Ex Player Jack Stevens

I agree he should have been given an opportunity and I’m pleased finally he will get some game time here. When it comes to goalkeepers, there seems to be a general reluctance by managers to play them. Think back to Crocombe(?) I ‘m aware he muckiest his ticket under MApp, but prior to this his first-team appearances were pretty good yet he was only played sparingly.
Good luck at Shrewsbury Jack!
 
And if he hadn't been up to it we would have been reliant on Scott Shearer! Stevens did decently on Friday but a bit unfair on KR as it is using hindsight to judge the decision. I would say it is also a bit early to be judging Jack Stevens as well, especially on 30 or so minutes of football, even with as good a save as that was.

I will say that KR should have tried to use him as the regular Abomination Trophy keeper though.
 
after his impressive save on his debut, do you think we would have been better giving him a chance at the start of the season when Eastwood was out injured? had we done that, a loan position could have been used on getting a striker instead of Jonathan Mitchell.
thoughts?
Presumably the gk coach and coaches thought not.
He made a couple of very good saves Froday but let's bot get carried away?
He will now have a chance tomorrow and I guess is playing for a nee contract and the opportunity to be No 2 next season.
 
And if he hadn't been up to it we would have been reliant on Scott Shearer! Stevens did decently on Friday but a bit unfair on KR as it is using hindsight to judge the decision. I would say it is also a bit early to be judging Jack Stevens as well, especially on 30 or so minutes of football, even with as good a save as that was.

I will say that KR should have tried to use him as the regular Abomination Trophy keeper though.
fair enough. hindsight is a wonderful thing. it’s just in that situation at the start of the season they must have known more about Stevens than Mitchell and would’ve liked to see our own players used. maybe they didn’t think he was ready and as you say the p#ss pot trophy would’ve been a good opportunity for him
 
When Eastwood was out it was a time when our defence was unsettled and all over the place, maybe that would have put too much pressure on the lad. At least Mitchel was a bit more experienced. Now that the defence is playing consistently well it’s a good time for Jack to come in and show what he is about. Hopefully he will prove himself and get a run of a few games.
 
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They obviously didn't think he was ready. But the big question is, why and who's decision was it to give Shearer a new contract in the summer if they had no confidence in him either? One of the oddest things to happen in pre-season!!
 
They obviously didn't think he was ready. But the big question is, why and who's decision was it to give Shearer a new contract in the summer if they had no confidence in him either? One of the oddest things to happen in pre-season!!
Clearly a mistake.
My guess would be that Shearer was seen as OK back up should Eastwood be out for a couple of games through suspension or injury.
It is totally different a keeper being out for as long as Eastwood was (and most clubs would struggle with that I would suspect)
 
They obviously didn't think he was ready. But the big question is, why and who's decision was it to give Shearer a new contract in the summer if they had no confidence in him either? One of the oddest things to happen in pre-season!!

There was article about that in the oxford mail.A major reason for signing shearer was he is apparently a very experienced and very good character to have in the dressing room. I suspect he is slowly taking a coaching role.
 
Is Shearer still at the club and involved in any way on match days? I must admit I don’t take a massive amount of interest in the (it seems ever growing) horde of people on the pitch before a game, but I don’t think I’ve seen much of him?
 
Is Shearer still at the club and involved in any way on match days? I must admit I don’t take a massive amount of interest in the (it seems ever growing) horde of people on the pitch before a game, but I don’t think I’ve seen much of him?

Yes, in Jack Stevens interview after Friday's game, Scott Shearer was mentioned in a question and JS praised the support he got from him.
 
Is Shearer still at the club and involved in any way on match days? I must admit I don’t take a massive amount of interest in the (it seems ever growing) horde of people on the pitch before a game, but I don’t think I’ve seen much of him?
he is .... assistant goalkeeper coach , though thats probably not in his current job description?
 
He made one excellent save. He still has a lot of work to do in regards to marshalling the defence and claiming crosses. He's always been seen as an agile shot-stopper, but he needs to show he has more to his game, which will come with first team experience.

Don't get me wrong, it's natural for any keeper to be a bit shaky coming off the bench, and I'm very happy for him to be getting a chance in the starting eleven. But apart from the one moment of quality, he looked nervous and shaky, and not the keeper to be filling in for Eastwood long term at the start of the season.
 
Totally agree with this. A couple of good saves but in general he looked nervous and didn’t command his area. More minutes will help that but I don’t blame KR for playing Shearer ahead of Stevens earlier in the season based on his experience at that point in time. Hopefully Stevens will use this opportunity to build up a bit of confidence. If we’re honest, even Eastwood doesn’t command his area as well as other keepers we’ve had in recent years.
 
I do wonder early on if he agreed with the defence to stay on his line for corners etc as that seemed to be the case looking from the East Stand. He did come out a bit more later on towards the end of the game.

I would not be adverse to a similar arrangement (if that was the case) at Shrewsbury as the defenders etc are in no doubt.
 
Totally agree with this. A couple of good saves but in general he looked nervous and didn’t command his area. More minutes will help that but I don’t blame KR for playing Shearer ahead of Stevens earlier in the season based on his experience at that point in time. Hopefully Stevens will use this opportunity to build up a bit of confidence. If we’re honest, even Eastwood doesn’t command his area as well as other keepers we’ve had in recent years.
Shearer only played the one game.
I don't think that Buchel and Slocombe were as good at commanding their areas as Eastwood nor did Clarkey before them.
 
There was article about that in the oxford mail.A major reason for signing shearer was he is apparently a very experienced and very good character to have in the dressing room. I suspect he is slowly taking a coaching role.
So we signed a player on a one year contract because he's good in the dressing room and has experience which we were not prepared to use on the pitch!! A very odd way to use money set aside for wages.
 
So we signed a player on a one year contract because he's good in the dressing room and has experience which we were not prepared to use on the pitch!! A very odd way to use money set aside for wages.

Similar to when we re-signed Chris Hargreaves
 
So we signed a player on a one year contract because he's good in the dressing room and has experience which we were not prepared to use on the pitch!! A very odd way to use money set aside for wages.

We have no idea how much he is paying paid nor the kind of contract he is on, so not sure how anyone can judge.
If someone is important to the moral of the team that is very valuable.
 
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Even if Eastwood if suspended for one game, Stevens should play for the rest of the season. Would give the lad a decent chance to impress and some valuable experience.
 
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