General Youngsters in the run in?

AbbeyOx said:
would be great to see some of them come on for 10 minutes or so for the experience in addition to us finishing strongly and as high up as possible
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I suspect KR may give them longer than that.
 
I still don’t feel comfortable with the “we’re safe” attitude at the minute. Beat Wimbledon on Saturday and I’ll be in that camp but it’s not “job done” yet.
 
Didcotox said:
I still don’t feel comfortable with the “we’re safe” attitude at the minute. Beat Wimbledon on Saturday and I’ll be in that camp but it’s not “job done” yet.
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We're safe. Since 1990, only Fulham in 1993-94 have been relegated with 52 points. Whilst nothing is certain in football, I can't see us picking up no points whatsoever from our remaining games. Even if that unlikely scenario emerges, I still think we're there.

I think Jonte Smith needs a full 90 if he's ready fitness wise. We've made an effort to bring him here and it'll be good to see if he's capable of this level of football.
 
Didcotox said:
I still don’t feel comfortable with the “we’re safe” attitude at the minute. Beat Wimbledon on Saturday and I’ll be in that camp but it’s not “job done” yet.
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No team in the last 25 years has gone down with 52 points.
We will stay up with 52 points (and in all likelihood will get a few more points this season. I reckon as usual 50 will be enough.
 
I hope that some of the youngsters need to play.
I also hope that KR will get some slack on results if this is the route he takes .
Jones for Nelson would be a risky but interesting choice in one of the games.
The trouble is most of the teams we have left to play need the points (maybe Donny will have secured a play off place when we play them?)
 
www.oufc.co.uk

Jack Joins The 100 Club

There was a small moment of history yesterday when goalkeeper Jack Stevens made his debut for Oxford United.
www.oufc.co.uk www.oufc.co.uk

Which one will be the 100th Academy recruit to play in the 1st team?

I'll go for Lofthouse.

As an aside, physically Nico Jones looks up to it as he doesn't lack size.
 
Hope Stevens finally gets a game in goal - I think we've been overly reluctant to give our young keepers a game when opportunities arise for a number of years now, not even in Chrewckatrade or League cup. It didnt have to be an extended run, but not sure Eastwood has HAD to play as many games as he actually has over that time.
We have a number of young keepers at the club stuck behind this logjam - STevens, Agboola, Clayton, Harris.... and Crocombe before them, so we are not going to be able to keep all of them as they graduate, but we need to get to a stage where we are confident in one of them to step into the seniors for a spell/game if required, rather than blooding someone else's youngster on loan instead...

I know Clayton has been released today, but the point still stands
 
Didcotox said:
I still don’t feel comfortable with the “we’re safe” attitude at the minute. Beat Wimbledon on Saturday and I’ll be in that camp but it’s not “job done” yet.
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50 will still be the aim for just clubs
 
mooro said:
Hope Stevens finally gets a game in goal - I think we've been overly reluctant to give our young keepers a game when opportunities arise for a number of years now, not even in Chrewckatrade or League cup. It didnt have to be an extended run, but not sure Eastwood has HAD to play as many games as he actually has over that time.
We have a number of young keepers at the club stuck behind this logjam - STevens, Agboola, Clayton, Harris.... and Crocombe before them, so we are not going to be able to keep all of them as they graduate, but we need to get to a stage where we are confident in one of them to step into the seniors for a spell/game if required, rather than blooding someone else's youngster on loan instead...

I know Clayton has been released today, but the point still stands
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I dont know enough about the other keepers, but I've been lucky to see Stevens 6 or 7 times and I dont think he is anywhere near division 1 standard. This is why kr acted so quickly when Eastwood was injured. We need a genuine back up.
Perversely, very disappointed to see Little released. Of all the youngsters I've seen, he genuinly seemed the real deal. If it is a money decision, letting Napa go would seem to have been an alternative.
 
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For me Jonte Smith should be the first youngster to be tried out, talked the talk in interviews and should be given a fair opportunity to walk the walk. Sad to see Little let go, personally I thought he looked better than Napa, wonder if money was the reason
 
At 25 jonte is no youngster though. If he gets 90 mins he must take his opportunity or he will be chopped.
 
Mellowyellow said:
I dont know enough about the other keepers, but I've been lucky to see Stevens 6 or 7 times and I dont think he is anywhere near division 1 standard. This is why kr acted so quickly when Eastwood was injured. We need a genuine back up.
Perversely, very disappointed to see Little released. Of all the youngsters I've seen, he genuinly seemed the real deal. If it is a money decision, letting Napa go would seem to have been an alternative.
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Malachi Napa is under contract until 2021. Not sure any other clubs would be wanting to match whatever wage we're paying him, however meagre.
 
beyondthefourth said:
Malachi Napa is under contract until 2021. Not sure any other clubs would be wanting to match whatever wage we're paying him, however meagre.
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And Napa may well push on next season. Hopefully he has fully recovered from his illness and has a good, solid pre-season.
 
Compared to others in the same position Little is older, probably on a decent wage and will have had to break through as a first team player next season. If the opinion of those that matter see Sykes/Baptiste/other youngsters as ahead in their development with more potential then that's fine. Doesn't mean Little isn't good enough to have a professional football career, just that he's not right for us at this time.
 
And it's perverse to me to suggest that Napa gets released ahead of him when Napa has first team minutes to his name, including a game changing performance at Charlton, while little hasn't got close to the match day squad.
 
Whingit said:
And it's perverse to me to suggest that Napa gets released ahead of him when Napa has first team minutes to his name, including a game changing performance at Charlton, while little hasn't got close to the match day squad.
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It may be a bit of an "out of sight, out of mind" scenario.
 
I honestly didn't know Oxford had so many experts in the National League South and how the quality shown there translates to League 1. You learn something new every day
 
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