With more than half of the premier league season already over, Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has achieved a grand total of no goals and no assists. Based on his recent history with Villa, I still can't understand why Liverpool decided to spend so much money him, but it seems like Kenny Dalglish may have had no choice in the matter.
Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said:
"At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques"
I think most fans would agree with that, and the idea of a Director/Chairman actually having some major influence on transfer targets is anathema to most managers. However, it appears that Tom Werner and John Henry may have had a major influence on the signing of Downing, and for reasons that basically contradict their whole 'Moneyball' philosophy.
According to Werner, he and Henry were so impressed by some doctored youtube footage of Downing in action that they resolved to find a way to buy him. Speaking to LFC TV, Werner admitted:
"There was some footage of Stewart where he was, from 30 yards away, kicking a football into five different trash cans and it was brilliant. John and I said: 'Oh my God, this player is brilliant, we've got to figure out a way to make a deal with him'.
Here is the footage that so impressed Liverpool's owners:
According to The Telegraph:
"It was only later that Werner and Henry realised the footage had been digitally enhanced as part of a campaign to boost season ticket sales at Villa".
The idea that Henry and Werner made a transfer decision on the basis of a Youtube video is probably nonsense; I'm sure there was a lot more to it than that, and I'm sure Kenny probably let the Owners know that the video was doctored.
A Villa spokesperson confirmed:
"It was part of our 2010-11 season-ticket drive. There is a message after it which reads, 'Seeing is believing', which we thought was a giveaway. Obviously, it wasn’t a big enough clue"
Werner and Henry's enthusiasm is great to see but I sincerely hope that in future they follow Shankly's advice and just stick to signing the cheques.
As for Downing - he told LFC TV earlier today that he feels like his best form is returning:
"I'm starting to pick up form again. I want to play all the time but the only way I can do that is to play well. I've got to get my head down and work hard, and the last couple of weeks I'm pleased with how it's gone personally."
NB: Rumours that Werner and Henry encouraged Kenny Dalglish to sign Andy Carroll after watching the following YouTube video could not be confirmed ;-)
Jaimie Kanwar
Legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly once said:
"At a football club, there's a holy trinity - the players, the manager and the supporters. Directors don't come into it. They are only there to sign the cheques"
I think most fans would agree with that, and the idea of a Director/Chairman actually having some major influence on transfer targets is anathema to most managers. However, it appears that Tom Werner and John Henry may have had a major influence on the signing of Downing, and for reasons that basically contradict their whole 'Moneyball' philosophy.
According to Werner, he and Henry were so impressed by some doctored youtube footage of Downing in action that they resolved to find a way to buy him. Speaking to LFC TV, Werner admitted:
"There was some footage of Stewart where he was, from 30 yards away, kicking a football into five different trash cans and it was brilliant. John and I said: 'Oh my God, this player is brilliant, we've got to figure out a way to make a deal with him'.
Here is the footage that so impressed Liverpool's owners:
According to The Telegraph:
"It was only later that Werner and Henry realised the footage had been digitally enhanced as part of a campaign to boost season ticket sales at Villa".
The idea that Henry and Werner made a transfer decision on the basis of a Youtube video is probably nonsense; I'm sure there was a lot more to it than that, and I'm sure Kenny probably let the Owners know that the video was doctored.
A Villa spokesperson confirmed:
"It was part of our 2010-11 season-ticket drive. There is a message after it which reads, 'Seeing is believing', which we thought was a giveaway. Obviously, it wasn’t a big enough clue"
Werner and Henry's enthusiasm is great to see but I sincerely hope that in future they follow Shankly's advice and just stick to signing the cheques.
As for Downing - he told LFC TV earlier today that he feels like his best form is returning:
"I'm starting to pick up form again. I want to play all the time but the only way I can do that is to play well. I've got to get my head down and work hard, and the last couple of weeks I'm pleased with how it's gone personally."
NB: Rumours that Werner and Henry encouraged Kenny Dalglish to sign Andy Carroll after watching the following YouTube video could not be confirmed ;-)
Jaimie Kanwar
WHY DO U CALL THE SITE LIVERPOOL KOP U SHOULD CALL IT THE MAN U THOUGHTS
ReplyDeleteif you honeslty believe someone would actually spend 20 million or 35 million of his money based on some edited videos on youtube...then you don't understand football or simple logic.
ReplyDeleteRegards, the other humans with brains.
You clearly missed the ironic undertone to the article. I even put a smiley face in to make it perfectly clear. Never mind.
ReplyDeleteYou've just wasted 30 seconds of my life that I won't get back!
ReplyDeleteDowning played brilliant against City on Wednesday and looked the player Kenny wanted. I hope he continues to play like that for the remainder of the season.
