Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has been desperately disappointing for the club this season, but he is on a high at the moment after a good performance against Championship side Cardiff City in the Carling Cup Final. Downing's England rival Theo Walcott also had a great game last Sunday, and the former Villa man has revealed his admiration for how the young Arsenal star has handled the pressure of performing for a huge club.
Arsenal tore Spurs apart in their Premier League match last Sunday, with Walcott scoring two fine goals along the way. Things have not always been so plain sailing for for the youngster though, and Downing can relate to that. He told the Evening Standard:
"I know what it's like. Sometimes as a winger you feel that pressure from people, that they expect you to beat three players before setting up a striker or scoring a goal, especially when you're younger.
"We've all had it as players but Theo is strong enough to deal with the pressure of playing for a big club like Arsenal and England. He handles himself very well.
"He is a top player and I am in competition with him for a place in the England side but if I was to give any advice to Theo it would be to just keep doing what he's doing because he proved against Tottenham that he is mentally strong."
Earlier today, Andy Carroll described Downing's performance against Cardiff as 'unbelievable', but I'm not quite sure that's as big a compliment as it sounds.
Downing was 'unbelievable' against lower-league opposition? He *should* be playing out of his skin against inferior players, shouldn't he? When is Downing going to start being 'unbelievable' in the league?
I make no apology for labelling Downing a 'flop' - any experienced International Premier League winger who goes 7 months without scoring or creating a league goal is, by definition, a flop.
As for Walcott being Downing's rival for an England spot; I can't understand how Downing can be ahead of him. Walcott has 8 goals and 8 assists for Arsenal this season; Downing has 1 goal an 1 assist, both in domestic cups, and no goals/assists in the league.
If England players are picked on their form, then surely Walcott has to be ahead of Downing?
Jaimie Kanwar
Arsenal tore Spurs apart in their Premier League match last Sunday, with Walcott scoring two fine goals along the way. Things have not always been so plain sailing for for the youngster though, and Downing can relate to that. He told the Evening Standard:
"I know what it's like. Sometimes as a winger you feel that pressure from people, that they expect you to beat three players before setting up a striker or scoring a goal, especially when you're younger.
"We've all had it as players but Theo is strong enough to deal with the pressure of playing for a big club like Arsenal and England. He handles himself very well.
"He is a top player and I am in competition with him for a place in the England side but if I was to give any advice to Theo it would be to just keep doing what he's doing because he proved against Tottenham that he is mentally strong."
Earlier today, Andy Carroll described Downing's performance against Cardiff as 'unbelievable', but I'm not quite sure that's as big a compliment as it sounds.
Downing was 'unbelievable' against lower-league opposition? He *should* be playing out of his skin against inferior players, shouldn't he? When is Downing going to start being 'unbelievable' in the league?
I make no apology for labelling Downing a 'flop' - any experienced International Premier League winger who goes 7 months without scoring or creating a league goal is, by definition, a flop.
As for Walcott being Downing's rival for an England spot; I can't understand how Downing can be ahead of him. Walcott has 8 goals and 8 assists for Arsenal this season; Downing has 1 goal an 1 assist, both in domestic cups, and no goals/assists in the league.
If England players are picked on their form, then surely Walcott has to be ahead of Downing?
Jaimie Kanwar
Agree, Walcott is far superior to Downing, and he is probably better suited to being a striker at Arsenal and I still believe he will end up in that position when Van Persie moves on. As usual, the paranoid delusionals within our support come out, questioning people's loyalty when they do not blindly back one of our player's behaviour or performances. Walcott was getting stick at Arsenal at the weekend, his performances have been better than Downing and he can do it against high quality opposition, as he has proved it many times. And, most importantly, after getting the stick, he came on in the second half and stuck two goals in the back of the net. Will Downing ever score two goals in a Liverpool shirt?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, as Chelsea go 7 points ahead of us, people claim we will get 4th place. Fail to beat Arsenal and that will be up in smoke. Lose to Arsenal and they will probably sneak 4th after having what most would consider to be a disaster of a season. We are one disappointing League result away from having to give up on that. Based on what I've seen, so far, this season, I reckon that a penalty win against Cardiff might be as good as it is going to get. Rather than all the mob now coming back and questioning who I support, yawn, why not wait and see? When the season has ended, we can all come back and declare if it has turned out as we expected and if what we've seen has been anywhere near good enough.
That's totally irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteAnd the members of the mob stated 'if you are not with us, you are against us'.
ReplyDeleteYes, and we are just fantastic. Looked at the league table lately?
ReplyDeleteif they get 4th, they would rather win nothing and be in the champions league. And look at what they spent, -£50 million or so, compared to our 50 million, plus the amount we spent on Carroll and Suarez, so if they beat us to 4th place, our management's future should be under consideration.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! I celebrated loong into the night. :) Kind of sad for Gerrard #2 though.
ReplyDeleteLets compare theo's perfomance against spurs and downing's against cardiff...hmmm 2 goals from a 22yr old and downing (27) did what exactly, oh he lasted 120mins on the pitch and contributed towards which of liverpool's goals?? You can make it look all fluffy and all but a 20m player at peak age plays well agsinst champion side. Sorry im not going to be deluded or pretend he's liverpool class. FACTS DONT LIE, guarantee he'll be gone in the summer,coz liverpool will be in europe and we need winners in the team, plus total respect to kuyt for being a true pro and showing time and again he's a big player for the big ocassions and did not come out and say its all about him like lampard has this season.
ReplyDeleteGab -Maximum was being sarcastic. And I would ask if we finished 5th and ended up with League and FA Cup would you sack the management
ReplyDeleteYes, the five year gap in their ages is significant also, I think.
ReplyDeleteFair play, thing is that the sarcasm was pretty close to how our supporters genuinely sound! Which, i suppose, sums up the best sarcasm. If we finish behind Newcastle, Chelsea or Arsenal in the league, and miss our priority, Champions League, I would not let the cup wins mask how disappointing the season has been. Otherwise, next season, we will be looking at no champions league, again, and no cup wins. For the amount of money spent, the inability to put away inferior teams should have been dealt with by now.
ReplyDelete