Why We Should Sign Stuart Downing

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Jan 30, 2011
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Downing will be like Hamann (signed for Newcastle by Kenny for those who didn't know!) for us, not the name everyone was after, moving from a rival Prem club, but one of the first signings to settle and a regular from there on.

If he was foreign and people had seen Youtube compilations rather than MOTD he'd be popular. Funnily enough many would rather sign someone with a worse record from a different league.

My own knowledge of Downing this season comes from having watched 6-7 full Villa league games (number i can guarantee i sat through the full 90 minutes of), highlights, and all the other bits and pieces we pick up, plus a healthy dose of stats. I initially was focusing on Ashley Young because of fantasy football but was immediately more impressed with Downing, despite rooting for Young, and have consistently been impressed since.

Reasons why Downing is a great option:

1. He has played pretty much every league game (plus cup games). It is very rare for a winger to be so robust, but since he became a Middlesborough regular in 2006/07 his league starts are as follows:
06/07- 34
07/08- 38
08/09- 37
09/10- 23
10/11- 38

2. This season he put in the 2nd most crosses in the league. Hmm i wonder whether N'Zogbia, who averages about 9-10 attempted dribbles per game, or Stuart Downing- who keeps getting the crosses in- will get the best out of our big £35million no.9?

3. Mentality- Stuart Downing is never caught up in problems with teammates or off pitch scandals. He clearly has his head screwed on. He works hard for the team. He never seems to complain and has only recently spoken of a desire to move to a team more likely to challenge at the top end.

4. He's English- handy for the Home Grown rules, and Kenny's idea of building a strong English core (perhaps based on the set-up at Barca who are Spanish dominated).

5. 7 goals and 7 assists in the league this season, only one of which was from a set piece (1 assist from a corner), whereas most of the more popular names have similar or worse stats and are often the free kick and penalty takers for their respective teams.

6. Winner of Villa Fans', Players' and Sponsor's Player of the Year. Absolute clean sweep and i'm sure there's plenty of people who would tell us Ashley Young is a better signing (yawn).

7. Paaaaaaaace. He's rapid, you only have to watch his goals this season to see him leave defenders for dead, which maybe some had forgotten after his time in centre midfield (versatile).

8. He can play on the right and do the Adam Johnson 'inverted' winger thing or play as a classic left winger, handy when we want Suarez on that left side. I recommend you watch his goals and assists from this season as evidence:

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There are a couple of overseas players that i think would be great to get as well as Downing, however he would clearly be a very good option for us. The Manchester favoring press are clearly going to sing Ashley Young's praises, and someone who is the head-down hardworking type like Downing will just never get as much coverage, but we must remember that just because everyone is slating the state of our national teams does not automatically mean all English players are rubbish.

Capello said he was the player that most impressed him when he first took charge of England, and i believe if that hadn't coincided with Middlesbrough's relegation and O'Neill moving him to center mid, then he would have had a few more caps.

So come on then lads, have i converted any of you? Or are you at least less worried by his signing?
 
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I think he would do a good job for you, a true winger but apabtable, as you say can also play RW or more centrally. Always works hard for the team, which is Liverpools/Daglish's way, will alsways cover his full back, and will supply and score.

I think you will get him for around £12m and will be a good signing
 
The home grown rule thing, isnt that important

You are allowed 17 foreigners, with 2/3 homegrown and 2/3 youngsters, thats a big enough squad
 
He never dribbles past people, his crossing is erratic at best and he's failed at the only high level he actually played at (England).

His goals weren't very impressive in that clip either, they were just a collection of tap-ins and deflected goals.

Would much prefer Juan Mata.
 
I've always said I'd much rather Albrighton to Downing, and I maintain that. I just can't see Kenny forking out £15m+ for a 26 year old that hasn't attracted the radar of any of the other top clubs.

Albrighton or Mata for me.
 
Muppetfinder General said:
Which is odd when so many FIFA Player of the Year nominees have shone so brightly in that environment.
Click to expand...

You know its true, just last season when Villa were challenging for CL football he was mysteriously poor when he came back from injury and had a grand total of 2 assists throughout the season, now when Villa dropped down to his average mid-table level he's doing well all of a sudden, surprise.

He's midtable mediocrity, just like Pennant, Keane, Konchesky etc.
 
Raaaul said:
You know its true, just last season when Villa were challenging for CL football he was mysteriously poor when he came back from injury and had a grand total of 2 assists throughout the season, now when Villa dropped down to his average mid-table level he's doing well all of a sudden, surprise.

He's midtable mediocrity, just like Pennant, Keane, Konchesky etc.
Click to expand...

That makes no sense since not only was he at the same team himself but he still has to play 17/20 same teams again. It's not as if he's being shown up in Europe. Basically you're saying the one season he got injured, was moved to center midfield at a new club and still did a decent job shows how he can't cut it?

