THE result against Villa on Sunday was a positive one – thankfully – and a number of players managed to turn things around in the second-half, improving on a particularly uninspired first.
As usual, Captain Fantastic and the Uruguayan Maestro pulled us out of the mire once more, with the assistance of a handful of player stepping up, such as Henderson, Lucas and Coutinho.
Stewart Downing however, only just scraped an acknowledgement of the fact that he was even on the pitch. He wasn’t bad, per se, as he just wasn’t anything to the contrary. He was just there; a fact reflected in that he received a more or less average of 6 across the board in all of the papers and news outlets.
A close relative of mine often refers to Wayne Rooney as a ‘5 or a 9’ sort of player, in that he is either outstanding, or that you barely notice he is there. For me, Stewart Downing is always a 6. Of course, he has the odd off day, but he very rarely lets his levels slip below a 6. But that’s the problem.
During his time at Middlesbrough he seemed like a fairly talented young kid. He was in a Boro side that had success under Steve McClaren in the UEFA Cup and impressed as a youth international.
Once he made his ‘big’ move to Aston Villa, Downing looked to step up and over two seasons he racked up almost 30 goals and assists which brought him to the attention of many of the league’s top clubs, and rightly so.
But while a 6 might manage to impress amongst smaller fish at clubs like Boro and Villa, that step up to a genuinely top side requires a much more consistent set of performances. Even players like Maxi, Kuyt, Benayoun, Garcia and other former players most of us would consider to just be ‘good’ but never ‘great’ players managed to chip in with great performances, or at least outstanding contributions or spells in single matches throughout the season.
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Say what will you will about them but they were capable of pulling off match-winning moments, and with pleasant regularity too. We’ve yet to see any real examples of this from Downing in the two seasons he’s been with the club.
I admit I’ve been impressed with him having upped his game this season. He has comfortably doubled his goals and assists tally from last season but for a player that cost the club – reportedly – upwards of £15 million, perhaps even closer to 20, you would be forgiven for expecting more, especially for a footballer supposedly approaching his peak.
A quick glance at ‘transfermarkt.co.uk’ shows that Downing’s value has dropped by almost double in the past two seasons and I believe that this is reflected in his performances overall, with his current value looking stable at £7.5 million.
If Liverpool are looking to plump up the transfer coffers in the summer then there aren’t a huge number of options that could bring in much money to do that, but while his value is significantly lower that it was when we bought him, even £7-£10 million would be significant enough to make a difference to any signings in the summer and when this is weighed against his contributions to the season, I believe the manager (and club) may choose to cash in while his form is still consistent.
I championed Downing’s cause prior to joining the Reds and believed he had what it took to step up, yet despite improving greatly on last season, he has still yet to convince me. And if him leaving the club is the difference between being able to bring back a player like Alonso, or a talented youngster with great potential, such as Coutinho, then I wouldn’t even blink…
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Downing was never Liverpool quality. He is decent but not top drawer
He will never produce enough goals or assists. Should be sold IMO
It’s interesting that Downing only upped his game after being told by Rodgers that he could leave. A debut season marked by guaranteed first team selection despite pitiful performances. Rodgers should look at bringing in a top class winger to replace him as it’s clear he has no passion or pride in wearing the red shirt.
Downing is a good player, but he has no real class , quality competition for his place and under Dalglish just like Adams, Carroll and Henderson no matter how poorly the played. They were still in starting line up , as King Kenny was trying to justify spending so much on them but the simple matter of fact was they never worked to their maximum under Dalglish and they were never threatened with being kicked out.
Downing has pace, speed, some skill and is both footed. He holds good width and has a good delivery into box, he just lacks confidence at times and has no real competition for his place.
When our club was great in the past and United were jealous of us, the club had 2/3 class,quality players competing for every position. And every player was kept on their toes as if a player in first team slacked or was injured or suspended. The person who came in to replace him was as good as him or better and would make it his lfes work to stay in team and not be on bench again. We had class,quality competition for places.
Same thing Manchester United now have and have had over the last 20 odd years , something we do not have as we have a pathetically weak side.
And either the owners sell up and move on or they back B Rodgers heavily with £90-£100M in the summer to get our club back amongst the elite. And if we are to keep hold of our Talisman L Suarez. Club needs strong competitive squad if we are ever going to compete and challenge United again consistently year in year out for every trophy.
Over the years : Bayern Munich, Man City, PSG, Chelsea, Real Madrid over last three seasons have spent idiculous amounts of millins to get back to where they are today amonsgt the elite in wold football again. Our club does not need to spend over £320M over three seasons. But we need one huge budget to get club back amonsgt the elite, then after that. Year by year we can attract a marquee signing. (£20M + Player)
The owners need to give B Rodgers £90M to bring in 11 players this summer, he has already shipped out 11 players since he joined in summer( Adams, Aquilani, Aurelio,Bellamy, Carroll,Cole,Doni, Kuyt, Rodriguez, Spearing and Wilson) Yet three of the players are only out on loan.
