John Buckley

[riverholmes]

Hoping we can see some consistency from the manager and from Buckley to continue his form. Last season, he had a spell in CM, where he did well and then was dropped. Other times, he's come in and impressed, such as his debut, but not replicated it. To be fair to Buckley, other players around him have not been consistent.

Mowbray likes Bradley Johnson and with him returning to fitness, there might be a temptation to bring him in. Our midfield is physically quite weak, relying on Travis, whose form has been erratic and positionally not always disciplined, but I would hope we would persevere with the players who look to be hitting form.

I know I'm repeating myself, but come next year, we might be relying on Buckley a lot more in midfield, as a number of our players, including Rothwell, will leave on frees. Let's hope he establishes himself because we'll need all the help we can get then.

 

[JacknOry]

Buckley has often given a good half here and there, but today he gave a full 90 mins. Hats off.

[joey_big_nose]

Mowbray gets loads of unfair abuse about dropping young players for older favourites etc. He has consistently played young teams imo.

Dolan has just reached 50 games with us despite only being with us a year, Buckley has had a lot of game time, Travis, Nyambe, Brereton, Rothwell have all got a lot of game time.

I'm sure Buckley will continue to regularly start games. 

 

 

[lraC]

Buckley is growing in stature and hope this is the season when he really makes an impact. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

27 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Not sure there is much need for the provocative style of posting on this. 

But lets be clear, the Buckley we see today is a world away from the one we saw once or two years ago. I still have a big question mark over his lack of involvment and his final ball a lot of the time, hopefully that will come, the Barnsley game was an example of the frustration with numerous overhit passes etc. His biggest improvement in my opinion has been the way that he puts himself about and presses the ball which he didnt do when he first broke into the team when he seemed a little lost. Im not sure with Buckley or Brereton that these performances looked likely anytime soon a year or 2 ago with how off the pace they both seemed but it is good to see.

 

I'd add that I never got the sense that any more than a small minority of fans were really writing Buckley off. A pretty big number questioned his physicality and consistency (not that unreasonably!), but at the same time most seemed to acknowledge that there was some obvious ability there too. The disagreement tended to be more about whether he'd be able to reach his potential whilst eradicating the weaker parts of his game, which you'd have to say is still a fair debate even if his progression so far is promising. 

 

I guess there have been one or two comments likening him to Jason Lowe which look a bit silly now, but on the whole I think he's been treated pretty fairly on here. 

[RV Blue]

55 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I think you have a point to degree. The first time I witnessed Lewis Travis playing in centre midfield for the under 23's under Johnson and Dunn he was so impressive and I knew we had player off alot of talent here and we need to bring him through to the first team. Which we now have and he is a key player for our club now

I saw Buckley play against Rochdale a couple of years back in preseason and said that he’s the most talented player at the club at the time, sometimes it’s obvious.

[JacknOry]

1 hour ago, RV Blue said:

I saw Buckley play against Rochdale a couple of years back in preseason and said that he’s the most talented player at the club at the time, sometimes it’s obvious.

Takes more than talent though.

[briansol]

2 hours ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

I'd add that I never got the sense that any more than a small minority of fans were really writing Buckley off. A pretty big number questioned his physicality and consistency (not that unreasonably!), but at the same time most seemed to acknowledge that there was some obvious ability there too. The disagreement tended to be more about whether he'd be able to reach his potential whilst eradicating the weaker parts of his game, which you'd have to say is still a fair debate even if his progression so far is promising. 

 

I guess there have been one or two comments likening him to Jason Lowe which look a bit silly now, but on the whole I think he's been treated pretty fairly on here. 

I think that's a fair comment. There has been couple who seemed to have an agenda against him, but mostly people have recognized that he had some ability but question mark about being able to handle the physicality. Personally I've been a massive fan since his U23 days where he was dominating match after match, but I also thought he struggled more with the transition to senior football than I expected. 

[K-Hod]

I think we all know that the views of others can be frustrating, but we all know that we shouldn’t be baiting each other, yet some can’t resist, so can we not do that please?

Ta.

[LDRover]

4 hours ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

I guess there have been one or two comments likening him to Jason Lowe which look a bit silly now, but on the whole I think he's been treated pretty fairly on here. 

On the subject of J-Lo, I see the misery magnet is working the oracle at Salford. Always said he was non league standard and it looks like he's dragging Salford down there with him.

[JacknOry]

I have never written him off. Early concerns was physicality, but he seems to have bulked up a bit now. Consistency was also a bit of an issue, he would often do well for a half and then disappear. Fabulous performance in last game though - and hope Zorro continues in the same vein.

[TheRoversReturn]

7 hours ago, LDRover said:

On the subject of J-Lo, I see the misery magnet is working the oracle at Salford. Always said he was non league standard and it looks like he's dragging Salford down there with him.

Got to feel sorry for Lowe. He played at the Euro U21s alongside the likes of Morata, Wijnaldum, Thiago, Isco, De Jong. While they've gone onto play for great clubs, he has just worked his way ever down the leagues. Birmingham > Bolton > Salford > on his way to non-league and he's only 30 and now pointed out as the example of a next big thing who never became a big thing. 

I'm sure he's done alright for himself financially, but his career has been a consistent downward spiral since the promise indicated by his younger days. Some reach their potential, others become Maceo Righters. Ah well, them's the breaks but hard not to feel sorry for the lad.

