RALF HASSENHUTTL has leapt to the defence of his goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu after Southampton fans questioned the Irish shot stopper.
Bazunu joined the Saint's from Manchester City for £12m this summer and has been highly tipped to become of the best keepers in the league.
However, Southampton's form has been patchy. A win against Chelsea came after a 4-1 loss to Spurs, and the Chelsea win was followed up with a loss to 1-0 loss away to Wolves this weekend.
Despite this Hassenhuttl has backed the 20-year-old said he was very happy with the Ireland keeper.
"I like how he plays and how he gets his position very offensive on the jump. He had two or three situations where he was going there and I ask him to do this," Hassenhuttl explained to the local media.
“When you go all in and play with a high line, you have to have a goalkeeper behind you who is on the jump and can clear situations, like he did a couple of times with dangerous situations. This is good and this is what I want to see, and I am very happy.”
'I like how he plays' - Southampton manager Ralf Hassenhuttl defends Gavin Bazunu after criticism https://t.co/seVle9E2GN pic.twitter.com/dVcpvYmfv8
— Independent Sport (@IndoSport) September 5, 2022
On Saturday Daniel Podence scored Wolves winner. Many fans were left frustrated with the Ireland keepers try to stop the goal, but Hassenhuttl claimed that the former Rovers keeper was 'unlucky'
"It looks a little bit unlucky. He is going down and the ball goes soft in the goal, but he is going with everything on the other side, and then it goes very quickly in the other direction. It is not so easy.”
Days before the Chelsea game, his ex-manager Pep Guardiola revealed that the club have a buy-back possibility for Bazunu should he ever become one of the best in the league.
“They could stay one to two years. The EDS (Elite Development Squad) competition is so light, it’s not real competition.
“They want Premier League, so after agreement with the clubs we have a buyback on all of them so just in case they explode we have a chance to get them back.”
It will be interesting to see if did that does indeed happen
