Louis Jones

[drfchound]

He would not have got there in time. It was a cross whipped in with pace, near post and right on to Wyke’s head. No chance.

100% this.
All goals are preventable aren’t they, especially with hindsight.
Looking at our goal in the same game, everyone is praising Molyneux for a great cross and Bailey for putting away a very good header.
No one is talking about there being two defenders trying to cut out the cross or the fact that Bailey beat a defender to the ball, or that their keeper should have done better as he actually got a hand to the ball.
Maybe if the keeper had anticipated better he could have stood next to the post and would have just had a straightforward catch.
As jmt23 said, sometimes you have to give credit to the team that scores the goal.

[Upton Rover]

Yes he was good tonight, but his overall performances are poor, not L2 quality

[ncRover]

He’s got better stats than Alex Cairns this year, who we all (myself included) wanted in the summer. And we’re in an almost identical league position to Salford.

Yes there’s better but he will continue improving IMO he has a good attitude.

[ForsolongaRover]

He’s got better stats than Alex Cairns this year, who we all (myself included) wanted in the summer. And we’re in an almost identical league position to Salford.

Yes there’s better but he will continue improving IMO he has a good attitude.

What stats are these please?

[Campsall rover]

He would not have got there in time. It was a cross whipped in with pace, near post and right on to Wyke’s head. No chance.

Once the cross is coming in it’s Olowu’s job to shepherd Wyke and at least get the right side or bare minimum make it harder for him to get the header on target.

Louis was good with crosses v Newport so hopefully he is improving in that regard. I know he’s not perfect but we’ve got the 2 goalies we have now for this season and next.

Camps you rated Mitchell, surely you think Jones is an upgrade?

Mitchell was far better on crosses no question.
Louie is much better with distribution. Both were or are good shot stoppers.
Mitchell made some really bad errors in the latter part of last season due to losing confidence. That I blame totally on both Danny Schofield for his terrible tactics and the abuse from supporters which demoralised him and probably the entire team.

So imo take your pick. Mitchell kept us from getting some hammerings in the 1st half of the season.
There are many it seems with short memories. Also many who wanted a scapegoat and Mitchell was the unfortunate one who was on the end of some unacceptable abuse.

[Bailey Vickerage]

He’s got better stats than Alex Cairns this year, who we all (myself included) wanted in the summer. And we’re in an almost identical league position to Salford.

Yes there’s better but he will continue improving IMO he has a good attitude.

What stats are these please?

League 2 stat comparison this season

Clean sheets:
Jones 4 in 18
Cairns 7 in 27

Saves/ save percentage:
Jones 47/73 64%
Cairns 69/117 59%

Saves per 90:
Jones 2.71
Cairns 2.56

Goals conceded/per 90:
Jones 26/1.5
Cairns 48/1.78

XG Conceded:
Jones 21.9
Cairns 44.1

[GazLaz]

He’s got better stats than Alex Cairns this year, who we all (myself included) wanted in the summer. And we’re in an almost identical league position to Salford.

Yes there’s better but he will continue improving IMO he has a good attitude.

What stats are these please?

League 2 stat comparison this season

Clean sheets:
Jones 4 in 18
Cairns 7 in 27

Saves/ save percentage:
Jones 47/73 64%
Cairns 69/117 59%

Saves per 90:
Jones 2.71
Cairns 2.56

Goals conceded/per 90:
Jones 26/1.5
Cairns 48/1.78

XG Conceded:
Jones 21.9
Cairns 44.1

Cairns has been dreadful this season. I was dead against us signing him. For the last 3-4 years I’ve been an advocate of signing Alex Bass. Think I even recommended him to Graham Younger. He’s a quality keeper, now on loan at Wimbledon. Another very good, low profile, fairly cheap player I’ve recommended to the club that passed us by. He was warming Pompeys bench at the time.

[Upton Rover]

We have not 1 decent goalkeeper in our squad, Repeat not 1

[turnbull for england]

We have not 1 decent goalkeeper in our squad, Repeat not 1

Do we have 2?

[Draytonian III]

Every time a goalkeeper makes a mistake and goal is scored he’s under the spotlight and blamed, but a striker could miss  five great chances and score the sixth and nothing is said. The same reasoning can be used in cricket with a bowler being hit for successive boundaries but then getting a wicket with a catch on the boundary

[scawsby steve]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

[GazLaz]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Jackson Smith Walsall.

[scawsby steve]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Jackson Smith Walsall.

He's only played 8 games, and conceded 9 goals. What's your evidence based on?

[sedwardsdrfc]

Like that he’s clearly worked a lot on his distribution. Not that it was bad before I just don’t remember it been anything to talk about. In his time on the bench he’s obviously looked to improve himself.