Edited September 28, 2021 by TheRoversReturn

[LeftWinger]

4 hours ago, TheRoversReturn said:

...and he's only 30 and now pointed out as the example of a next big thing who never became a big thing. 

When was he ever the next big thing?

[Admiral Nelsen]

15 hours ago, briansol said:

I think that's a fair comment. There has been couple who seemed to have an agenda against him, but mostly people have recognized that he had some ability but question mark about being able to handle the physicality. Personally I've been a massive fan since his U23 days where he was dominating match after match, but I also thought he struggled more with the transition to senior football than I expected. 

 

Never saw him play for the youth team, but bar his first one or two of sub-appearances where he looked like a lost little boy, I agree that his talent has been pretty obvious in flashes. I think players of his type tend to develop slightly later than wingers or ball-winners like Travis who rely more on physicality. A bit of an extreme example, but I mentioned on here a few months ago that Paul Scholes was well into his twenties before really becoming the player we all remember him being, and I can see patience with Buckley being rewarded in a similar way. 

 

I guess something which maybe didn't help his progression was that he hasn't really had much of a run of starts until this season. Almost always in the squad, but only usually getting the odd start/sub appearance here and there. Given where we find ourselves his season, I think we should see it as an opportunity to start him as often as possible and hopefully going into next year we'll have a player on our hands who is more likely to really impose himself on games, rather than show his talent in flashes like he has so far. 

[Mattyblue]

Feel sorry for Lowe?! He’s had a cracking career on the pitch and financially considering just how poor he is.

Very lucky lad.

[riverholmes]

Mowbray has Buckley playing in the advanced midfield role, in what, back in the days of specialised attacking positions, might've been known as No.10. It's not quite the same - as, I think there's less hold up play involved, I think - but it's worth remembering that David Dunn and David Bentley both failed to fulfil this role when played there. Perhaps, you could add Cairney to that. In fact, I think many talented British footballers struggled to get that role right.

The game is changing so much, in terms of formation and styles, it must be difficult for players and managers. In the past, an up and coming winger, say Keith Treacy, may have looked upon Damien Duff and Keith Gillespie as players to emulate on the wing.  In this modern era of non-specialised attacking players, who does Buckley look to base his game upon as an attacking midfield in a three, supporting Tyrhys Dolan, a winger-cum-striker?

In a way, teams, players and managers must be making it up as they go along, with few templates to go on. Most are playing three forwards but how they line up seems very different from club to club.

Edited September 28, 2021 by riverholmes

[RV Blue]

On 29/12/2020 at 23:54, LDRover said:

If Buckley is the poster boy of the academy, there's no point having one.

 

On 17/12/2020 at 13:21, simongarnerisgod said:

the gulf in ability between elliot and buckley is an almighy chasm,one is destined to be a regular in the liverpool side while the other will end up playing non league,in buckleys case,if you`re not showing anything at 21 then it`s not going to happen for you at this level

 

On 10/12/2020 at 12:52, dallydally said:

Buckley couldn't carve a joint of roast beef. Totally overrated. Lightweight, not quick and easily knocked off the ball. Needs to go out on loan and beef up somewhat

 

On 10/11/2020 at 12:59, Mercer said:

Agree.

I think Buckley is so overrated.

Some on here bang on like he's the new Messi.

If he's such a 'special talent' eyed by PL clubs then why the feck has he not battered down our first team door and made himself an indispensable part of our team.  £10million for Buckley - someone aint half havin' a larf!

Contrast with Elliott who is a mere 17  - now that is a lad with REAL talent and potential who COMMANDS a place in our team.

These comments were found in about 2 minutes and there were plenty more. All go way beyond saying ‘he has talent but might not be able to cope with the physicality of men’s football’.

[lraC]

4 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Feel sorry for Lowe?! He’s had a cracking career on the pitch and financially considering just how poor he is.

Very lucky lad.

Agreed and I never saw in Lowe, what I have seen in Buckley.

[LDRover]

3 hours ago, RV Blue said:

 

 

 

These comments were found in about 2 minutes and there were plenty more. All go way beyond saying ‘he has talent but might not be able to cope with the physicality of men’s football’.

If you care to look at a more recent post you will see that my concern on him is on his mental side as I can see he has talent.

[simongarnerisgod]

he still does`nt convince me,granted he`s got better,no doubt because the more direct stuff we are playing benefits everybody,he`s got eye for a pass but still drifts out of games to much

[Fanny Badger]

I'm old enough to remember when people on here used to say Buckley was shit. Imagine knowing that little about the beautiful game. 

[SBlue]

Could be turning into one of the best players in the league.

Busquests x Iniesta = Big John Bucko

[Rochdale_rover]

Said it from day dot.

 

What a player

 

This boy is top top drawer 

[Mike E]

Buckley has always been a talented 'baller', just needed to gain the strength and grit (which he has, seemingly) to become a footballer.

Now he's one of the first names on my team sheets!

[Tom]

He’s now starting to show the consistency beyond the flashes we saw previously.

He’s maturing into a really clever player with an eye for a pass and a brain to read the game,  a trait that is invaluable 

I was one that needed convincing, he’s doing just that, keep it up young man!