Saints have used three goalkeepers this season, as of yet not one of them can be considered to be an automatic first choice.

Back in the summer almost as soon as the hangovers had subsided Saints supporters were discussing just who should be in goal for Saints when they returned to the Premier League, the overiding feeling seemed to be that as good as many had considered Kelvin Davis to be in 2011/12, he would not be good enough for the Premier League and that what we needed was a wise experienced Premier ship keeper, names like Paul Robinson and even Robert Green were mentioned.

By the big kick off the only incoming gloveman was the inexperienced youngster from Gillingham Paulo Gazzaniga who was seen as one for the future by the supporters rather than ready for action at this level.

Hence it was Kelvin Davis who started the season in goal for Saints, to be fair no one begrudged him his chance to put behind him his nightmare season at Sunderland in the top flight, Kelvin would last four games, he did save a penalty in each of the first two, but the sad fact was that after a abysmal game at Arsenal he had conceded 14 goals in just four games, although it has to be said he was not being helped by the defence in front of him, he was not performing to the standards you would expect at this level.

So for the home game against Villa, Nigel Adkins through in Gazzaniga who it has to be said did well and didnt do much wrong in the following game, the defeat against Everton, then it all started to get what we could call "Saints Strange" on the goalkeeping transfer front.

In came Artur Boruc who had played for Celtic and Fiorentina, on the face of it he looked just what we needed, experience at the top level including 40 caps for Poland, however one look at him at West Ham showed that he clearly wasnt fit having had no pre season training and goalkeepers more than any players need practice and games under their belt to get their confidence and angles right, Boruc lasted two games and after a bust up with the crowd in his second game against Spurs was not seen again till last Saturday.

Back came Gazzaniga but although it was quite clear that he wasnt quite ready to be thrown in to the deep end, Adkins had no real choice, in truth Gazzaniga played well, but the crowd started to get on to his back a bit due to what they perceived as errors, with the Swansea goal Gazzaniga was judged harshly, whilst it has to be said that if he had wellied the back pass they wouldnt have scored, at least not 30 seconds later perhaps, the fact remains that the goalkeeper did what most keepershave to do in the Premier league, they have to pass it to one of their own players rather than just hoof it, thats his instructions from the manager, the fact that Yoshida could not deal with it was not the keepers fault.

Likewise the goal at QPR, Gazzaniga was left stranded by the fact that Adam Lallana let his man run free and let him have a free header, Gazzaniga did what he could, but the fact again was that the keeper was damned by an error made by another player.

Not surprisingly his confidence would be fragile, and being so youg and with barely 20 games experience in League one before he came to Saints he was not equipped to deal with it especially when getting no help from a leaky defence, therefore the error against Norwich was to be expected at some point. At Liverpool he redeemed himself but still the problem remained of a defence all at sea with a youngster behind it, when a young keeper is in goal you hope your centre halves take command and protect him, problem is they are making more mistakes than he is.

So against Reading we had the return of Kelvin, in truth he did little wrong although in fairness he had little to do, what he did do though was the basics well and that was what was needed.

So where do we stand now, first question is perhaps were does Artur Boruc stand, he has now had two months at the club which is effectively a pre season and more, physically he should now be ready for action and equipped mentally for it, from that point of view he should perhaps be the number one choice, certainly for differing reasons neither Davis or Gazzaniga can be considered an ideal solution for the rest of the season, so its either Boruc showing us he has the desire to play or we need to get someone in in January.

To be blunt I think that is what we need to do, we need a cool head at the back, Paul Robinson is rumoured to want to move South he would be the ideal candidate, not just for his obvious experience at this level but for his commanding presence, when you have a defence which has two inexperienced full backs and two defenders who together are always stuggling its important to have the right man between the goal.

Personally if Boruc is not ready to return now he will never be ready, so over the next few weeks we will find out if Saints are ready to write him off as another signing that hasnt worked out, or whether he can genuinely show he is up to the job, certainly be the opening of the January transfer window we should know the answer to that one.

So in my mind Saints only hjave two options in goal for the second half of the season, either Boruc comes in over the Xmas period and puts in a string of great displays or we get the chequ book out, too many of our summer signings have been ones with potential rather than the real deal, with a goalkeeper sometimes you have to get experience in and that time is now, Jack Butland is not the answer, he has barely more experience than Gazzaniga, BUtland's reputation is high due to nothing more than Roy Hodgson's strange decision to put him in the full England squad after only a handful of games for Shrewsbury to his name, he is not ready for what Saints need from their goalkeeper in the second half of the season.