Give me hope he will work on coming off his line a bit as that’s the only worry I have with him. Overall I think he’s coming along nicely

[NickDRFC]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Jackson Smith Walsall.

He's only played 8 games, and conceded 9 goals. What's your evidence based on?

I’ve seen improvements in Jones and I’m happy enough to see how he goes for the rest of the season, but if you’re just using goals conceded per game as your comparison then that (1.125 for Smith) is much better than Jones’ (1.44).

[GazLaz]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Jackson Smith Walsall.

He's only played 8 games, and conceded 9 goals. What's your evidence based on?

Is there a direct correlation between how many goals a keeper concedes and how good they are?

[scawsby steve]

Is 8 games a good yardstick to judge anyone's ability?

[GazLaz]

Is 8 games a good yardstick to judge anyone's ability?

Not sure where you get your numbers from. He’s played 50 games.

[Campsall rover]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Well what is our wage structure by comparison to the other 23 clubs in league 2
It’s top 10 as far as we were told. I suspect next season it will be top 6/7 at least.
I would reckon there will be 15/20 keepers better than Louie Jones in this league.

Harrogate Town have just re signed James Belshaw from Bristol Rovers.
Having seen him play many times in Harrogate’s rise from National League North to league 2 I can say with some authority he is a far better keeper than Louie Jones.
Don’t tell me we could not afford to offer him a higher wage than Harrogate.
Our problem now is we have 2 keepers under contract I think for 1 & 2 seasons after this one.
We need to off load one of them if we can and recruit a top keeper, one who is going to help us get promoted.
I don’t think either of our 2 keepers are good enough to earn us the extra 15/20 points a really good keeper would. Those points are possibly the difference between being top 3 and finishing outside the play off places.

[drfchound]

Camps, I might be wrong but wasn’t our wage budget quoted as 14th highest.

[DonnyOsmond]

Okonkwo is probably the best keeper in the league but not realistic, and on loan anyway.

A realistic loan would be Leban from Everton, currently at Farsley but he's definitely too good for that level.

Is Will Dennis at Kilmarnock realistic?

[DonnyOsmond]

Upton and Camps. Name us one League 2 keeper who's better than Louie, within our wage structure, and up for availability soon.

In your own time.

Well what is our wage structure by comparison to the other 23 clubs in league 2
It’s top 10 as far as we were told. I suspect next season it will be top 6/7 at least.
I would reckon there will be 15/20 keepers better than Louie Jones in this league.

Harrogate Town have just re signed James Belshaw from Bristol Rovers.
Having seen him play many times in Harrogate’s rise from National League North to league 2 I can say with some authority he is a far better keeper than Louie Jones.
Don’t tell me we could not afford to offer him a higher wage than Harrogate.
Our problem now is we have 2 keepers under contract I think for 1 & 2 seasons after this one.
We need to off load one of them if we can and recruit a top keeper, one who is going to help us get promoted.
I don’t think either of our 2 keepers are good enough to earn us the extra 15/20 points a really good keeper would. Those points are possibly the difference between being top 3 and finishing outside the play off places.

He did alright in 21/22 but has been meh since, perhaps because he's 33 now. Very little between Jones and Belshaw this season at shot stopping, Jones is the better passer.

[roversdude]

He’s got better stats than Alex Cairns this year, who we all (myself included) wanted in the summer. And we’re in an almost identical league position to Salford.

Yes there’s better but he will continue improving IMO he has a good attitude.

What stats are these please?

League 2 stat comparison this season

Clean sheets:
Jones 4 in 18
Cairns 7 in 27

Saves/ save percentage:
Jones 47/73 64%
Cairns 69/117 59%

Saves per 90:
Jones 2.71
Cairns 2.56

Goals conceded/per 90:
Jones 26/1.5
Cairns 48/1.78

XG Conceded:
Jones 21.9
Cairns 44.1

Cairns has been dreadful this season. I was dead against us signing him. For the last 3-4 years I’ve been an advocate of signing Alex Bass. Think I even recommended him to Graham Younger. He’s a quality keeper, now on loan at Wimbledon. Another very good, low profile, fairly cheap player I’ve recommended to the club that passed us by. He was warming Pompeys bench at the time.

There were 2 guys at the Wimbledon game who seemed to be there purely to abuse Bass, they seemed to go at half time when the teams turned round-seemed strange

[NickDRFC]

He would not have got there in time. It was a cross whipped in with pace, near post and right on to Wyke’s head. No chance.

Once the cross is coming in it’s Olowu’s job to shepherd Wyke and at least get the right side or bare minimum make it harder for him to get the header on target.

Louis was good with crosses v Newport so hopefully he is improving in that regard. I know he’s not perfect but we’ve got the 2 goalies we have now for this season and next.

