Ex-Player Thread Jack Stevens

[AbbeyOx]

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?


11/08/22 - Loaned to Port Vale
21/07/23 - Moves to Cambridge for a few

 

[Steve McAvoy]

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!

 

[Marked Ox]

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.

 

[Foley]

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.

 

[AbbeyOx]

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

 

[OX18]

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.

 

[Oufcrealist]

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!!

 

[Foley]

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)

 

[radicalox]

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.

 

[yellowbow]

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?

 

[Marked Ox]

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.

 

[Sarge]

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?

 

[beyondthefourth]

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.

 

[Telforddave]

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.

 

[Marked Ox]

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.

 

[Oufcrealist]

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.

 

[Oufcrealist]

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.

 

[milburn]

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

 

[radicalox]

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.

 

[Kamal]

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.

 

[Common Villager]

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.

As long as Eastwood is happy to sit out. Don't want to p**s him off going into the summer...

 

[FatOldSun]

Will Shearer be our sub keeper tomorrow?

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Think it’s quite easy to suggest this now, but at the time we’d been hammered on the opening day and subsequently lost the second when Eastwood was hurt in the warmup. There was no way we could’ve gambled on Stevens if the coaching staff felt he wasn’t ready, and given the run of form and results that came over the first dozen games it could well have destroyed the kid.

The Shearer issue, though, was pretty shambolic. Really bad if he’s not even good enough to play football anymore yet was kept on as the number two. The fact we had to loan another keeper in, rather than our second choice goalie being able to play for ten games max, meant we had to sacrifice a final attacking signing that was planned and resulted in us having nothing up top for half a season bar a barely fit Jamie Mackie. For me that was a huge part in our terrible opening few months.

Hopefully Stevens turns out to be worthy of being a proper second choice, and capable of actually playing a few games if required in the future. I don’t care how much of a cracking lad old ‘Shagger’ may be - being a right old laugh can’t make up for depriving your team of a single fit striker for 20-odd games!

 

[Peterdev]

I think we should keep Eastwood in as much as we can and extend our good run. If Stevens plays a blinder today maybe one more game, and use Eastwood for the Luton game.
A good run now may be important for morale at the start of next season.
Stevens looks good as a back up

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Will Shearer be our sub keeper tomorrow?

Possibly - Shearer used to play for Shrewsbury too.

Crawley's Scott Shearer 'grateful' to Shrewsbury Town

He will be forever grateful to Shrewsbury Town for putting his career back on track.

www.shropshirestar.com

 

[mooro]

Only just found this thread - while I am always keen to give our young lads a chance, I do agree that the situation early in the season was maybe not the time to introduce stevens. As a one-off covering suspension (as is happening now) then maybe, and given some time in the Checkatrade then probably, but I can accept that he was not judged ready for an extended spell in a team making a bad start.
The question though, as others have said, is the logic of keeping Shearer, if he was unable to contribute any more than that.
I guess the gamble was that neither would be needed, and that Eastwood would be able to put in another near everpresent season (or at least first half until Stevens was ready).

 

[RyanioBirdio]

Deserving of his own thread. What a keeper this lad is starting to look like. Early days obviously, but he’s started brilliantly and is hopefully only going to get better. The defence looks a lot more assured as they seem to trust him.

More importantly, probably the best looking keeper we’ve had in years, maybe even since porn star?

Keep up the good work, lad. And let’s really push the boundaries with some of those colour schemes moving forward.

 

[nige01ox]

Good shot stopper, confident in dealing with aerial balls, and impressively vocal for a young keeper without too many first team appearances.

I also think his positioning and speed when we are in attack is such a useful asset - if we lose possession and teams try to do us with a quick long ball over the top, he more often than not is already on the edge of his area and flies out and deals with it, preventing the chance of an easy one-on-one. You see this regularly with the top prem keepers like Alisson and Ederson.

 

[Paul Cannell]

He's been a revelation.

I think off duty he'd look quite the aristocrat in a Prince of Wales check with a salmon shirt and lavender cravatte.

 

[unification]

I think any naysayers for his inclusion have now been convinced. This was no call for an unproven youth teamer to enter the fray because ‘he can’t do any worse’. It was a request to deal with an issue and that was goalkeeper errors. Stevens has ensured that those have been eradicated as the first step and he’s stepped up even more with some great stops - the Wimbledon game and today’s worldie come to mind.

The defence needed a shake up and to have a vocal, sweeper keeper there has given them confidence. They have an outlet for passing, a presence to make them aware of danger and a reliable sort at crosses and shots.

There is work needed - goal kicks and general distribution where Stevens is prone to rushing the ball back into play - but the management team have been working on that. He’s done the job in the rehearsal and now he’s going to be the main man for the rest of the 2020-21 season.

Well in, Jack. Credit to Wayne Brown for his development too.