He was absolutely pointless in the first half. Think he might have touched the ball about 3-4 times and was just an extra body when Arsenal had the ball.
Did better in the second half though.
Did better in the second half though.
Reece Oxford
- Thread starter Pogue Mahone
- Start date
Looks to be a great talent. Can't wait for the English media to hype him up until it crushes him.
calm in possession and positioned himself well whenever he sensed danger. he needs to stay at west ham for a few years.
Wonder if West Ham will stop him from playing in the U17 World Cup in October.
Watched the Newcastle match so didn't see him today but I've seen him before for the England u17s and West Ham u21s and he's looked quite good. Wouldn't expect a 16 year old CB playing in midfield to get on the ball much against Arsenal though.
Great from Nane to give him a chance to play.
Watched him the whole game today. His positional sense was superb- he prevented a significant number of dangerous situations simply by being exactly where he needed to be to stop either a pass or a cross- almost Carrick like. I also liked how his cue to break forward came from winning a 50:50 and then quickly playing a give and go. Otherwise he was very disciplined as the CDM and frequently covered CB positions when the usual CB was dragged out wide and he also showed a lot of composure on the ball. He did one long pass to set up a breakaway and this is something I'd like to see more of to get a sense of his ability.
I thought Bilic was crazy to give him the nod but he did well today. 95% pass rate.
I don't see much to get excited about. We've seen extremely physically developed young players so many times before and they so rarely go on to be much special. People always go on about their age, but ignore they are often among the physically developed players on the pitch.
Oxford plays in the same age group as Marcus Edwards. Edwards might not get into Spurs U21 side this season, whilst Oxford is already in West Ham's 1st team. Yet would anyone rather have Oxford on our books than Edwards? The same is true of Jay Dasilva from Chelsea. There isn't anyone who follows youth football that would rather have Oxford than him. Players like Edwards and Dasilva aren't anywhere near as physical as Oxford, but talent and ability wise they are on another planet.
Oxford plays in the same age group as Marcus Edwards. Edwards might not get into Spurs U21 side this season, whilst Oxford is already in West Ham's 1st team. Yet would anyone rather have Oxford on our books than Edwards? The same is true of Jay Dasilva from Chelsea. There isn't anyone who follows youth football that would rather have Oxford than him. Players like Edwards and Dasilva aren't anywhere near as physical as Oxford, but talent and ability wise they are on another planet.
Highly talented and technically gifted youth prospects fail to make the step up just as often as the kids who are physically developed early.
Anyway you're being harsh on Oxford. He's tall but he's no Lukaku or Rooney in terms of strength at that age. Then again, those two have done pretty well for themselves.
sign him up!
Very impressive debut. But seeing him playing at this level makes me want us to throw Fosu-Mensah in at the deep end too.
They will sell him for a lot of money one day.
I think the difference is it easy to spot the physically developed players that aren't going to do that much, whilst with the more technically gifted players it's harder as you don't know how they are going to physically develop. For example, Lukaku never looked to a special talent technically, whilst Rooney did. So it's not surprising that Lukaku doesn't look any better now they he did at 16 or 17. Whilst Rooney, though he might not have hit the heights hoped of him, he did go onto to become established at a top CL club and was twice YPOTY by the time he was 21.
It's a bit like Jack Rodwell in my opinion. Everyone blames his injuries but people forget there were loads of people questioning his actual ability before he got injured. As technically, he just was never that good.
For me, players like Cole, Rooney and Wilshire etc, should be judged differently to the likes of Lukaku, Richards and Rodwell etc. I see Oxford as being firmly in the second group.
@redmeister
I don't agree with you. Temperament is just as important as ability if you are going to make it at the top level. Oxford was captain of the West Ham U21 at the age of 15, the kid obviously has something about him as a character which is why I believe Bilic had the confidence in him to start him. Players like Larnell Cole, for example or Mats Daehli have great ability with a football but lack the character for the big leagues.
I don't agree with you. Temperament is just as important as ability if you are going to make it at the top level. Oxford was captain of the West Ham U21 at the age of 15, the kid obviously has something about him as a character which is why I believe Bilic had the confidence in him to start him. Players like Larnell Cole, for example or Mats Daehli have great ability with a football but lack the character for the big leagues.
I don't think he's just an athlete, he looks to have good positioning, composure and passing (especially if he ends up as a centre back).
It's utterly mental to judge a player almost solely by their height or physique and to stereotype them that way. Plenty of tall or strong prospects become very good players - and plenty of smaller, technically talented players fail not because they don't physically develop but because they don't improve their mentality and apply their technique in higher quality matches.
As for Oxford, he just won MOTM against Arsenal and it wasn't because of his size, pace or strength.
Also Lukaku is better than when he was 16/17.
Buy him.
But that isn't what is happening. His physical attributes are being taken into account when judging him based on his age and experience, whilst most importantly acknowledging his technical limitations. If you followed youth football, you'd probably agree that he's not a stand out technical player. With that in mind, you need to take into consideration the very strong possibility that the reason he's so advanced for his age, is largely due to physical attributes and thus his scope to improve isn't as great as we might expect by judging him what level he's playing at for his age.
Personally I don't see him as among the top England U17 prospects. I understand why he's captain and can see why he's one of the best players, but I don't think his ceiling is as high as some of his less physically prepared peers. Ultimately, when you watch him play, he just isn't that good. Yet he's being described " born to play for Utd" or that "West Ham will receive a very large fee for him." People are talking about him as if he has top 4 Prem League potential and having seen him play at youth level, I just find that a very unlikely prospect.
Judging from the OP he's spent a season captaining West Ham's U21s. TFM will be better after a full season with Waren Joyce under his belt.
@redmeister
United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were all sniffing round him last summer when his contract was running out.
United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were all sniffing round him last summer when his contract was running out.
I'm 5'8I was 6ft at 15, I'm also 6ft at 25. Not all guys keep growing til 18
Quality.
Ha!
Reid was MOTM? Oxford was decent, especially considering his age, but nothing amazing. I was impressed with his maturity too, though, and I'm sure he'll be a great player.
I was around 6 foot 2 at 15/16! But I haven't grown at all since then funnily enough
For his age he looked very composed and nothing appeared to faze him.
I was 5'4 at 15, now I'm 6'0.I was around 6 foot 2 at 15/16! But I haven't grown at all since then funnily enough
Life is an interesting mistress.
Probably. Tweet was made when he was 14 though...
Looked the most composed midfielder on the pitch, poise,tenacity,diligence,intelligence,belligerent,dominating,salivating....the boleyn beanpole I hear the crowd call. . Mmmm isn't it, ice cream van on a Sunday, mum's washing up after a roast, kids in the road playing wallsie til sundown, jumpers for goalposts mmmmm isn't it.
Hands up if you've put him in your FF as your backup cheap "defender" already too.
He definitely has that 'something' that makes you think he'll become a quality player.
Is he necessarily any better than Fosu Mensah though? West Ham will give players chances at that kind of age.
He impressed me a lot. I will probably follow him closely this season to see how he goes. If his debut was anything to go by then he will become a very good player.
Seems he had a bad time today. Taken off at half time.
Tends to happen with 16 year olds playing in the PL.