What Saints do in the transfer window with regard to the keepers spot will go a long way to deciding our fate in the Premier league.         

Photo: Action Images

stmichael added 10:41 - Dec 12 Gazza is one for the future however people with more knowledge of football than you and I rightly condemned him for his performance at QPR , the mistake against Swansea and again against Norwich. He is a disaster waiting to happen. He cannot even do the basics like getting his body behind the ball. The mistake against Norwich was also seen at QPR however he just about managed to shovel a weak shot round the post for a corner. We may not have won the QPR game either if that had gone in. Thankfully KD is back now and until we sign another high quality keeper I hope he stays there. I honestly dont think GAZZA is any better than BART.

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landsdownsaint added 10:53 - Dec 12 You are right about Boruc ,if he ain't ready now he never will be,I would like to see him given another go,as for Gazzaniga he's not ready for the Championship let alone PL but thats not to say he won't be,as for KD he's got a far better defence than he did have at the start of the season...our defence is becoming much better and having Jsck Cork back has taken a lot of pressure of them imo

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slynch added 11:48 - Dec 12 Gazza is better than everyone thinks because he keeps the ball at the other end of the pitch allowing the strikers to wrong foot the defence and attack, or more importantly, defend in their half, which is why the results have been better when he plays.
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ThereIn76 added 12:00 - Dec 12 Don't forget Cody Cropper ;)
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StSaint added 12:01 - Dec 12 Stick with Gazza - He's the future.
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bstokesaint added 12:35 - Dec 12 Stmichael is spot on when he says Gazza is no better than Bart. All I can see in this article is defence of a goalkeeper that has done little to warrant it. I've heard the case that his distribution is better then Kelvin's, but that alone doesn't justify a decision to put him between the sticks. Kelvin, Hooiveld and Fox were made scapegoats for our early pre season results. Out of the three I would say Kelvin was the one treated the most unfairly. Yoshida and Shaw have now sured up the defence and what you need behind them is an experienced keeper with a cool head. Gazza came in against a woeful Villa side and therefore was not the main reason for the victory. He actually had very little to do. I also think one of the efforts against Everton was very saveable. The Swansea goal was definitely his fault and cost us two points and the Norwich goal was down to pure inexperience. An occasional great save, as in the one against Newcastle is not enough for a first team keeper. Kelvin would have done more good in this time if he hadn't been axed after an Arsenal mauling, where two simultaneous keepers would not have saved us. The fact is you get better than you already have or just don't bother. I've no doubt Boruc has good quality, but if he's not ready by now then don't keep him. As for Gazza, if he's one for the future maybe give him some loan experience until he's confident enough for the Premier League.

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bstokesaint added 12:38 - Dec 12 That should have ready early season not 'pre' season. And I forgot the QPR goal. Again the keeper looked lost and could have saved the situation.
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mattlegod added 13:51 - Dec 12 Blimey, SKD really must have done something to you in a former life. I do not understand why you have such a downer on him; your article is somewhat biased toward Gazza in as much as you detail where outfield players have caused him errors whereas you have proportion much more blame on Kelv rather than the catalogue of defensive errors through though first 4 games. He might have not had that much to do against Reading, but I did notice a confidence at the back and certainly a complete change in the level of communication from between GK and the back four (particularly between Jose and Kelv). Gazza will have his day, he is a talented GK who will mature and improve his trade. SKD, although not in his prime, still offers a lot to the team and to the position. I think you are being harsh on a guy by measuring him on the first 4 games when to be fair the whole team was not performing well and inparticularl the defence. If you judge everything in that way, then no doubt you had written Saints off for Premiership survival by game 4 too...?

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SaintNick added 14:01 - Dec 12 I didnt have a downer on Kelvin, I did point out that he had a sloppy defence in front of him, i did point out that i just felt he wasnt playing well in those four games despite that, with 14 goals gone in and the last one of those three months ago my memory couldnt recall all of the mistakes made im sorry, whereas with Gazzaniga they are fresh. I agree Gazza will perhaps have his day, but at this level Kelvin has had his, we need to improve the goalkeeping position if we are to stay up end of

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