Camps you rated Mitchell, surely you think Jones is an upgrade?

Mitchell was far better on crosses no question.
Louie is much better with distribution. Both were or are good shot stoppers.
Mitchell made some really bad errors in the latter part of last season due to losing confidence. That I blame totally on both Danny Schofield for his terrible tactics and the abuse from supporters which demoralised him and probably the entire team.

So imo take your pick. Mitchell kept us from getting some hammerings in the 1st half of the season.
There are many it seems with short memories. Also many who wanted a scapegoat and Mitchell was the unfortunate one who was on the end of some unacceptable abuse.

If Mitchell was as good as you think he is, do you not think he would be doing better than 3rd choice at a League Two club? Maybe the majority were right and he just isn’t good enough.

[Chris Black come back]

Jones has improved significantly in the last few seasons. Whether he can keep doing this and get to a consistently good level is another question but he is one of the very few players in the squad who is on an upward trajectory. We don’t tend to add value to players these days. Jones is an outlier really.

[Campsall rover]

He would not have got there in time. It was a cross whipped in with pace, near post and right on to Wyke’s head. No chance.

Once the cross is coming in it’s Olowu’s job to shepherd Wyke and at least get the right side or bare minimum make it harder for him to get the header on target.

Louis was good with crosses v Newport so hopefully he is improving in that regard. I know he’s not perfect but we’ve got the 2 goalies we have now for this season and next.

Camps you rated Mitchell, surely you think Jones is an upgrade?

Mitchell was far better on crosses no question.
Louie is much better with distribution. Both were or are good shot stoppers.
Mitchell made some really bad errors in the latter part of last season due to losing confidence. That I blame totally on both Danny Schofield for his terrible tactics and the abuse from supporters which demoralised him and probably the entire team.

So imo take your pick. Mitchell kept us from getting some hammerings in the 1st half of the season.
There are many it seems with short memories. Also many who wanted a scapegoat and Mitchell was the unfortunate one who was on the end of some unacceptable abuse.

If Mitchell was as good as you think he is, do you not think he would be doing better than 3rd choice at a League Two club? Maybe the majority were right and he just isn’t good enough.

Nick I didn’t say he was good enough.
I said he was better on crosses than Louis Jones. 

[ForsolongaRover]

I agree with Scawsby Steve about the extreme way Mitchell was criticised and his weakness/indecision with his distribution. The fact that this is the main strength of Jones’s game is significant.

And I’m afraid that this is where my view differs. And those fans who like him seem to feel the need to nurture him which contrasts with the feelings they display towards other players who make mistakes. This is completely different from how they came down on Mitchell and other recent loan goalkeepers when they made very obvious blunders. But the fact that he seems likeable and a local academy product is very much in his favour.

He does not make very obvious blunders though because he takes no risks, preferring the safe options, like staying on his line and not even trying to dive or jump for balls which he thinks he cannot be sure to get to, or is too slow to even react to. Consequently the phrase “Jones had no chance” is frequently heard. I wonder how often it would be more appropriate to say “Jones gave himself no chance”. Reaction time is the key and he is slow in this respect. Is he really brave, another quality a GK needs? The evidence does not seem to be there. Nor do we see him organising the defence, imposing his presence. He often seems passive in dealing with crosses. He is frequently just behind the defenders flapping at the ball as it passes close by when perhaps he should be amongst them claiming it.

The best save I’ve seen him make recently was the decisive Wigan penalty. There he was able to decide in advance which way he was going to dive and he did so, simultaneously with the kick. As was reported, he “guessed” right.

[ravenrover]

I just love all the comments from these amazing goalkeeping coaches

[ncRover]

Mitchell making an error coming for a corner (did similar against Bradford but completely missed it)

https://youtu.be/MggVTqdPl4k?si=6RfiRsenmxBi3J8Z

Mitchell’s shot stopping was worse than Jones’. Making a spectacular camera save was more than cancelled out by stuff like this.

https://youtu.be/YchlKfmQht8?si=2754BmsJWCz0d020

Or this

https://youtu.be/AVqvLu2rEBY?si=FoFIi73-VUCAoQY9

None of these were “taking risks” they were just getting the basics painfully wrong.

Until Jones starts doing stuff like this we cannot talk about them in the same breath.

[scawsby steve]

Is 8 games a good yardstick to judge anyone's ability?

Not sure where you get your numbers from. He’s played 50 games.

Not for Walsall he hasn't. My numbers are from Transfermarkt, which is a reliable site. Go and check yourself.

The 8 games I quoted were league games from this season. He's also played some cup games, and played in 2 games on loan last season. His total stats for Walsall are 17 games played, 25 goals conceded.