Stewart Downing - West Hahahaham player

[Red_Polo]

He goes for the easy option far too often.

I think he could be a decent player but he lacks bottle more than anything

By bottle I dont mean going flying in to tackles I mean taking responsibility and having a go rather than leaving it for others

He is quite simply not a risk taker

Agree with all the above. Hendo has a similar problem, but both players are better than they are showing.

I think risk aversive play under pressure is one of the big factors in our poor home form.

[Maxiedge]

I think he's done ok thus far in some good team performances. If I had to put a score on it, I'd say 6/10 which is not really good enough for a 20m player but not as terrible as some people have him down to be.

There's lots of room for improvement though and I hope what we're seeing now is the Stewart Downing who's a bit low on confidence and just needs a goal or a good assist to get a bit more swagger back in his play.

And that chance yesterday from Harts double save...composure!

[BigChief]

Agree with all the above. Hendo has a similar problem, but both players are better than they are showing.

Completely agree, its not even difficult to see that both players have game intelligence, ability and experience. They're just looking to gel into a new (bigger) club like Adam has done then we're laughing.

Carroll too for that matter.

If Suarez stopped hitting the goalie/woodwork then we'd be higher in the league and Downing would have the breathing space that he needs to settle in.

[dww]

Agree with all the above. Hendo has a similar problem, but both players are better than they are showing.

I think risk aversive play under pressure is one of the big factors in our poor home form.

That makes sense but I'm not sure how much that is the players and how much the instructions they get. Both Downing and Kuyt were often the closest to Suarez but always stayed wide against City. It makes it very difficult for Suarez to do anything but try and take everyone on alone. If it were just Downing then it would seem natural to think it was the players inclination that was at fault but with Kuyt that seems unlikely.

[danperkins]

Not seeing anywhere near enough from him to be honest. Not only does he lack spark, but he seems to lack hunger and desire. He goes for the easy option far too often.

Today, i saw him chasing an overhit pass half heartedly and then allowing his defender to shield it into touch without any pressure on him. And for an established PL player and international, he lacks game intelligence. Not enough aggression or desire. Just not good enough i'm afraid. It says everything that Enrique, a leftback, put in a better left wing performance than Downing (and does so quite often).

Also remember the incident with the over hit pass in which he 100% could have got.

IMO Downing doesn't seem to have the mentality for a club like Liverpool. For me he won't be the answer to our on going LM problem, just my opinion but i can't see him making it at LFC.

[Craig_H]

He needs a kick up the arse. Maybe he should be dropped for 4-5 games and see if that gets a reaction.

[McDermotX]

Another average game yesterday, with very little composure on display. Whacked the defenders a couple of times with a cross or two, fluffed a couple of ranged efforts which you'd expect him to strike cleaner etc etc.........but to be fair to him, he done a lot of running, and helped out Enrique consistently throughout the game, so a C for effort, but he's still not doing what we hoped he would.

A number of times, you could see his 'timid' mentality at work, but no more so than when in the first half, he found himself in the box as Suarez swung one in from the far right and if he had kept running on he would have connected with the ball for a certain goal. But instead, he slowed up even as the ball was approaching his area...........its that lack of aggression that holds him back IMO.

Plus, he doesn't even look like a footballer.

[dww]

I thought his positioning defensively in midfield was good, he also made a good wide outlet at times - there are at least two instances in the Lucas highlight reels alone that show him stretching play well and controlling difficult switching balls.

Can't disagree with comments about his composure in the box but I don't think his rate of getting good crosses in is bad. In fact I would guess it was pretty good - I think getting them in is rarer than people assume.

I can see the lack of aggression criticism as it does sometimes look like that. Although much like the claims with some players that they lack effort I don't think that it is sensible to judge by appearances. He's started to get into good positions to shoot in the last few games, he now needs to start converting chances.

[~LFCHistory~]

He needs a kick up the arse. Maybe he should be dropped for 4-5 games and see if that gets a reaction.

Problem with Downing is that his mentality is so light weight that a long spell on the bench could possibly destroy the last of his already fragile confidence.

[BobTheCharmer]

It was only a surreal superhuman performance from Lucas that pipped Enrique for MOTM match IMO opinion.

and it could so so easily of gone wrong with that stupid backpass. if reina had arrived a touch later he could have seen red and we'd have been ****ed. it was really sloppy and in a tight game it could have been the game changer, although I think he's been generally good this season he is prone to over playing and keeps the ball too long at times. its great to finally have a real left back, but he's far from perfect. lucas also got a right bollocking from agger at one point for being sloppy and adam also nearly ****ed us up with that header back. there's a fine line with keeping the ball, knocking it about and being guilty of over playing and creating your own problems.

[Tee]

and it could so so easily of gone wrong with that stupid backpass. if reina had arrived a touch later he could have seen red and we'd have been ****ed. it was really sloppy and in a tight game it could have been the game changer, although I think he's been generally good this season he is prone to over playing and keeps the ball too long at times. its great to finally have a real left back, but he's far from perfect. lucas also got a right bollocking from agger at one point for being sloppy and adam also nearly ****ed us up with that header back. there's a fine line with keeping the ball, knocking it about and being guilty of over playing and creating your own problems.

Lessons are being learned though it seems.

[cream]

Downing would make a decent squad player. We need to buy a winger/wideman this coming window.

[saj]

I reckon downing would struggle to improve our reserves

[Tee]

Downing would make a decent squad player. We need to buy a winger/wideman this coming window.

We have been saying this every window since 2005...

[cream]

Shall we start calling him downer?