Stewart Downing - West Hahahaham player

[little dave hedgehog]

anonymous is different to what downing was yesterday. henderson was anonymous. downing was in-your-face, obviously poor.

[RedReet]

I think it's very obvious that Hendo isn't a natural winger.

Is a natural winger not meant to get down the line a get balls into the box? Hendo doesn't do that and cut it's in or plays the ball backwards. Forgetting the term winger/wide men etc i have no doubts Kenny & Comollo bought Hendo to be more than just a workhorse/do a job type.

[JHP]

anonymous is different to what downing was yesterday. henderson was anonymous. downing was in-your-face, obviously poor.

He was a little unlucky, sorry poor, with the shot that hit the post.

[little dave hedgehog]

downing is a strange one. even when he has obviously been pants in a match, like today, he still manages to hit the woodwork or put in a cross or two that beat the first man and also don't drift right over everybody and wind up in row a. his numbers would look a lot better if our forwards hadn't fluffed some chances, and a few goal keepers have made impressive stops from people trying to finish his crosses as well.

take today for example. looked terrible all day, over hit his crosses, and still hit the woodwork. looked bad against the scum, but still managed to forge enough chances late on that we probably should have won the match. it hasn't quite materialized, but he remains a fairly dangerous player even when he looks bobbins.

[Mattshark]

He was a little unlucky, sorry poor, with the shot that hit the post.

He was very unlucky with his shot, however the he also only put in 1 cross all game that found one of our players and that was a corner.

[Nick77]

He is the epitome of average - I can't understand why players like Maxi & Bellamy aren't given a chance ahead of him now that he's proven how average he is...

[cream]

He is the epitome of average - I can't understand why players like Maxi & Bellamy aren't given a chance ahead of him now that he's proven how average he is...

Because he cost £20m.

[JohnDoe]

Maxi in for Downing makes us worse.

[RichC]

clearly not a fan of Maxi then ! Seems most on here thinks he'd offer some intelligence to our play and link well with Suarez et al around him.

Each to their own opinions though!

[JohnDoe]

clearly not a fan of Maxi then ! Seems most on here thinks he'd offer some intelligence to our play and link well with Suarez et al around him.

Each to their own opinions though!

Maxi has no pace, likes to come inside and can never beat his man as he can't dribble.

Downing at least has pace, knows when to stay out wide which gives us balance, and occasionally beats his man with his one dribble move.

Maxi is awful in a 4-4-2. Awful.

[cream]

Maxi has no pace, likes to come inside and can never beat his man as he can't dribble.

Downing at least has pace, knows when to stay out wide which gives us balance, and occasionally beats his man with his one dribble move.

Maxi is awful in a 4-4-2. Awful.

Maxi is awful in a 4-4-2, but then again Downing isn't much better either. However, in a 4-2-3-1 Maxi is very good and is the option we should be using.

[RichC]

I wouldn't say awful but 4-4-2 doesn't play to his strenghts thats for sure - I'd rather we played that formation as well. I think we'll evolve the formation through the season

[JohnDoe]

Once we signed Carroll and Suarez, it was the clearest indication of Kenny building his team around playing two strikers. There will be games Carroll gets dropped and another CM will be inserted, but 4-4-2 will be the norm.

Once our January transfer business was done, it looked pretty clear to me that players like Maxi and Meireles had no long term future here. Anyone clinging on to the hope we're going to evolve into some sort of 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 or whatever, not going to happen IMO.

Downing fits our needs in terms of play style, the only issue is his ability.

[Mostar]

Downing fits our needs in terms of play style, the only issue is his ability.

He should not be getting a free pass though cause atm imo he doesn't deserve to start.

I thought Maxi had a very good game against Stoke and should deserve some consideration and Bellamy was good in every game he played thus far and imo he should start against Swansea at expense of Stewart.

[Galb]

The problem with watching Downing at the moment is not just that he's poor but also that you keep thinking ... that could have been Mata.