But Rodgers has only been able to replace 5 players(Assaidi,Allen,Borini,Coutinho and Sturridge) yet 11 went out of club. So thats 6 players the squad is currently short of.
And Rodgers needs to ship out these 4 players who are not good enough to be at club: And the three loan players should be shipped out also:
1: GK: B JONES 2: RB: Flanagan 3:CB: Coates 4:FD: Borini
Three loaned out players: 5: CB: Wilson 6:DM: Spearing 7:FD: Carroll
And as the loyal great servant J Carragher is hanging up his boots at end of season, that would mean 8 players should be leaving this summer. 8+ 6 = 14 players.
But Rodgers needs to bring in 11 players once he ships out the 8 players i have mentioned above:
And these are the 11 players needed for our club to take step forward again and compete against the elite sides in europe again: Buy bring class,quality competition amongst squad, so everyone player in club is kept on their toes always and they play to their maximum every time they put on the red shirt. As over last Five season Incomplacency has crept into side, as the class,quality competition for places is very low at club. And the squad for the last five years has been very weak/poor to say the least.
These 11 players would change the whole dimension to club/squad and every player would bring their class and qualities to take us more competitive against the elite sides in world and the normal sides:
Five Defensive players: Cost £25M-£30M
1: GK: M Vorm(29) Of Swansea for £2-£4M to compete and Cover Pepe for NO 1 Position
2: CB: A Williams(28) Of Swansea for £7-£10M to compete with Skrtel
3:CB: A Pearce(24) Of Reading on Free Transfer to compete with Agger.
4:LB: A Cissokho(25) Of Valencia for £4-£7M to compete with Enrique.
5:DM: E Capoue(DM) Of Toulouse for £6-£9M to compete with Lucas
Six Attacking players: Cost:£37M-54M
6: CM: De Guzman(25) Of Villareal for £4-£7M to compete with Allen, Gerrard and Henderson.
7:AM: C Eriksen(21) Of Ajax for £10-£15M to compete with Coutinho and Suso for the AM Postion at club.
8: RW / RWF: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico for £4-£6M to compete with Assaidi and Sterling.
9: LW / LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/Sporting Lisbon for £4-£6M to compete with Downing.
10: LW /LWF: B Arfa(25) Of Newcastle in swap deal with A Carroll(23) And £10M to compete with hopefully Capel and Downing. (Three pacey,quick left footed wingers)
11: C Benteke(22) Of A Villa for £15-£20M to compete with Sturridge and Suarez and to offer club/squad a Plan B in attack.
Those 11 players would cost owners a £1M more than what K Dalglish was allowed to spend on 4 average English players( Adams,Carroll,Downing And Henderson).
This is not Fantasy football, we used to compete with Manchester United every season for every trophy back in the 80?s, But now in the last five seasons we have been competing with the likes of Everton, Newcastle, Stoke and Fulham for a top 6-10 position within the league. I agree with 80% of the article, but the main problem with our club is some serious investment in the playing staff is needed. And the right type of calibre, class, player needs to be brought to the club. And all the average /dead wood players we still have at club or on club books need to be shipped out as soon as possible. We no longer need to bring in the average hardworking players. And the players brought in with class, quality, must be dedicated,motivated and hungry and willing to fight/battle/graft to do the club,team, fans justice every time they put the red shirt on in order to get club back to the top again.
If Arfa (25) Of Newcastle and Capel (25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/Sporting Lisbon are both brought to the club in the summer, we would have Three Left Footed Wingers with pace, speed, Skill and trickery competing with one another week in week out will bring the best out in all of them. And both Of those wingers can both be brought for £6M, Capel(25) would cost £4-£6M from Sporting lisbon/Sporting Clube De Portugal and Arfa(25) Of Newcastle should be brought to club in swap deal with A Carroll(23) and £10M.
Denis-Put down the x-box my friend..
haha..
I don’t have an X Box, i rarely play computers. And we wonder why our club has not won a league in 23 years and why now we compete with Everton, Stoke and Fulham for a top 6-10 position every season. Instead of competing with Chelsea and Tottenham for top 3rd and 4th position in league.
It doesn’t take a rocket science to see why us and Arsenal are now the laughing boys in the league, one thing they have over us is they have been in Champions league every year and have champions lague football every season. Whilst we have not been in champions league for five long years now and it seems we are drifting further and further away from our rivals who are now all competing for a champions league place.
Yet we still win the odd cup trophies over the years, Arsenal do not win anything these days. But we are btwo teams in need of some serious changes and investment in the playing squad/staff at clubs.
And its not about get Marquee Signings Aall the time: Tottenham are the team they are today as Redknapp is the best manager at getting a clas,world class player at bargain price for right club which complements team. And Pardew is also a very good manager in getting class,quality players at bargain prices. Newcatsle and Tottenham over last few years have seen so many players brought to atheir clubs and quite a few have left also, but now look at the sides.
