Watching the Champions League highlights this week, numerous teams either got caught out and conceded or almost caught out when messing around with it at the back. You're more likely to be punished at that level, but you're also more likely to actually have the players to be able to build a move from the back - we therefore haven't got much hope with Ayala turning like an oil tanker or the ball bouncing off Travis (nothing against them two, Ayala in particular is excellent at defending, but they're being asked to be something they're not). I remember shaking my head in disbelief at Swansea doing it at Ewood on the opening day of last season. Feel like that's us now. We haven't been properly punished yet due to the lack of quality in the opposition and some good last-ditch defending, but it'll seriously cost us at some point. And even if we aren't punished directly, it's making us seriously blunt going forward as we aren't getting up the pitch - it wasn't a surprise to see how few touches we had in the opposition box on Tuesday, and it feels like we just don't create much overall. Hope you can fix it JDT. I'd start by getting our best players on the pitch, so it'd be Dack and Adam Wharton in on Saturday.

Kick off at 12.30 now next month.

If Brittain’s fully fit surely he has to be in. Even at Luton he was our best player when he came off the bench.

Crystal Palace under Hodgson would lose most games and hardly score apart from Zaha getting about 10 a season, but still finish 12th-14th on 40 odd points.

Hope we smash Sunderland next month.

They'll never have it at night unless it's a cup replay à la 2005 - people would just take the Monday and Tuesday off work and drink all day pre-match. Looking forward to seeing whether the compulsory coach travel is still a thing.....

That's great footage. Wouldn't have fancied being in that crush mind! Was Milburn's pass at 00:25 really a 'lovely pass'? He carried it well, but the pass itself.....

Fowler played a one-two with Martin Olsson (there's a generation crossover) to set him up to score, so he was involved in a goal, maybe that's what people are thinking of.

Do you think? I’ve seen more Burnley shirts than there used to be around the RV last few years but I just put that down to them being in the PL for a sustained period and it being a time of ‘success’ for them. I still wouldn’t have said Clitheroe is more Burnley - tragic if that has indeed been allowed to happen….

I think that’ll be him yep. Few appearances in Hughes’ first season so it would have been around that time.

That's a great shout. How about Jemal Johnson?

The 18-game package article says this: "As well as being able to visit Ewood Park for the remainder of the Championship campaign, 18-game package holders will have priority access to home cup matches and for our away league fixtures, including those against our local rivals. The priority access schedule is as follows: Season Ticket holders + 1875 membership + away games Season Ticket holders + 1875 membership Season Ticket holders 18-game package + 1875 membership 18-game package 1875 membership General sale" From a purely selfish point of view I hope it gets to 'season ticket holders' only as I'm not an 1875 member nor have I been able to get to any away games yet (and probably won't before Burnley away).

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.