Fair point realy. I don't know a lot about Matta. But what I do know is Downing is the definition of average. Exactly the sort of player we should not sign.
Why We Should Sign Stuart Downing
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Fair point realy. I don't know a lot about Matta. But what I do know is Downing is the definition of average. Exactly the sort of player we should not sign.
At no point have I said Downing is my first choice, or that i rate him above any other player, but i don't think most people are as rational as you Suarez. I was more trying to show why if we get him he will be a good addition.
bow4fowler i'm not sure at where you think average lies. His record compares very well to most wingers in the league, and what's more who would get more out of Carroll? I'm absolutely willing to listen to suggestions, i'm not Downing's agent, jsut think he would significantly improve us and is very underrated.
I think Suarez is most effective coming in from the left rather than right so I would much prefer us to sign a right footed winger to play right of a front 3. I know Downing can cut in but thats not going to be as useful in providing service for Carrol. I also think anything above 15 million would be ridiculous and I think Villa would demand more. From an attacking point of view I think we are missing somebody with pace so I'd like to see a similar sort of player to Ashley Young and Theo Walcott to fill the role. I think sterling is made for this position so sooner he comes through the better in my opinion.
Neither did Alonso. And?
You're making some odd correlations. What media coverage was on Downing when he returned from injury? Nothing like Keane at Liverpool.
Villa were challenging for CL but because Downing came back from injury they were better in midtable? I don't get it. He was O'Neill's first signing in the summer of 2009 and they challenged for a CL place that season. It would be just as easy, and just as lazy a correlation, to say Villa challenged because they signed Downing that season.
The op makes a good case. For me if we got him at a good price i'd be happy enough to see how he does, but he will probably cost loads and so I think there must be better options.
I reckon that he would be a ''typical Kenny signing'' for that side.A bit like Stuart Ripley and Jason Wilcox and Ray Houghton.All these had one thing in common,they were solid but not spectacular.There were similar moans in 1988 when Liverpool signed Ray Houghton,as he was just an ''average Oxford player''.John Barnes didn't set the world alight at Watford either.Peter Beardsley cost a record fee even though Big Fat Ron booted him out of Old Trafford in 1984 when he was a kid.Fergie however wanted to pay £3 million for him.Now thats rather foolish.Looking to pay £3 million for someone your predecessor booted out on a free.Not the first time this has happened either.At one stage Fergie wanted to pay Stoke £18 million more for Ryan Shawcross than he sold Shawcross for.He sold him for £2 million and was willing to pay £20 million.
I think people are confused by the type of player we perhaps should be going for. We have significant financial backing, but not Man City money. We are in our 2nd season without Champions League football, yet still have a strong reputation. We had a terrible start to last season, then a great finish- just how good are we?
Pretty confusing, and i think it means we all hope for the big names, and although i think we could sign most players, the very top aren't going to come right now. Juan Mata is probably a unique situation because of Valencia's finances, our Spanish links, and his age, and that's why i think there is such fuss over him. Apart from him being a fantastic talent of course.
Players like Downing though are the kind of players who can bring out the best in our best players already at the club and give us that push back into the top 4. Whether we go for him or not, we'll see, and he's hardly my favourite player, but he's a huge step up from Jovanovic, Riera, Gonzalez and then players like Jonas Gutierez and Seb Larsson who play regularly in the Prem for other teams. We'd have a player who is stronger than most of his rivals in that position (stronger than 70% of left footed wingers in the league at least?), and that's a good way to build a team. Especially as it's not that other 30% we struggled to beat last season- as most agreed it was our ability to beat the lower teams that costs us. When City first set out to do build hteir team to crack the top 4 they did so by signing players of Downing's quality for the most part (although perhaps without a huge deal of planning)- De Jong, Kompany, Milner, Adam Johnson, Gareth Barry, Shay Given. Most of those would never have been signed by Utd and Chelsea, but have been key for City. Also with a player like Downing you know he is committing the best years of his career and it's his last chance to push for the Champions League. That's a great mentality to have around.
That's why we can probably expect to see experienced regulars like Downing coming in who will improve our consistency and get the best out of our existing players, and where we can compete is going for the best potential, which is why Henderson and the likes are being signed/linked. The experienced and the youth should combine to help us get back in the top 4, and once there the youth will have hopefully matured into class players, the likes of which we can't sign right now.
Pretty confusing, and i think it means we all hope for the big names, and although i think we could sign most players, the very top aren't going to come right now. Juan Mata is probably a unique situation because of Valencia's finances, our Spanish links, and his age, and that's why i think there is such fuss over him. Apart from him being a fantastic talent of course.
Players like Downing though are the kind of players who can bring out the best in our best players already at the club and give us that push back into the top 4. Whether we go for him or not, we'll see, and he's hardly my favourite player, but he's a huge step up from Jovanovic, Riera, Gonzalez and then players like Jonas Gutierez and Seb Larsson who play regularly in the Prem for other teams. We'd have a player who is stronger than most of his rivals in that position (stronger than 70% of left footed wingers in the league at least?), and that's a good way to build a team. Especially as it's not that other 30% we struggled to beat last season- as most agreed it was our ability to beat the lower teams that costs us. When City first set out to do build hteir team to crack the top 4 they did so by signing players of Downing's quality for the most part (although perhaps without a huge deal of planning)- De Jong, Kompany, Milner, Adam Johnson, Gareth Barry, Shay Given. Most of those would never have been signed by Utd and Chelsea, but have been key for City. Also with a player like Downing you know he is committing the best years of his career and it's his last chance to push for the Champions League. That's a great mentality to have around.
That's why we can probably expect to see experienced regulars like Downing coming in who will improve our consistency and get the best out of our existing players, and where we can compete is going for the best potential, which is why Henderson and the likes are being signed/linked. The experienced and the youth should combine to help us get back in the top 4, and once there the youth will have hopefully matured into class players, the likes of which we can't sign right now.