Tottenham are now a top 3 to 4 team every season and Newcatsle are competing with us, Evertion and Stoke for a top 6-10 position. Yet 4 years ago, the same Newcastle was relegated and playing Championship football. Yet now they are competing with us year in year out, shows how far they have come and how far we have dropped down the years.
My brain hurts!
Denis. Ok lad good job ,and all that but once is fine . You don’t have to repeat the same thing on every article ( that is called trolling)
I hear You Tommy, just some dumb clown fans on here do not have a clue what they are talking about. In Our day and age and over last ten years in football, if you want be successful you have to spend well to be at the top.
Real Madrid 4 years ago were off radar for some time until they spent over £320M in two seasons and then started to compete with Barcelona again.
Bayern Munich were out of champions league for two seasons, then they spent £300M in two seasons to get back to the standard they are today.
Chelsea and Man City have become successful over the years as they have both spent millions millions millions over last three seasons and now have strong squads.
PSG are now a world force due to the fact they have arab owners who over the last three years have pumped over £300M in their side.
Can you see the pattern ? Any club that wants to be successful in our day and age needs to spend well and be competitive, even Barcelona over the last three seasons have spent over £200M on players to stay ahead of competition and to keep freshening things up.
We are so far away from a competitors its comical, shocking and annoying. But to bridge the gap, we can get some bargain buys who will bring more strength and depth and class quality competition to side and then hopefully after that take it from there.
As at moment: Both Manchester Clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham have much better squads than us at moment and they will lall be strengthening in the summer. So How do we bridge that huge gap of class,quality they have over us in their squads in future when we strengthen so do they? But the top 4 are bringing in world class marquee signings also, so how do we bridge the gap? By doing A H redknapp and bringing in alot of class, quality players to club on bargain prices and lbuilding a very strong and competitive squad.
Denis . You are right. Everything u said I true . But do u think FSG would listen ?
Do u think FSG care ?
They don’t care . They just want to make money. They will invest small amounts to try and get champions league football , that’s all.
Big investment is needed to be successful in modern day football . FSG won’t do that . Those fools who think this fair play thing will make a difference are dreamers
There won’t be any return to the glory days until FSG are gone
They better hurry up and go then as every year we are improving so are our rivals with much better squads than us already. We brought in Sturridge and Borini, this season United brought in Van Persie.
Our 1st 11 are match for any team in league on their day but thats where it ends.
And Tommy we need some huge investment in side, apart from our best players Reina Johnson Agger Skrtel Enrique Lucas Coutinho Gerrard and Sturridge which other players would get into starting line up of top 5 team?
No one else in squad, yet its 26 man squad and only 9 of them would get in the sides we are aiming to compete with for trophies year in year out
Denis, well thought out signings as usual. Although I don’t agree with all your recommendations, eg Benteke. The issue is if you look at our recent accounts we have already overspent and lost £10s millions in recent seasons. FSG backed Kenny and Commolli and they blew it. They aren’t putting their own money in, only via non-interest bearing loans. We can’t afford the outlay you talk of. Even in sales we rarely get what we’d expect. Rodgers wasted his first £30m. We need a manager who’s decision making in signings, team selection etc. Is superior to other managers first. Rodgers doesn’t learn and improve quickly (and with his persistence with Allen he’s shown he’s a fairly slow learner) then even with better players we’ll still fail. The squad before Rodgers even bought a player was easily good enough for the Europa League and should’ve challenged for Prem. Rodgers spent £50m and we’re in a pitiful position in the league.
The owners are Jokers and tight clowns, are you forgetting that last year and half club spent £115M on players brought in but over same time £80M was brought into club on player sales(Torres,Babel,Bennayoun, Poulsen, Meireless, Koncheskey and Ngog). so £35M net spend and we all know where that went.
Downing is not Liverpool standard, but he’s not alone, the sad thing is, we have to get used to this calibre of player at liverpool with Rodgers at the helm and FSG as owners.
Unfortunately yes. More average players coming in the summer .Williams and whatever other Swansea mates he can bring in
Fsg we nid money in order 2 buy players ooooo…futbal diz years is all about ur financial ability…put in money den u wil be able 2 compete….make una giv rogers money 2 enta market ooooo…! i nid kipa an defense ooooh!!!
True talk benco ma bros, fsg nid 2 give Rodgers d financial backing im require in order 4 us 2 go bak 2 d top. YNWA!!!
When we talk about players like Downing, we can’t escape mentioning who saw it fit to pay 20 mill for him, KD, the same man who saw who also dish out 35 mill for AC and 10 mill for CA.
This 4 tranfers alone had set us back for years and the only thing that FSG did right was to sack him.
As a boyhood LFC fan, i made no apologies for despising that man for the situation that he put us in now who put more emphasis on a player’s passport than his real playing ability. His single season of mis-adventure had more than undone all the goodwork he had put in as a player.
Unfortunately there would be a KD mark 2 as BR has his own AC in the form of Allen and Borini.