier League as set in stone, but normally managers use these friendlies to instil the important elements of their tactical plan and to do that successfully, one would imagine the team to be in the formation that gets primarily used in the coming season Of Liverpool Premier League.

That being said, there were no Saints on Saturday. They set up in the system with Kyle Walker-Peters and Moussa Djenepo working as wing-backs. New adding Romeo Lavia acted as the sole holding midfielder with Ibrahima Diallo and Moi Elyounoussi pushing onward from either side of midfield. Meanwhile, the skilfully versatile Joe Aribo began on the right side but was replaced as a second picket alongside Nathan Tella.

The system appeared to suit the majority of the players that were on-going the first half with both Armel Bella-Kotchap and Mohammed Salisu fortified to push out from defence and be as violent as they required thanks to the extra security alongside them. Diallo and Elyounoussi both had the liberty to roam the pitch but were protected from the responsibility of truly breaking down Leipzig in the final third while Djenepo looked astonishingly thrilling with space to run into on the left side.

But the team did look balanced and sensitively solid albeit simple going onward. A raft of changes was made on the hour mark for the Liverpool Premier League all ten outfield players were replaced yet the system continued rather similar. With Che Adams and Adam Armstrong on the field, it was a much more natural front two but the overall construction didn’t change severely. 

He still doesn’t reliably affect the game enough, but there’s a certain charisma to Smallbone when he gets on the ball in space, a level of creativity that doesn’t exist in profusion in Hasenhuttl’s squad. The one player that appeared slightly cooperated by the back five was Joe Aribo who was forced to play much of the first half with his back to goal surely not his strength as drawn here.

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