Stewart Downing - West Hahahaham player

[red evil kenevil]

Keep him

[el matador]

There's no point selling him because we already struggling to bring players in. If he goes the squad will be short on experience and numbers.

we will end up relying on borini ffs.

[Alex]

There's no point selling him because we already struggling to bring players in. If he goes the squad will be short on experience and numbers.

we will end up relying on borini ffs.

We're not really struggling. 4 in with 3 weeks to go. It's just that we've not signed anyone for a while it seems like it's going tits up.

[saj]

Not quite sure I get all the Downing hatred! Yes he was signed for a massively inflated fee (not his fault), and he wasn't great at the start of his spell with us, but the 2nd half of last season he was much improved and he was dangerous against Celtic yesterday! He keeps the ball well, is a hard worker, and has final third quality.

Selling him for £4 -£5m would be rediculous in my opinion.

Whilst you make valid points, his biggest issue is his lack of end product. He see's a lot of the ball, more than most other players when he plays. It takes him about 10 crosses to produce one decent cross. And his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. He cuts in front from the right and BAMMMMM, he blasts it over with great power. He produced one great shot yesterday but again it's the same issue, out of 5 shots he gets one on target. And he never gets to the byline.

Now you look at Ibe yesterday and in 20 minutes he produced more moments of danger than Downing did in 70 minutes mainly because he got to the byline around 3 times. Unlucky for Ibe, at that point Celtic were defending very deep when he came on so they shut out most of his crosses and put them out for corners.

Downing does work very hard and retains possesion very well, But in an attacking sense he is very poor.

[el matador]

We're not really struggling. 4 in with 3 weeks to go. It's just that we've not signed anyone for a while it seems like it's going tits up.

downing is a first team player and if we sell him were going to struggle for numbers. Even though his output isn't great he still does a decent enough job.

before the window opened we thought we were three or four players off a top four challenge and in reality were still a couple off. We could do with a proper threat out wide because downing is ok, and both sterling and ibe are young.

Mignolet for Reina is a straight swap, aspas is pretty good as is toure but Alberto is still another young player who shouldn't be relied on to play 30 games.

We could do with another couple with definitely another top notch attacking / creative player. if downing goes we would need two attacking players which with 3 weeks to go doesn't sound too bad but we've had plenty of time to get one in which we still haven't managed to do.

Getting two in would be too much.

[Neil Young]

That assumes we'd be starting any new deals from scratch.

[Vermilion]

I just look at who we've signed so far, and who Spurs have signed, and i see them as more improved so far this window, consider that they finsihed above us last season too.

Obviously both teams need to see what happens with players out, and some more signings to be made with what's left of the window, but as of now, we don't look to have improved much in comparison.

Of course it's all just opinion at this stage, and the season may prove different, with us being stronger on the pitch that Spurs, but it just looks that way to me as we stand.

[Tee]

He really is **** for the way we play and should be marched out of the club at the earliest opportunity. he cannot do tiki-taka and very rarely goes to the byeline, plus seeing him get out of the way of a couple of 50-50s yesterday reminded me what a spineless gimp he is. Sell sell sell!!!!

[TheElephantMan]

Henry stated that he has high expectations for this season - we have improved slightly with the acquisition of Aspas, but the other two main signings were direct replacements. Spurs have improved significantly and Arsenal aren't any weaker than they were. I don't understand where Henry's optimism is coming from unless we are about to sign at least a couple of decent first team players?

[dom9]

I'd move to a job I liked more that paid less if I was financially secure enough to do so.

Me too, and in fact I have done in the past.

But that is completely different to taking a pay cut to stay in the job you are already doing with the same company.

[Kenneth]

Yes, it is. I didn't read the context and assumed it was about him moving to west ham and taking a pay cut.

[dom9]

Yes, it is. I didn't read the context and assumed it was about him moving to west ham and taking a pay cut.

Nah, it was in reference to taking a pay cut and staying at Liverpool.

[Exiled_red]

Henry stated that he has high expectations for this season - we have improved slightly with the acquisition of Aspas, but the other two main signings were direct replacements. Spurs have improved significantly and Arsenal aren't any weaker than they were. I don't understand where Henry's optimism is coming from unless we are about to sign at least a couple of decent first team players?

I guess the hope is that we can pick up where we left of last season - the second half of the season being better than the first and that level of performance through out the season would have got us a lot closer to the top four.

I am still somewhat worried about the lack of strengthening of the squad, Toure and Mignolet are replacements for Carragher and Reina while Alberto is essentially a replacement/upgrade on Shelvey. But we don't seem to have strengthened the first 11 much, Aspas being the only addition. Plus if things with Suarez don't work out we will have significantly weakened the squad. I hope there are more signings to come.

[McDermotX]

Really stepped up to the plate yesterday.........

[Parr_Zee]

Whilst you make valid points, his biggest issue is his lack of end product. He see's a lot of the ball, more than most other players when he plays. It takes him about 10 crosses to produce one decent cross. And his shooting leaves a lot to be desired. He cuts in front from the right and BAMMMMM, he blasts it over with great power. He produced one great shot yesterday but again it's the same issue, out of 5 shots he gets one on target. And he never gets to the byline.

Now you look at Ibe yesterday and in 20 minutes he produced more moments of danger than Downing did in 70 minutes mainly because he got to the byline around 3 times. Unlucky for Ibe, at that point Celtic were defending very deep when he came on so they shut out most of his crosses and put them out for corners.

Downing does work very hard and retains possesion very well, But in an attacking sense he is very poor.

He got to the byline and produced a good assist for Aspas v Valarenga!! Coutinho struggled to hit the target yesterday too!

I know Downing's wages are a problem but you can barely sign a Decent Championship or League One player for £4m there days...