When you sign a proven premier league player worth twenty million pounds, you are expecting him to run riot from the beginning. That is just a natural footballing instinct. Firstly, the market for British players is inflated and a joke to say the least. And secondly,I put ‘overall contribution to the football team’ over goals when it comes to a midfielder. Patrick Viera, Roy Keane, if you get my drift.
The jury has been out on Stewart Downing and will continue to do so for as long as he plays for Liverpool Football Club. The Liverpool fans need to understand that Downing will not get you 10-15 goals a season.That is the empirical truth.He is not a prolific scorer.This is a flaw in his game and from what I have observed,he is not going to get any better.Here are the statistics- Middlesborough 181 appearances 17 goals, Aston Villa 63 appearances 9 goals. So,on an average he will fetch you a goal every 9 games. He is not the greatest English winger to have graced a football field but he is definitely not as bad as he is brandished to be.
Stewart Downing is a good footballer. He has a great work-ethic. He has the ability to drift past defenders.His positional sense on the pitch is immaculate. He has a lethal left-foot and a decent right foot too. He defends his wing-backs well. How often do you see Glen Johnson getting caught out? Liverpool fans have failed to recognize the defensive aspect of Downing’s game.
Downing has moulded himself into the Liverpool set-up very well. Downing is a primarily a winger that will provide you goals. Apart from Luis Suarez there is nobody to finish off those chances. You need a Raul Gonzalez, Robbie Fowler, Henrik Larsson or Ruud Van Nistelrooy to derive the best out of Stewart Downing. Until Liverpool buy that quality striker all of Downing’s good work will go unsung. I rate Stewart Downing highly and still believe that he will be a brilliant signing.
Final Verdict – Is Juan Mata better than Stewart Downing ? – Yes but Mata is poor defensively if you observe a Chelsea game closely. So apples and Oranges.
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This offering would not be here if someone had listened to me before the season started. I said Downing was mediocre as is Adam and can nothing to change my mind. BTW Bent would be useless to us as well. We need something called talent!
Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. I’m still banking on all the new signings to give a good account of themselves. LFC YNWA.
ome on lets be honest,we made a mistake to buy carrol,downing,adam and henderson.R105 mil and
we have the same points as Newcastle.No real playmaker and no skillful players bar Suarez
Let’s not put everyone in the same basket. We paid £ 16 m for Henderson’s potential and time will show that it was money well spent. Adam was an excellent buy at £ 8 m and has already justified his price tag. I do agree that we overpaid for Carroll and Downing, who – had they cost half of what we paid – might also be considered as good, long-term buys for the club. As it is, we overpaid to the tune of £ 25-30 million, but we should remember that in the case of Carroll the club were desperate to both replace Torres and make a statement – on the last day of the transfer window. In retrospect, the £ 50 million paid to LFC by Chelsea was a great deal – and for that money (and what we received for Babel) we got Suarez AND Carroll.
i can agree with henderson but not with others…Adam is excellent for a middle high level team, not for a top team like i want to see us, there’s a big difference between Adam and players like Xabi, Pirlo, Fabregas, Schweinsteiger…the fee for Adam was good but we need more in that role which is so important…about Carroll and Downing i’ve already wrote my ideas at 2:33 a.m.
With Downing what we’ve seen is all we’re going to get. I always believed his stock has been talked up big time by pundits and the media. He’s a good player, but I doubt whether he can consistently deliver what is required by LFC. £20 million was far too much to pay for a 27 year old that will have no resale value at the end of his contract. Mata is a much better player and was a better option, and was available to LFC even without CL football. £20 million buy out clause at the start of the summer for a 23 year old WC winner with a much better resale value than Downing could ever command.
I have to agree with you there dj – and unlike in the case of Carroll there was no pressure on Liverpool to go for Downing.
Liverpool could have tried to bring in Juan Mata, Marko Marin or one of a host of other European players. Trying to play it “safe” by bringing in a “proven” EPL player led to the club overpaying to the tune of £ 10 million, which surely was a far riskier bet than going for a world-class quality player from a European league.
Same points as newcastle after £100m spent is woeful to say the least but people just won’t agree with us because ‘God’KK is involved.
Downing is not an improvement for liverpool. He hasn’t done better than Kuyt at the same age on RM n on LM has not done upto albert Reira. Johnson has being a bit poor since Downing moved right side.