He's still also managed nearly 30 caps for England despite never having had a serious run in the team, and i could always point you to such players as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who have achieved virtually nothing on the International stage.

As for discrediting his goals as 'tap ins'... guess Utd will be sending Hernandez back to Mexico will they? Perhaps we should class Dirk's hat-trick against them as a combined 1 goal? A 'tap in' counts for the same amount as any other goal and i'd feel more comfortable about signing a player who shows he can get in the right place at the right time than one that can bang in the odd screamer.
 
DayDoDoeDontDayDoe said:
The home grown rule thing, isnt that important

You are allowed 17 foreigners, with 2/3 homegrown and 2/3 youngsters, thats a big enough squad
Click to expand...

That isn't the greatest math I've ever seen. EPL has a squad limit of 25, and 17 foreigners relates to the requirement of a minimum of 8 Home Grown players.

Those who started last season as Senior Home Grown players:
Brad Jones, Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, Jamie Carragher, Jay Spearing, Steven Darby, Paul Konchesky

Brad Jones, Paul Konchesky and possibly Joe Cole are to leave this summer. In 3 years time we could be looking at Joe Cole, Gerrard and Carragher having retired anyway.

That leaves us with Johnson, Spearing, Darby, Carroll, Kelly and then Flanaghan and Robinson depending on whether they can keep themselves in the squad.

Darby i imagine will go, which leaves 3 spaces in the squad we will have to fill with 3 youth players (Robinson will still count as youth i believe). These youth players (e.g. Sterling, Coady) would have been eligible to play without taking a space in the 25 anyway if we have our full 8 from the seniors.

That is why signing Henderson and Downing makes sense, having a full squad of players is very important, and if we don't we're handicapping ourselves. Also it means that in the next few years we won't be forced to buy English players as the market becomes even more competitive. On top of that i'm not sure we can guarantee Spearing and the other boys will definitely be at the club in 3 years, however we could probably guarantee Downing and Henderson will have roles in the team. So we're making sure whatever happens we have that English core and will be able to cherry pick foreign signings from all over the world, rather than being forced to look in England when it doesn't suit us.
 
Skrtels Nips said:
That makes no sense since not only was he at the same team himself but he still has to play 17/20 same teams again. It's not as if he's being shown up in Europe. Basically you're saying the one season he got injured, was moved to center midfield at a new club and still did a decent job shows how he can't cut it?

He's still also managed nearly 30 caps for England despite never having had a serious run in the team, and i could always point you to such players as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who have achieved virtually nothing on the International stage.

As for discrediting his goals as 'tap ins'... guess Utd will be sending Hernandez back to Mexico will they? Perhaps we should class Dirk's hat-trick against them as a combined 1 goal? A 'tap in' counts for the same amount as any other goal and i'd feel more comfortable about signing a player who shows he can get in the right place at the right time than one that can bang in the odd screamer.
Click to expand...

Yes, but with a lower league position comes less pressure and media coverage, which is why Robbie Keane wasn't great when moving from Spurs to Liverpool, same with the likes of Pennant, Konchesky etc they just couldn't handle the pressure of playing under such intense media coverage.

Ronaldo is 26 and has 81 caps already, and he scored 8 goals in Euro 2008 qualification, 7 in World cup 2006 qualficiation so he's hardly been bad for them. Messi was also good in the world cup, he was having a great world cup apart from scoring goals before the Germany game, he was going past people for fun and creating lots of chances for team mates and himself.

If Downing scored 7 goals a season consistently like Kuyt and Hernandez you'd have a point, but these tap ins are merely luck, he doesn't normally score this much, hes just hit a purple patch, once his goals dry up, which they will, he won't be adding anything to the team unlike a Mata or a Hazard.
 
I reckon if we signed him,He could be Liverpools answer to Antonio Valencia.Valencia isn't spectacular,but he's excellent at what he does.When he's out...he's missed.He doesn't do ''Ronaldo step-overs'',but he does a job down that line.Downing fits the FSG and Damien Comolli blue-print due to the number of games he plays.Its the reason why they targetted Jordan Henderson..He played 37 out of 38 games.
 
Since when were Liverpool a ''mid-table club''?
Idiot.
He however doesn't want to play for a club who is riddled with debt and has no youth team worth mentioning,and who's only prospect from that youth team is facing an 18 month prison sentence.
 
Thing is though, I've probably seen about 3 full matches where Mata was playing (two of those being the current u21 tourny.) So on such little evidence I don't want to come charging in with 'Downing is sh*t, let's get Mata.'

Downing is a good, solid player, and we do need those types in the squad. He's one who will give you a 6-8 out of 10 pretty much every game, with the occasional 9. I'd rather that than someone who will be a 9 out of 10 one game and a 4 out of 10 the next (like Ryan Babel, who can magically be both in the space of 10 minutes.)
 
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