ReplyDeleteWerner wasn't speaking to the Telegraph, or any other paper in fact. This was from an interview which was on LFC TV last year (Augsut I think, but could be wrong). The owners had been informed that this was a player that Kenny/Comolli were targetting, wanted (for their own interest) to find out a bit about him, searched for him on Youtube & found the clip with him hitting the ball in to the dustbins. They found out fairly rapidly that it had been doctored & found it funny, the player wan't bought on the strength of this (Jaimie- I'm not suggesting that you're suggesting this either).
ReplyDeleteI find it really odd that this has suddenly become a story in the press now when its basically old news.
What a ridiculous article on a ridiculous web site.
ReplyDeleteIt's honestly scary isn't it Jamie to see people completely mis-understand an article like this??
ReplyDeleteNot a fan of Youtube clips normally as any sort of indication of a player, but the Carrol clip just made me think of how few quality crosses we have put in for the lad. I mean, even at a lower level, some of those headers were quite exceptional. Would quite like to see Gerrard play from the Right in a 4-4-2 to give him the service he needs. I can't see much other source of amunition for him from the right otherwise. Would be easier though if Lucas or Spearing were available to play in the middle and protect the back 4 though......
Great point about Carroll, Mraven - the majority of goals from the video came from great crosses into the box, something Liverpool have not been great at this season. I also agree that gerrard should play on the right occasionally to get the best out of Carroll.
ReplyDeleteThis was actually also on the Liverpool Website in August
ReplyDeletewww.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/tom-werner-the-full-transcript
(penultimate question).
As I said earlier, it's very odd that the press are making a deal of this now.
this article is class, it also pin ponits some fans who watch youtube and make outlandish assesments of players they do not know or have watched for 2 mins on youtube. i have seen many times some supposed wonder kid who plays football for some back alley team, a fuzzy youtube video is uploaded of him scoring a 50 yarder against the red lion pub team equivelent and some liverpool fans go wild when the usual website acompanying it says "liverpool in for wonder kid". to be fair i did think downing would have done better but watching him this season he has been very poor, hopefully he can prove us both wrong on saturday and start notching up some assists and goals!!
ReplyDeletehow did he play brilliant he was not even in the game as per usual he gets the ball screams up the pitch gets bout 3 quarters of the pitch up and stops passes it backwards and doesn't move but leaves enrique to go forward it's downing's job to cross the ball not enrique's instead he's bottled it as usual he is gutless
ReplyDeleteWhat Shankly said was true but unfortunately does not apply now. Money talks.
ReplyDeleteAgree about the crosses, we just simply haven't given him the supply he deserves but on the reverse side he seemed much quicker and sharper at Newcastle. I know he had a fairly bad injury, when he came to us, to work through but surely he should not still be as sluggish on the pitch as he is....
ReplyDeleteHe just seems to be missing all the sharpness, strength and even a big chunk of what little pace he had....
Downing did score vs Oldham Jaimie?
ReplyDelete'With more than half of the premier league season already over, Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has achieved a grand total of no goals and no assists'.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to the league.
i can put five balls through five different house windows,,any chance i could play tomorrow ,,, come on the pool beat the scum ,ynwa
ReplyDeleteSorry about that, my bad :)
ReplyDeleteWith regards to assists if I am not mistaken, Carroll has at least hit the bar twice from a Downing cross? Could be wrong but its has definately been once.
It would be interesting to know how many clear cut chances have been created by Downing which have been wasted by our players in all our EPL matches up to now.
You are very good at compiling info, any chance of you doing this?
vs Wolves: Downing for Carroll, hits the post. vs Norwich: Downing for Carroll, free header, stoppage time, goes wide. vs Swansea: Downing for Carroll, sitter, hits it against the crossbar
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm sure I've forgotten some...
What an idiot!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about Carroll - He's definitely hit the bar once from a Downing cross, but I can't remember if the other one was from Downing or Enrique. Re Downing's clear-cut chances - there aren't any stats for that specifically, but the following stats are as close as we can get (From OPTA):
ReplyDelete* Shot Assists - 41
* Successful crosses - 24 (out of 109 attempts)
Downing is not the worst player ever to play for Liverpool, and he's had some bad luck this season, that's for sure; but in the final analysis, the only thing that matters for an attacking player is (IMO) end product.
We can use bad luck/hitting the bar etc as excuses only for so long; at some point, players have to start making their own luck, and Downing hasn't done that.
What happens if he goes an entire season without a league goal or assist - would that be acceptable? I don't think that will happen; he'll probably end up with a couple of goals and 3-4 assists by the end, but that still won't be good enough for an experienced England international in the prime of his career.
