In Defence Of Stewart Downing
Posted on 17. Dec, 2011 by Umar Khurrum in Blog
‘He is s***e’, ‘Overpriced c**t’ and ‘He offers nothing except for crosses’ are some of the phrases used by some sections of the Liverpool fans to describe Stewart Downing. The £20m winger has indeed found the early part of his life at Anfield a bit difficult, thanks to some of the ‘fans’, and more importantly, the media.
Downing had a bright start to his Anfield career with a string of good performances in his first few games but that has quickly changed with a run of disappointing games in the Red jersey. Obviously, having played 15 games and 1139 minutes, without scoring a goal or making any assist doesn’t help either but when looking at those stats, one should consider that he has been quite unlucky as well. The England international has hit the post on 3 occasions (Sunderland, West Brom and Fulham) and has also seen strikers miss sitters from his crosses (Kuyt vs Man Utd, Carroll vs Swansea and Suarez vs QPR). Had luck been on his side, he would have had 3 goals and 3 assists already and everyone would be praising him.
Looking at some of the stats, Stewart Downing has a passing accuracy of 80%, attempting an average of 36 passes per game, which is only bettered by Lucas Leiva and Charlie Adam in the Liverpool squad. Moreover, Downing made 78 key passes last season, ahead of the likes of Gareth Bale, David Silva and Nani. This season, he has already made 32 key passes and he stands in 6th position. So, it is clear that he is making chances, but if those chances aren’t being converted into goals, it’s clearly not his fault.
Liverpool spent £20m for Downing's services in the summer
Most of the criticism aimed at Downing is because of his hefty price tag. Yes, he isn’t a £20m player but its not his fault Kenny paid that much money for his services. We aren’t in the Champions League and to lure top English players to your club without European football, you’ve got to spend a premium.
Liverpool have lacked natural width for a long time, and that is why Kenny was tempted to pay so much money for him. He definitely has a lot of pace as well which Liverpool have lacked for quite a while now. People often forget that last season, we had Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole on the wings, so its definitely a big improvement from that.
All in all, Stewart Downing isn’t a David Silva or a Nani, but he has his own attributes which make him a top player. Lets hope he makes his amends against his former club on Sunday to silence the doubters.
You can follow me on Twitter: @UmarKhurrum.
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18 Responses to “In Defence Of Stewart Downing”
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commonsense
17. Dec, 2011
Type your comment here…
commonsense
17. Dec, 2011
the above comment might be the most sensible from me but i’ll have another go…
so he made 32 passes without his main target being on the pitch,while learning to play with new defensive duties&team mates[who are also bedding in]…..
question…is his price tag hefty because he is english?or have mata,nani done a maradona&single handedly won the trophies?was ray houghton,sammy lee,ronnie whelan,ian rush,souness,kennedyetc bashing the europeans all the time although just like downing not the glamorous buys?
silva was just as quiet in his first season…..
to get to my point pal,you can take a shit coz you just wanna,but dont put something in righting without some reasoning….
the only reason any1 is complaing about lfc progress is coz they is ignorant,mancs or just victor meldrews!!!
just coz the papers have heralded stts as the new driving force at lfc dont make it true…KD does it the good old way&commolli offers up the stats&its KD who makes the choices not the stats…downing was just 1 winger kenny wanted,ashley young the other both working in tandem complimentiong each others game but we have got that kinda winger yet so leading to Kd improvising so leaving all the shite said about his team just that!just because lfc doesnt fit into people fantasy scenario doesnt mean lfc are going down the wrong road!
next time read&qeustion what you right before you press the send button!
morbid8
17. Dec, 2011
The problem is he doesn’t fit in the 4-3-3 formation that Liverpool is playing right now because he’s an orthodox winger – a crosser-type winger rather than a direct/dribbling-type winger. I believe he was mainly bought because of Carroll’s aerial prowess but since Carroll flopped Kenny changed his tactics. Like you mentioned – he’s a victim of his price-tag but Kenny’s to be blamed for that – not him ! Still, I would say Kenny should have done better in the transfer market and go for someone like N’Zogbia – a player who’s younger, better, proven & specially much much cheaper than Downing & he would have fitted perfectly in any formation whether it’s a 4-4-2, 4-4-3, etc… !
john
17. Dec, 2011
The main problem is he already played out of position. He is a LEFT winger, that is why Villa signed him in the 1st place because he was doing a great job for Boro playing on the LEFT!!
I often see Downing dropping deep and mainly on the right wing!! His crosses are poor because they are on his wrong foot or if he tries to turn to cross with his left, the defender has caught upto him and he can’t get the cross away….so passes it to someone else.
That is the problem. Even Gerrard said the other week…”I hope Downing cements his position on the left wing”.
Play him on the left all the time and you will see how good he really is.