I TOTALLY agree with Chunky. Downing is doing is best i agree Mayank but he’s best in not enough in that role for LIVERPOOL FC. I said the same thing months ago, the fact is simple, you want a top team? buy top players, we have only two of those in midfield and in offence, Gerrard and Suarez, not enough…look at the the Tottenham midfield, way better than our. And last thing, we have poor management, cause if you spend 40 millions for Carrol (same of Torres), 20 for Downing (29 years old mediocre player) when with your overall cash (70 millions for Carrol & Downing plus Adam) you could have buy players like Higuain, Tevez, Hernanes, you’re a joke. Now i hear about Bent…go for it, so we’ll do another useless move throwing away 20 millions again, however even this year we’re going to finish in 7th behind Tottenham ecc…maybe even behind Newcastle…so then no Champions League=no great players will come=our great players will go…nice job Kenny, BRING BACK RAFA PLZ.
I am totally against many fans who say that we are signing english sh*t players.Yes Downing’s had only 1 goal this season and no assists but he’s performed very well.He had a lot of chances to score more but he was unlucky and he had many assists which could have been goals where the other players missed them.I like him a lot and i think he plays well,through the season he made some average performances too but overally i am happy with his performances.Henderson-he is very talented,he started the season under criticism but has developed well and he is only 21 years old.Adam-the last 3,4 games he aint playing well but when he was playing next to Lucas,he was awesome.Carroll-he is only 22 years old,he has great talent but we should have more options in attack.In my opinion,we need another striker upfront,a more experienced than Andy and another winger too.Deba Ba and David Junior Hoilett would be GREAT news.I just feel that Kuyt’s past it,he is playing very bad this season.he’s been a consistent workhorse for us the past years but this season might be his last as a Liverpool player.Aurelio is too injury prone and he is past it too.We have Jose Enrique,a great left back,in that position and an academy gifted player Jack Robinson.Brad Jones should be released on a free too,Reina and Doni are miles ahead of him and we have some youngsters too.
My LFC squad:
GK:Reina/Doni/Hansen
RB:Johnson/Kelly/Flanagan
CB:Skrtel/Agger/Coates/Carragher
LB:Enrique/Robinson
CDM:Lucas/Spearing
CM:Gerrard/Adam/Henderson/Shelvey
RM:Downing/Hoilett
LM:Bellamy/Maxi
CF:Suarez
ST:Ba/Carroll
And my starting line-up:
Reina
Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique
Gerrard Lucas Adam
Suarez Ba Bellamy
YNWA
I am with you mate, if they are sh*te then why are we outperforming nearly every team we play? Only Spurs have hammered us. And we have been desperately unlucky. I’ll tell you what it is, a lot of people don’t want a ‘Smith’ or a ‘Jones’ they want something foreign, exotic. We’re not a very attractive proposition and this isn’t championship manager of FIFA 12, why would the likes of Messi and Villa want to come to us???? We have to support who we have, and in my opinion their not doing too bad in their first six months. Carroll will come good too, he hasn’t played enough to be judged.
It’s not unluck, when you’re not able to beat poor teams repeatedly (even at home) it’s clearly that you’re not a great team, that’s the difference…and i don’t want necessarily foreign players BUT if there aren’t english players (think about national team) good as foreign players i’ll go for foreign players, i think it’s simple.
I respect your opinion mate but if you’re happy the performance of the team i guess you’re happy with our position in ranking too, but i’m not onestly…wonder if some more people want Rafa’s come back now, me for sure, i like Kenny but to me he lived another football, to many years are gone since his last time and now there’s a totally different football…
The truth is that Downing is an average British winger who is simply not good enough for a club like Liverpool who are aiming for the top four. £20m for this guy you are having a laugh. If Kenny wanted a left footed attacking player they should have looked at maybe Mata, Podolski or even N’Zogbia who is younger and available for half the price.
Well said,
N’Zogbia? He’s doin awful at Villa, a place where Downing was player of the year last year. Above Ashley Young. Podolski wasn’t good enough for Bayern Munich!
What exactly does he do with this ‘LETHAL LEFT FOOT’then ??? Right foot as well,according to you!
I’ll tell you !!! Yes,he has a powerful shot — but he has no direction! His shots invariably go wide or over the bar.He would be wiser studying the likes of Fowler,Collymore,Luis Garcia or Ian St-John. Placement is the key.Those players had forsight – Downing needs to study players like those I’ve mentioned.However those players had vision of what they needed to do with the ball,and I doubt if Downing has that? And he is’n’t on his own in that regard either!
