Damion Downs

Except it's almost word for word what he said in the press conference before the Hull game: "I'm not stupid. I'm not blind. I know we can't smash it long to Cam because that's just not what suits him. We need to find players either in between or outside that can thread it and are capable of picking up and playing forward and looking forward because his movement's good."

I don't think we're playing his preferred system yet. We certainly aren't playing the formation he's said he wants to play (the formation that the players we've signed would suit). My view is that Still likes to give his players a lot of freedom to make decisions and it seems fairly clear he currently has a problem in that our squad struggles to do that, partly because the players who've been here more than a few weeks have all had their play heavily micromanaged in recent times - Still has also spoken about stopping training, asking a player where the space is and getting the response "Am I allowed to pass there?" I think in the short term he needs to give the players more detailed instructions on what he wants them to do and then give them more freedom to make decisions as time passes and (hopefully) their confidence and familiarity with each other builds up.

He may find that a challenge because I suspect he's also used to the opposition attacking his teams and likely needs to adapt to managing a team that are seen as a relatively big fish, with lots of teams primarily looking to sit back and defend against us.

 

You see, that's one of the things I really do like about him. He always says, pretty much, what everyone else can see, rather than putting on some kind of performance for camera.

 

Very different to some of the strange Blackmore-Martin ding dongs where Adam was just saying what everyone else at St Mary's could see/was thinking for themselves and Martin would get really prickly and uppity with Blackmore over it

 

I'm not sure anyone has said Downs hasn't been bad? I'm just not writing off a player whose young, new to the league/country. Mane was bad for a good 6 months of his first season with us...

 

Mane did show flashes though; I remember his debut away at Arsenal in the league cup (would've been late september) and he was outstanding.

Whilst I don't want to write someone off so early, you can often tell whether someone has the real raw talents to make it here or not.

Mane was inconsistent, yes, and downright poor at times early on, but you could see he had something. I don't get that vibe with Downs.

 

I know what you mean, and I'm not saying that Downs will go onto be the player Mane was, but he could still turn out to be more than useful for us this season and beyond.

 

Wtaf?

 

I don’t know why people re-write history with mane. He was decent as soon as he arrived. A bit rough around the edges. But 99% of the fans knew we had a player and were on board with him in the “give it time” bucket.

Contrast that with this guy, it’s like he’s never played football before. It’s left us in a massive pickle.

I really hope he improves

 

Yeah the more time goes on the more people apparently wrote Mane off instantly.

I seem to recall on here it was only a handful of people who did so with most people being in the 'raw as **** but clearly got talent' category.

It definitely didn't take him 6 months either, the Sunderland game was October wasn't it?

 

Ah, the good ole days. I was at that match, in with MU fans. Ruben started as well & we’d never heard of him. 1-1 iirc?

 

Yeah “wanderer” is definitely a very descriptive word for the Downs we have at present. Personally I’ve not seen anything from him in any of the mins he’s been on the pitch to say he could be the real deal. Hoping he does but just can’t see it.

 

If people do want compare a new signing to Mane's early time with us, I would have thought that Quarshie is a better choice. There is a player who is very raw but very clearly has talent/ability. Similar to Mane (albeit obviously a totally different position).

I don't know where Downs' career will go from here; none of us do. But right now, I don't put him in the "raw but talented" category.

 

I think Downs just looks like a young player paralysed with fear. We took months integrating much more experienced played in our prem days and now we seem to think a few poor early appearances are enough to hound a guy off social media. Whether or not he is a good player, I am afraid Southampton is a very toxic environment for a guy whose biggest crime is costing a bit of someone else’s money while happening to look a tiny, vague bit like Mara.

 

I know nothing about League 2 in Germany, so can’t compare the standard with here. Is it more Championship or League 1? If Downs can score 11 last season, he isn’t a complete numpty. His last club must have seen something in him.

 

Regardless of his cost (which frankly has zero actual bearing on how he integrates and performs in the team), he's a 21 year old who's just moved teams, moved up a league level, moved countries, moved away from any close network of friends he had, now working in a totally different environment with different people, likely lived for a bit in hotels / provided accommodation (maybe still is) - even if that was your choice to do it still a lot for anyone to accommodate effectively even before you throw in all the usual social media diatribe aimed at him.

It's no wonder he's looking a bit like a bunny in the headlights...

I'm not a football coach but I've employed a number of people at his age and I look at him and see someone second guessing everything in case he gets it wrong and needs someone to take that fear off him

 

You say that bit in bold as if it's our entire fan base doing this or that everybody condones it.

Let's not forget that the idiots doing that represent a tiny portion of the fanbase and that the vast majority will find it disgraceful.

 

Ultimately he is feeling the brunt of many years of sports republic failing to sign a striker.

Some of it actually isn’t his fault. I don’t really blame him at all. It’s the club for messing up the most critical position on the pitch, yet again.

We do not have time to take a gamble on a youngster. We needed a solid , unspectacular player to come in and do the basics a championship striker should do.

When the parachute payments run out, and we are stuck in the championship with these duffers at the helm, it won’t be pretty.

 

Agreed. I would put him in the 'raw' category. He must be talented though, but we have yet to see it as fans.

Once thing I will say and this is why I hate threads like this is that he is a young guy, away from home wanting to do well. He must have friends and family that he wants to make proud. He is not playing awful on purpose.

The money spent on him is irrelevant IMO, he needs a bit of time to get his confidence back as there is a player in there somewhere, but he is trying too hard with no confidence to back it up. There is only two ways this will go IMO; he will learn and grow from it and become a good forward, or he will shrink away, ruined by the experience. I hope it is not the latter - not only because we need him, but on a human level. We have to remember that regardless of pay etc, these are young kids out there and human beings.

 

What’s it going to look like to him when he gets jeered every time he touches the ball, and booed when he goes over to see the fans after the game? A welcoming, nurturing environment?

 

Oh, one more point. How can it be right that after that game, in which Manning commits a crime against football I have only ever seen occur at under 8s, we are focusing yet again on Downs?

We might claim it isn’t the entire fanbase, but I genuinely have never seen a player so pilloried and crucified so fast.