Toucan
17. Dec, 2011
You can make all the excuses you like; fact is, he is not coming up with the goods. KD’s fixation with Brit talent has back-fired and may be the key reason why LFC will miss out on a top four place. None of his very expensive buys have proven their worth. The only recruit that has offered value for money is a Spaniard, Enrique.
Dave McQueen
17. Dec, 2011
Should’ve signed N Zogbia? Cos he’s had a great season with Villa so far huh?!
morbid8
17. Dec, 2011
Here we go… how you’re doing queen… haha.
And yes, compared to Downing – he’s still having a much “better” season
MerckZ
17. Dec, 2011
Hear hear Umar! I always wanted Rafa to splurge and get Downing back in his Middlesborough days. Alas, we (and Rafa) had to settle with the likes of the eternally injured Mark Gonzalez and later, the bland as cheesecake Albert Riera.
Downing is quick, is capable off both feet and has more skill than people give him credit for. When we finally get our front line firing, his true value will shine through for all to see. People came round to Suarez and Enrique quite quickly, Charlie Adam’s doubters have been quelled and, slowly but surely, even Jordan Henderson’s critics are being put in their place. It’s only a matter of time before we can say the same about Stewart Downing and (perhaps after a little bit longer, considering the price tag) Andy Carroll.
MK
18. Dec, 2011
I’m sure u people were typing articles defending Hodgson, Konchesky, N’Gog and co.
Sorry to say this but, it’s not because u wear a Liverpool shirt that you are quality…
Rich
18. Dec, 2011
I get a feeling that downing Is being given alot of stick when he doesn’t really deserve it. His crossing is far better than we have seen in quite a few years. Our problem is conversion. In January I expect of to go out and get another winger and a goal poacher. If this happens and downing gets his chance on the left, then we may be singing his praises come the end of this season. His stats from last season Prove he’s a good winger. The man can’t be judged till we get our act together in front of goal
anfield rd dreamer
18. Dec, 2011
Anybody who moans about the creativity of our midfield is talking nonsense we’ve got the third most creative team in the league and that includes Downing, Adam and Henderson all within their first 6 months at the club. These type of players aren’t bought to be prolific goal scorers they’re bought to create chances, any goals they get are bonuses. If we had a more average chance conversion of around 15-20% instead of 9% we’d be talking about the phenomenal service provided by our midfield. And to the guy going on about N’Zogbia, you are talking about the same N’Zogbia the Villa fans are talking about as a flop aren’t you? Just checking there isn’t another one out there!
kevin
18. Dec, 2011
At least N’Zogbia wasn’t bought for 18M… whether he flopped at Villa doesn’t make any big difference ! Like the dude said – as a player, N’Zogbia is still much better than Downing and that’s a fact !
anfield rd dreamer
18. Dec, 2011
Except for “because he is” what exactly makes N’Zogbia a better player than Downing? Apart from fact they are different types of winger so hard to compare them Downing has been loved and consistently used by every manager he has ever worked with and was Villa’s best player last year. N’Zogbia has had issues with every manager except Martinez, the only manager who used him consistently, every other manager has been unconvinced and used him in dribs an drabs and the highlight of his career so far was being Wigan’s best player for couple of seasons. So I’m sorry I do think he is only worth half the price of Downing and haven’t seen anything to convince me otherwise yet.
Upper_Krust
18. Dec, 2011
I have mixed feelings on the subject.
Yes, Downing has been unlucky, BUT at the same time surely nobody is THAT unlucky. No goals and no assists and we are nearly halfway through the season.
I agree with morbid8 above, he was bought because of Carroll and neither of them has worked out as planned. He doesn’t really fit a 4:3:3 or 4:2:3:1 formation.
He could still come good, the problem is, what the heck do we do with him UNTIL he comes good, because we are currently 7th and we can’t keep carrying a bunch of passengers on the forlorn hope that they will ‘come good’.
AndyCarrollHater
18. Dec, 2011
Downing played well against Villa 2day but was unfortunate at times and still all in all he was excellent… Only if we can get rid of Tall & Lazy (ANDY) now the team would be perfect.
morbid8
18. Dec, 2011
Downing was excellent today – most probably because he played as a typical winger in a 4-4-1-1 formation and not as a right/left-forward in the 4-3-3 formation… that’s the difference ! In a 4-3-3 formation he would have surely struggled like it proved to be in the other matches he played ! He also combined well with Johnson.
And you’re absolutely right – Carroll’s a complete waste of space ! We badly need a top CF to play alongside Suarez
truered
19. Dec, 2011
Was it not a 4-5-1 formation?
anfield rd dreamer
20. Dec, 2011
Truered you’ll have to excuse some people who don’t realise that 4-5-1, 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1 and 4-2-3-1 are all essentially the same formation and only seem different because of the skills of the personnel used in each position and whether the team spends most of the match attacking or defending or balanced mixture of both.