Didn't play often but still bagged a couple at a time when we were still trying to pull away from the bottom three that season, after the League Cup win. He's also one of very few players over recent decades to make his debut for a club in a major cup final.

Errr, he didn't though did he? In his first couple of seasons he was mainly a sub but often looked electric when he came on, hence the clamour for him to start more games. Inconsistent is how I'd describe him when he did start. He started more in 20/21 and again, pretty inconsistent but flashes of genius (those two goals v Brentford and Sheff Weds in the space of a few weeks, brilliant). Even on his poorer games he'd still be trying to drive through the centre and provide a spark. Pointing out the above isn't really relevant to the chat about Buckley. But I find it odd how some players suddenly become awful when they leave. Seen it with Lenihan and Nyambe too - also two good players for us.

Saw this quote from Mowbray last night 🤣 he does know how to say the right things when he gets a new job. Fans lapping it up in the replies, the usual 'he gets it' comments. Let's see if they're saying the same a few months or a year from now.

Great shout. Him and Martin Andresen - another forgotten player - featured quite a lot in the second half of 03/04.

Lars Jacobsen was our first choice RB for a while until Salgado got up to speed. Don't hear much mention of him (probably for a reason, he was steady and did a decent job but nothing more).

He was excellent, I was seriously impressed. Every pass was the right choice and weighted perfectly. He did more yesterday than Buckley (who I'm a fan of, but he needs a wake-up call) in the previous few games.

15 mins in a Conference League group stage game. Though after Clarkson arrived last summer with ‘Champions League experience’ for Liverpool and then went on to look like a lost kid on the pitch, I wouldn’t read too much into stuff like that.

Really? Not writing Szmodics off yet of course but Rothwell’s 5 out of 6 quieter games were much better than what Szmodics has shown so far.

If their most recent memory of him is that abysmal game at Ewood in April, then no wonder they're saying that.

Bit of a stinker that.

I don't think he's quite that good yet 😄

Yep. I watched the 08/09 and 09/10 season reviews recently (available on YouTube - though quite a lot of goals and even some games missing) and yeah, he was worse than I remembered even then for low shots and shots outside the box. Yet I'd consider those his best years with us, 09/10 in particular, as towards the end he could barely move at all. But the difference from watching Friedel in the previous season reviews (05/06 to 07/08 reviews are on there too and more complete than the above two) was huge.

There have been some ridiculous fees over the last few years, but that has to be the maddest I can remember. Bring back the days where Zidane was the most expensive player in the world for almost a decade at £46m.

Crikey, bad that. With five subs I’d even be tempted to put Dack, Gallagher and Hedges on for Szmodics, Vale and Dolan.

After a decent enough 20/21 where he scored a few and looked much improved compared to his first two years (which I think is often forgotten...) - and after playing for Chile and scoring at the Copa America? I don't think so. The signs were there that he'd turned a corner (though of course nobody thought he'd be on 20 goals by Christmas last season). I don't think it would have taken 20k+ a week then. Even Gallagher's contract renewal in January this year was greeted in general by a shrug of the shoulders and was only news for a couple of days. And Brereton even last summer was more highly thought of than Gallagher. As people always say though, it doesn't matter whether a messageboard would have gone into meltdown or not, the club needs to do what it feels is best and protect what it considers to be assets. Which is what people happy with Gallagher's renewal said.

Myth. In fact I’m not even sure what JRC is good at.

No doubt they’re winning the passing again though.

Do you think? I'd be very surprised if he left now. There doesn't seem to be much concrete interest in him. I bet some are monitoring but would prefer to wait until January at a knock-off price or free next summer (which would be a nightmare for us...).

I think he'd dropped the odd clanger in the season before last too hadn't he - Reading at home was it after a few seconds, when he wandered to the side of the penalty area? I can remember a lot of people not being confident when he had to step in for Kaminski for a bit last season, and that was before the Wigan game. Granted he did okay and made a couple of saves at Bournemouth. If he does play tonight though and can't get through a home game v Hartlepool without making a mistake or looking like a bag of nerves, then he'll probably never be an able deputy for us.

Yeah, he missed a couple of sitters here and got worse towards the end of his loan (probably once he'd figured out Kean was a conman) but I remember being impressed with his overall play at first. Could see there was something there. He's done well to get a move like that at 34 though.

Most of the laughable terms that have been mentioned in this thread I do know what they’re referring to, or I can work it out……this though, I’ve no idea? ‘Pre-shot expected goals’??

We had a run of 9 clean sheets in 11 games last winter, let's not pretend Lenihan was anything other than a good CB for us.

Don't think he made his debut until Big Sam left and he who shall not be named took over.

Buckley really is a lovely player to watch. Body feints, first touches that create space for himself and take opposition players out of the game, outside of the foot passes, nice passes through the lines. Proper footballer.

Not even sure about the better quality team mates, Everton's squad is looking poor.