Stewart Downing - West Hahahaham player

[Fivex]

What a loser. He's the Hodgson of our playing squad.

[Buzzo]

What a loser. He's the Hodgson of our playing squad.

I dunno about that, at least he is admitting he has not been good enough.

He just needs to get over the 'culture shock' now and start regularly putting in match winning performances. Is he capable of this - I guess we will find out over the next few months, there has been scant evidence so far.

[Lee]

Benched? He's played more than most this season, even though he's hardly deserved it! ****about.

[Zapater]

I dunno about that, at least he is admitting he has not been good enough.

He just needs to get over the 'culture shock' now and start regularly putting in match winning performances. Is he capable of this - I guess we will find out over the next few months, there has been scant evidence so far.

Not really, he claimed to be "good sometimes" which is more like good once or twice. Then he said he's been indifferent... Indifferent a more than kind way to describe the rest of his performances.

[cream]

Do your talking on the pitch, thank you very much.

[Muddled]

The article reeks of self-pity and almost blaming his form on the fact he has been in and out of the team - which, as Lee pointed out - he hasn't been. He needs to take a little bit more ownership of his 'indifferent' performances.

[RedReet]

The article reeks of self-pity and almost blaming his form on the fact he has been in and out of the team - which, as Lee pointed out - he hasn't been. He needs to take a little bit more ownership of his 'indifferent' performances.

I don’t really like criticising him (there are enough people happy to do that) but that’s the impression I got reading that too.

I think I'm in a small minority thinking he still might come good for us.

I don't like his face though, never have.

[Chris]

The article reeks of self-pity and almost blaming his form on the fact he has been in and out of the team - which, as Lee pointed out - he hasn't been. He needs to take a little bit more ownership of his 'indifferent' performances.

Cant win can he? Admits it's a struggle and it's self pity, say he's been great and he'd get called deluded!

Kind of refreshing to see someone say it's been a struggle mentally. Though it doesnt give much confidence he can turn things around here.

[Muddled]

I don’t really like criticising him (there are enough people happy to do that) but that’s the impression I got reading that too.

I think I'm in a small minority thinking he still might come good for us.

I don't like his face though, never have.

I've been similar - always tried to look at the bigger picture, even when you see posters referring to him as 'a tosser' and I think with a little bit more fortune and a fully-firing front line, he'd have been in amongst the assists earlier in the season.

The Man Utd performance irked me and I wanted him to play againt Brighton to put that performance firmly behind him, so it'll be interesting to see if he can build on his last performance against a much tougher opponent (I don't think it'll be Cardiff his next game).

[Buzzo]

Do your talking on the pitch, thank you very much.

I am not trying to defend him at all in anyway (he is the very definition of mediocrity) but at least he knows what he has produced so far is nowhere near good enough.

[Muddled]

Cant win can he? Admits it's a struggle and it's self pity, say he's been great and he'd get called deluded!

Kind of refreshing to see someone say it's been a struggle mentally. Though it doesnt give much confidence he can turn things around here.

Yeah, fair comments and both valid points. I think he'd have been better saying nothing and just quietly go about his business.

[Buzzo]

It would have been good if he'd followed it up with:

"So yes, I've been **** but I can and will play a lot better, the supporters can expect to see me skinning full backs, whipping in crosses for big Andy and belting the odd wonder goal in."

[Roger]

Benched? He's played more than most this season, even though he's hardly deserved it! ****about.

exactly. he's played 28 games for us this season to date, and the vast majority of them from the start even when he's been badly struggling so to go on about not playing every week is pathetic.

fair enough, he's being honest about his poor form, but then the not playing every week lines screams of a petty excuse when in reality, he can have none whatsoever.

[Lee]

exactly. he's played 28 games for us this season to date, and the vast majority of them from the start even when he's been badly struggling so to go on about not playing every week is pathetic.

fair enough, he's being honest about his poor form, but then the not playing every week lines screams of a petty excuse when in reality, he can have none whatsoever.

I've no issues with the rest of what he's said, it seems a fair assessment other than the benching part.

Try speaking to Carra, Kelly, Bellamy, Kuyt, Maxi and Carroll about being benched. Downing has been given much more time than these guys.

[RedReet]

The easy thing is to spit the dummy out and point out everything around that is going wrong

I didn’t like this line much. Why would ‘spitting the dummy out’ even be a consideration in his position, he should be thanking the heavens every day for the position he’s in and not for a second think to himself that he’s getting hard done by. The second line also suggests that he’s blaming everything else for his poor form and almost deserves credit for not mentioning it. I’d love to know what exactly he meant by ‘everything around that is going wrong’ and how exactly it has affected his performance on the pitch.

I know it’s unfair to dissect an unprepared statement by anybody, but just explaining how I felt when reading.