ycsatbjywtbiastkamb » Tue May 07, 2013 11:47 am wrote:devaney » Tue May 07, 2013 6:01 am wrote:Very disappointing day at the office !! Easy to single out individuals that didn't perform and no one player was responsible for the result.
The Downing discussion however clearly shows what some supporters are beginning to accept as an acceptable standard. Downing has improved since very late December and that was partly due to BR telling him he could leave in January if he wanted to. Prior to that Downing ponced around as if he owned the club. Before Downing joined Liverpool he had considerable International and Premiership experience and for his first 15 months at Liverpool he was nothing short of a disgrace and very few would argue with that except possibly Downing's mother !! You can argue that it takes time to settle but just how long did this lad need. We paid a high price for an experienced player and we expected him to quickly start making an impression. Compare his stats with Cortinho and Sturridge who have both done more than Downing in just a few months. Downing made a very serious contribution towards Kenny's demise and certainly didn't help Andy Carroll's case considering he was bought to provide ammunition for Andy which he failed to do regularly.Downing featured in 36 games (started in 28) last season and didn't have one goal or one assist to his name. During his career at Liverpool Downing has been substituted in more than 30% of the games he has started. Argue that it was tactical if you really want to but the real reason is that he simply wasn't doing the job that he is paid to do. Downing was appalling and that should not be overlooked. He has improved but from a very low base and I am amazed that some supporters are actually willing to accept that he is good enough to play on the wing for Liverpool FC. My standards are considerably higher than that. When I look at Stevie Heighway and Stuart Downing I find it extremely difficult to accept that they were both employed to do the same job at Liverpool. Downing against tough opposition disappears. Heighway on the other hand revelled in it !!
its pointless comparing downing to heighway, you could go right through the entire side doing that, are you happy with agger and carragher when you could have hansen and lawrenson? are you happy with suarez`s 30 goals when rushie scored 49 one season? why dont our midfielders dominate games like graeme souness etc?
downing isnt the second coming of peter thompson but he`s a decent wide player who does a good job, instead of going back 40 years lets look at the recent past. out wide we`ve had players like kuyt, riera, pennant, mark gonzales and even at times doubled up our fullbacks with dossena and aurelio playing out there. i`d rather have downing than any of them.
yes we all wish it was the old days where we would just click our fingers and the best players from the other teams like gareth bale would crawl over broken glass for the chance to play for us but it`s not the old days anymore.
at the moment downing is doing his job, he`s not ripping the league to shreds but he`s not a liability either. our liabilities are the center of our defence and the center of our midfield, not wide midfield.
I couldn't quite get past the first line in your post red yakka, seeing as you are notorious for comparing almost everything to our illustrious pass.
How you have the hide to tell someone that is actually quite a joke.