It's not as if Downing was banging them in for Villa and Middlesbrough either - in the last two seasons, he's managed 14 goals and 16 assists in 122 games, which equates to:
* One goal every 8 games
* One assist every 7 games
* Goal or assist every 4 games overall
Hardly prolific.
Just taking last season as an example: Downing scored only 2 goals in 24 games from December to the end of the season. Again, hardly prolific.
I really can't understand why Liverpool paid so much money for him!
At the end of the day, Downing can only be given assists if his team mates can score which has been the story so far. we have struggled infront of goal all season...
ReplyDeleteRead a while ago that Suarez had the most shots on target out of any player in the EPL but has not managed to convert as many chances as he should have.
Is only Downing to plame for 0 return on assists?
Exactly my point, Downing is being ridiculed for his lack of assists forgetting that his team mates need to put the ball into the back of the net IN ORDER FOR HIM TO BE AWARDED WITH ASSISTS.
ReplyDeleteIt does not take rocket science to figure that one out...
Downing went a full season in 2008/09 without scoring a single premier league goal..not bad for an attacking midfielder...its time we laid off him
ReplyDeleteIt is time that you go and support another team. :)
ReplyDeleteAmusing article from both the Mail and JK.
ReplyDeleteYes, Downing can't get assists if players aren't putting the ball in the net.
But he hasn't helped himself enough either, especially when played on the right. Simply hasn't got the brains or the movements to be a success out on the right. Relies far too much on Johnson's attacking forays on the right to bail him out.
On the left, he hasn't been so bad but expecting more from him. Got to be more expansive with his wing play, instead of predictable. Yes, he has got some crosses in that strikers should put away but its not as if he has been prolific with putting in good crosses.
Also, for me, not enough Pool players get in the box to help deflect the opposition's attention from our main striker.
Am a die hard fan..am sticking up for him even though he's a waste of space
ReplyDeleteI support Liverpool and not Charlie Adam...unlike some
ReplyDeleteDie hard fan when you only post if we have had a bad result?
ReplyDeleteGet out please.
I support Liverpool thanks very much unlike you who has not one good thing to say about Kenny, the club and anything to do with it at the moment.
ReplyDeleteNow go find another excuse for being a die hard fan and only post rubbish comments the next time we have a bad result.
Please go find another team to support. End of.
I support LFC thanks very much, unlike you who can only post comments when we have a bad result and you never have anything good to say about the club not even when we win.
ReplyDeletePlease go find another team to support. End of.
You never have anything good to say about the club, you only post comments when we have a bad result.
ReplyDeleteYou have never from what i can remember posted anything when we have won.
What is the point being a "die hard fan" then as you call it? Best you go find another club mate.
Jaimie, why do none of my replies to Mali341 want to appear? I have tried about four times with no violence at all.
ReplyDeleteHe should not have the privilege of calling himself a "die hard fan".
For some reason, the word 'comment' was being caught by the spam filter. No idea why! I've tweaked the settings so your posts should go live any minute now. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteNo worries.
ReplyDeleteI hope we smash Utd tomorrow. I am sure the players will be pumped up for this one.
As for Evra, he will have to be at his best behaviour tomorrow. Knowing him he will dive like a nancy all over the pitch and anger our fans even more which could lead to more issues. Let's hope it all goes smoothly.
Looking forward to Wembley Mali?
ReplyDeleteAs long as we don't play 9 defenders and Charlie Adam
ReplyDeleteJamie I think if you maintain this standard of writing you may achieve your dream of writing transfer stories for tribal football or the likes. You mention below you included a smiley face to show what exactly. If you were not having a go at the liverpool board then what is the point of the article? Villa put an edited version of a video on the web? So what? If downing and Carroll take a season to find their feet then so be it. Your understanding of the money all concept is also quite limited if you see downing as a moneyball signing.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine some of our fans acting like a right set of tribal neanderthal knobs tomorrow, despite Suarez being a utter twat.
ReplyDeleteHe attacked lots of times with pace and control and gave 100%, beat 3 defenders in one run too and put some good crosses in and never gave the ball away. Downing is never gonna be Messi if that's what you're looking for..Why don't you try supporting him like FANS are meant to and he might play better..
ReplyDeleteThis is absolute nonsense. What did these American guys know about football? By their own admittance, not a lot. Dalglish made all the British signings and should therefore be apportioned blame now that the mist has cleared. The signings of all the British players last summer and before were down to just Dalglish and no one else.
ReplyDeletethe hopeless feeling when the "king" just takes off gerrard the only player that can create a chance. Before that he took maxi off for kuyt and chaaarrliee adam on for carragher. Its depressing! in kenny we trust!
ReplyDeleteAnd how do you feel about it now?
ReplyDelete