Player Season Review – Stewart Downing

WELCOME to the continuation in my season reviews for members of our squad. If you haven’t seen already, I have already covered Henderson, Carroll, Adam, as well as those shortlisted for live4liverpool.com’s Player of the Year award; Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique, Reina and Suarez. Please go and check them out and let me know what you think.

Today I am presenting a review on Stewart Downing and before we start I want to raise a disclaimer.

First and foremost I am a very passionate Liverpool fan and I believe that it is my responsibility and my duty to provide those at the club, whether it is the playing staff, the management or anyone else connected with the club, my support.

This is not a blind support; nobody should see anyone at the club as being infallible and nobody should defend the indefensible. Away from the football pitch the scrutiny placed on the club from fans is much higher, and fans should rightly question decisions taken by the club, such as in the last week the comments made by Ian Ayre about Dave Whelan, and further back the club’s handling of the Luis Suarez affair.

These decisions made by the club should not be blindly adhered to and defended without question, but these situations do differ from what happens on the pitch, and this is my point. On the pitch, any player who pulls on that famous shirt is representing Liverpool Football Club and all of us, so barring any off field activity or similar action that brings shame on us all (looking at you Itandje), they deserve to receive our backing 100%.

I do not buy into simply slating players as I don’t rate them, or didn’t want them or whether they just had a shocker, it is counter-productive and shows a distinct lack of respect and patience, elements that are sadly lacking more and more in modern football. Whilst I refuse to slag off a LFC player or manager, I will provide constructive criticism and present a positive viewpoint. I leave my ultimate judgement of a player until after they have left the club as that is the only chance when you can step back and properly review their contribution and form an opinion of their time at Anfield. Case in point is Lucas Leiva – how many people wrote him off in the first few years at Liverpool and how many now see him as a vital cog?

Now that’s out of the way you will see why I decided to mention it; Stewart Downing. Keeping my ethos, this will be one of the more difficult pieces to write as I know a lot will have simply written him off, but it goes against my grain to simply slam a player, and certainly not after only one year in a red shirt.

It is worth saying that if he left tomorrow, this piece may carry a different tone, but he is a Liverpool player and as a result I will support and back him. I am well aware that a number of recent signings made have not resulted in universal cheer from Liverpool Universe and certain levels of derision from opposing fans and the media, in fact personally I have had many arguments concerning the signings of both Carroll and Henderson (1 or 2 articles on here if you want to search them out!).

The difference between Henderson/Carroll and Downing is that the former have youth on their side and have been bought with the future in mind as well as a level of impact now, whereas Downing is established and bought for now! The difference between Adam and Downing – two players that are both arguably established and bought for immediate impact – is that Adam came from a smaller club where he was a big fish, whereas in comparison Downing came from a big club (no arguments on this please, Villa are a big club in my eyes, certainly not at LFC level but big nonetheless), in which he was classed as one of a number of top players there, so where Adam can be excused a certain amount as he adapts to such a culture shift, this should not really apply to Downing.

Also, Downing is a full international with over 30 caps for England so will have trained and played with players of the highest level on a more regular basis than that of the other three I have just mentioned, so it is fair to say that out of the recent signings made under Kenny, Downing has been the most disappointing. Let’s also not go down the line that we chose to sign Downing rather the Mata; Mata went to Chelsea as they could offer Champions League football and probably a higher wage than we could, if we were ever actually in for him.

Is it right therefore that he should be bombed out? Derided by his own fans? I don’t think so.

The club has made a considerable investment in Downing (let’s not forget that the fee paid has nothing to do with him), and in patches, admittedly small ones, he has shown what he is capable of. He has had a number of decent games in an England shirt whilst at Liverpool and the Carling Cup final stands out as quality showing, but unfortunately these have been few and far between. His inclusion in the England squad for the Euros certainly raised a few eyebrows, but some of the criticism laid at his doorstep was rather harsh for me, in particular the stat of him not scoring or making any assists for Liverpool this past season.
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Being pedantic, he did score for us in the Cup, one of which was a beautifully taken winner against Stoke, but I accept his goal return was not of a level it should have been. The assist stat is ridiculous though. A ball could hit a player on the bum, fall at the feet of the forward who rifles it in, and he gets an assist! Assists for me, say more about the forward line as a player can put it on a plate time and time again for the forward’s and if they don’t score, there are no assists. So whilst accurate, the assist stat paints rather a false impression of Downing.

Much fairer to him is the stat of the number of chances he created which stands at 55 for the season, second highest in the squad and only 6 behind Luis Suarez, who is widely recognised as our best offensive player. Now in a season, whereby I imagine his own standards he has been poor, to lay on 55 chances is actually an encouraging statistic. If Downing stays on at Anfield and is allowed to put this last season down to experience, wipe the slate clean with Rodgers and start again, building on the lessons he has learnt, we could start to see the best of him.

Asset wise, he is a natural left footed player with a decent strike on him, quite happy hugging that touch line to provide genuine width, and when on form he has the ability to beat a player and a level of pace he doesn’t really get credit for. At Villa, Downing worked well with Milner and Young in a flowing 3 man system operating behind the strike force that saw Villa as serious contenders for Europe and even a top 4 finish, but as with everything in sport, particularly football, confidence is key.

There is no doubt that Downing is a good player (anyone who says otherwise is quite frankly ridiculous) but it is confidence that allows a player to utilise the tools in his locker effectively to produce the highest level of performance possible. That’s where fan support is crucial. 40,000 Reds cheering you on, on match day can drive a player forward and as clichéd as it sounds can be that 12th man! What makes Anfield special on European nights? The crowd. What made up part of Rafa’s speech at Instanbul at half-time? The crowd.

Downing has the ability to be a success at Liverpool, that I have no doubt about, but it is down to him to show it, the ball is very much in his court. As it stands, I imagine that should we receive a decent offer for him this summer he will move on and there will not be a lot of sleep lost, but should he stay he should be allowed the opportunity to make right and really show what he is capable of. As I have said, I refuse to write off any player in a red shirt whilst they remain at Liverpool and am quite prepared to throw my support behind that squad come next season.

Please come find me on twitter @timdibs love chatting LFC

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