Reece Oxford, the then-16-year-old who had Mesut Ozil in his pocket, the player every fan was speaking about and touted to be our future captain. The comparisons to Rio Ferdinand are uncanny, you know a player’s ability when he seems to have so much time on the ball, a reassurance that our Academy is still alive and breathing. Now, a year after since that incredible debut, the situation can only be described as one thing…
Incredulous. Amidst the influx of managers showing their faith in their youth players, we are still not seeing that faith being instilled into our ‘future captain’, he just isn’t getting that crucial game time he requires. The debate of not playing him to protect him is rubbish also, his England compatriot Marcus Rashford is a testament to that. Yes, his breakthrough season only came about through a number of injuries at the time for Man United. But with the current defensive crisis, I think this qualifies as the time for Oxford to be thrown in.
His talent is there for all to see, if Bilic just cannot start him at the back then he should start in the position where he played so well against Arsenal. A lot of people will not agree and believe this to be rash thinking, West Ham have conceded eight goals in two games. The time is now for rash thinking. We need to be unafraid in switching up the squad if the current thinking is not working, how can we have not one player back for West Brom’s fourth goal?
It’s clear that putting your faith in youth players is paying off for a lot of teams, Rashford for United, Alli for Tottenham etc. and I truly believe now is the time for a complete switch around. Bilic clearly has an outstanding knowledge of the game, we all saw his insights as a manager during the Euro’s but I believe he has to give youth a chance here. What more have we got to lose if not another four conceded goals?
