They don't need downing, they need good wingers and I am in the quota of thinking there are better out there than downing and cheaper. While he might already be lads with half the team, I prefer to have a creative spark out there for all the grit we will have in the team. Gotta have someone to be creative other than Suarez! If he comes, I will hope he proves me wrong mind!
I also have my concerns. However, who's to say he can't do it for us? He has the experience now, and will be working with squad with more quality than he has ever worked with before. Might bring the best out of him.
Could anyone explain to me how these players are better than Downing, with some evidence and something to convince me they've actually watched a significant and balanced amount of each? For various reasons i watched probably 8-10 full Villa games last season, plus highlights of the rest, on top of several years of similar and i think that's enough to give a pretty informed opinion of Downing. I do however know that most won't have done the same. In fact i'll be very surprised if there is more than maybe 2 on the entire Liverpool forum who have watched more Villa games. Now i watch huge amounts of football- i usually watch the midday game, stream two 3pm games whilst running soccer saturday and then the evening game (Liverpool seemed to only ever play on Sundays and Mondays last year before people wade in). Then depending on our game and when i get back etc i'll usually watch the two Sunday games and the Monday game, and there's a decent chance i'll stick MOTD on during the week whilst i'm doing stuff. I do actually have a life despite that, and obviously i'm not streaming if i'm down the pub with the boys, so obviously sometimes this changes but this is still as much football as i can fit in. Even allowing for a midweek European game or two, and I just wonder how people are finding time to watch a decent number of games from Shaqiri who plays for Basel, never mind watching Cazorla, Mata and N'Zogbia. The match report for Utd/Villa would have told me that Downing got an assist for example, but as i saw the whole game i know that he created several clear cut chances and was an absolute thorn in Utd's side. If Carroll had been the one on the end of the crosses he could have had a hat-trick. Stats are useful, highlights are useful, but watching the whole game is the most useful, and i bet most here don't do that. I rate all those players you mentioned so i'm not trying to have a go, i'm just having a little difficulty understanding the line of thought that Downing is a poor signing but loads of foreign signings will be great. In my own opinion i think this whole English thing has gone the other way. People are so focused on the 'English players cost too much' thing and the failures of the national team, that now every English player has to be poor and overpriced.
Firstly I've been saying this all along,that in order to get the best out of a deep-lying play-maker is to have natural width.And vice versa. However you don't necessarily need two natural wide-men.Some of the most successful sides only used one natural wide-man. Arsenal-Parlour and Overmars,Man United,Beckham and Giggs.Both Parlour and Beckham were inverted central midfielders.Liverpool themselves did it with,Ian Callaghan,Jimmy Case,Ronnie Whelan,Ray Kennedy. Chelsea were possibly were the only side that played with no natural width...however they were successful with a strong 4-3-3.If Kenny uses one natural wide-man expect him to use Jordan Henderson as his ''energy'' on the other side.Something similar to the role Ray Houghton performed the last time.A player that will tuck in when necessary but will come inside and bomb into the box.