I agree with you mate but i fear that he has no more time to improve since he’s near 30…
Most of you does not understand what it takes to build a good team in football, you don’t need big names to build a good team,look at real Madrid when they are buying all the world best players then during the time of zidane they are unable to achieve much as team.look at Barcelona today they are able to maintain their success due to fact tat they believe in their players.messi, xavi, iniesta,always come from the bench during the time of ronaldinho and deco and are not world class then so let us support kk and the team..already they are playing good football now what is needed is a good goal scorer.Already we created more chances than any team in the premiership now..
The team will improve with time…
You don’t need CASUAL big names (like Real Mad-s**t) but you need few right big names to have a great team…AND WHAT??? XAVI CAME FROM THE BENCH WHEN??? HAHAHA THAT’S NOT FUNNY…AND INIESTA WAS 22 YEARS “OLD” (however at the time Ronaldinho was the best player in the world and Deco one of the 5/6 better playmakers so plz…)
While i don’t want to crucify people, i think some steps should be taken by FSG. The signings made by dalglish and comolli show that they don’t fit into LFC at this moment in time. My thots: replace comolli with molby and redesignate as director of acquisitions. Reinstate eduardo macia as head scout, plus bring back rafa, with dietmar hamman as his assistant and steve clarke as head coach. Sell joe cole, aquilani, aurelio, wilson, spearing, kuyt, bouzanis, henderson (we’ve got shelvey!), eccleston. This should fetch about £52m. Give him anotha £55m and i’m sure he’ll sign; javi martinez(18m), marvin martin(11m), sergio canales(8m), carlos casemiro(11m), marko marin(7m), demba ba (6m), luuk de jong(10m). Total outlay- £71m. Just my thots…
okay its time for someone to start watching football matched because half of the views published here have no accuaracy behind them and the comparisons arent related to any premier league players that i know of this season,over all this season in the english premeir league the football has been very bad ,aresenal used to be a great team to watch manure and others but the standard this year for the players has dropped dramaticually since 2 seasons ago,referees have been getting more publicity then the players its terrible .now back to liverpool fc ,we have progressed amazingly for a brand new team which should have been done years ago and it will take a while for all these players to gel together ,there indivdual stats have been very good per game too .and there are signs of good possesion and defensive play ,we all know our shooting need s to improve and i think we should bring in maybe ian rush or someone of his calibre to help the strikers and maybe purchase heguain from real madrid he would be a great partner for either carroll or suarez .the media has hammered us this season with there remarks i wonder why ???
Nothing compared to how they hammered Rafa. If the pundits and the media expected Rafa to always qualify for the CL no matter what, why can’t I as a fan of LFC not ask the question, should Kenny qualify for the CL with the money he’s spent and the obvious stability that the club is in now?
With regards you’re so called new team, most of the squad was put together by Rafa, and they have significantly out performed Kenny’s signings bar Suarez and Enrique. Points have been lost because most of Kenny’s signings have been taking the penalties and missing them. They were signed because they wouldn’t need time to settle and could hit the ground running. Have they? Are we better than when we were managed by Rafa? At this moment no. Are we going in the right direction? I will reserve judgement until I’ve seen more.
I’m mostly happy with Kenny and what is happening at the club, but I have to be honest. 3 of Kenny’s signing are questionable, and they cost £63 million, and we stand to lose millions if we have to move them on because they couldn’t cut it. If they had been bought by Rafa he would have been hung, drawn and quartered in the press by now. But Kenny is British and, so are the players he bought, so the media will give them a pass. Let’s not ignore the obvious eh.
totally agree
I only think that who says “we have great or good enough players” should take few minutes and compare our midfilders (and wingers obviusly) with those of Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchesters…we don’t have TALENT AND SPEED which are indispensable in modern football, and there’s no “time to see the team improve…” (which is the same thing i heard last year with WOY) cause there’s SIMPLY no material to improve, and stop saying that Downing is good for the future cause he’s already near 30 and i’m not happy to have spend 20 millions for a 29 years old BABEL. Carroll, i laugh hard when i read people say “he doesn’t do this and that…”, he’s an old school striker without speed and technic (as everybody should know, NOW, AND LAST YEAR WHEN KENNY did a mistake buying him, it seems that someone still thinks we bought a brazilian striker) so you must put him in the condition to score BUT if we don’t have players (except Suarez) who make plays like beat the difender with dribbles and speed to create space it’s a problem.