Stewart Downing

[Sparks Rover]

19 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Come on. We have:

Dack
Holtby
Trybull
Evans
Johnson
Rothwell
Buckley
Travis
Davenport
Downing
JRC (when needed)
Elliott (if needed)

who can all play in those central roles, another central midfielder would be absolutely ridiculous.

Yes but if it was up to me we wouldnt have

Trybull Buckley Davenport Downing

JRC cant play there

Elliot cant

Dack is a forward with no legs for midfield 

Evans is crap

That leaves: Holtby, Johnson, Travis and Rothwell......these we can go forward with when fit.  We need another younger one to compliment. 

[Sparks Rover]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Hardly wafer thin that list is it? 

If Whiteman was any good he still wouldnt be in league 1 again this season. Fact is. He is still Doncaster in league 1. 

You know that's not true chaddy.  Theres no money this year, his time will come.  Sadly you were creaming your pants when it was looking likely and  now you go back to your  normal vitriol.

[Ewood Ace]

28 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Come on. We have:

Dack
Holtby
Trybull
Evans
Johnson
Rothwell
Buckley
Travis
Davenport
Downing
JRC (when needed)
Elliott (if needed)

who can all play in those central roles, another central midfielder would be absolutely ridiculous.

Not thin on quantity but very thin on quality.

From that list Dack isn't a central Midfielder, Downing is past it and hasn't played or trained for nearly 4 months, Davenport isn't fancied by the manager (you have to wonder why he signed him), Evans is poor, Buckley miles of off his depth, Elliott isn't a central midfielder and JRC plays plenty of positions but doesn't particularly impress in any. Even the likes of Johnson, Rothwell and Holtby tend to flatter to deceive with more disappointing performances than stand out ones.  

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by Ewood Ace

[Oldgregg86]

I’m trying to look at it this way. We have numerous players out and he isn’t any worse than anybody in the starting 11. I have no problem with him coming back and offering us another option. It’s not like it was him or someone else and we have blown the budget. It’s him or nobody and he’s was decent enough last time. I’m happy he’s back

[bluebruce]

Anyway, Downing.

Unhelpful signing. The last thing our current approach needs is a slow tempo passer with suspect legs.

Great for most of last season, not the man for now. Not even because I think he is bad or anything, just that it will lead us to focus on possession at the cost of points. More than we are.

Anybody know how long the deal is? You would assume 1 year but I haven't seen any mention.

[LDRover]

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Anyway, Downing.

Unhelpful signing. The last thing our current approach needs is a slow tempo passer with suspect legs.

Great for most of last season, not the man for now. Not even because I think he is bad or anything, just that it will lead us to focus on possession at the cost of points. More than we are.

Anybody know how long the deal is? You would assume 1 year but I haven't seen any mention.

Good post. You articulated my thoughts far better than I could. Think it'll be possession for possession's sake. No doubt he'll knock a few cracking 50 yard floating diagonals that show his quality but don't threaten the opposition.

[Butty]

2 hours ago, Sparks Rover said:

You won't find me slagging downing off.  If you call saying he's not good enough for my team abuse, fair enough

Del on the other hand....so what? Thats my view, should be nowhere near my club 

Yeah abuse was the wrong choice of word I take that back. I disagree massively on Del though, at left back he is a disaster but I think he’s fine at centre half. It’s Lenihan who is all over the place at the minute back there. 

[roversfan99]

5 minutes ago, Butty said:

Yeah abuse was the wrong choice of word I take that back. I disagree massively on Del though, at left back he is a disaster but I think he’s fine at centre half. It’s Lenihan who is all over the place at the minute back there. 

I think they are both as bad as each other at the moment. Some is down to personal responsibility, some is down to the current tactics exposing them. At least Lenihan has a track record of improving our results with him in the team.

[RevidgeBlue]

2 hours ago, JoeH said:

It can. Key word is CAN. There's nothing to say that it HAS however, hence my objections to the continuous statement being pushed that he's lost his legs. 

Come on, you can say there's no evidence he's lost his legs until you're blue in the face but it doesn't make it any more true.

The evidence was there last season. To myself and most people he slowed up and his performances dropped off considerably in the second half of last season. He's now 36  and it's overwhelmingly likely that that was the reason and he's even less likely to have benefitted from another extended break.

If he was 26 maybe you could overlook last season's drop off in form and put it down as just one of those things  but to take another punt on him at 36 is madness and simply a case of Teflon Tony ignoring what went on on the pitch lin the second half of last season because he likes the bloke.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Anyway, Downing.

Unhelpful signing. The last thing our current approach needs is a slow tempo passer with suspect legs.

Great for most of last season, not the man for now. Not even because I think he is bad or anything, just that it will lead us to focus on possession at the cost of points. More than we are.

Anybody know how long the deal is? You would assume 1 year but I haven't seen any mention.

If it was technically possible to sign him for a month just while we got a couple of people back it would have been more palatable.

When everyone is fit, who misses out to accommodate Downing? It's a retrograde step whichever way you look at it.

 

[roversfan99]

Im quite surprised to see a fair few suggest that he doesnt have the required quality, he gets into the team over most of our midfielders on quality. The only 2 question marks surely are the fact that he has only signed now and has missed the games in which we have been short, and also the risk (not helped with a 4 month gap) that age will have got the better of him. If he is the player we had last year he is right up there fighting with our first 11.

[philipl]

11 hours ago, DeeCee said:

Can he play CB?

He can play left back and the two we have are quarantined.

[LeftWinger]

8 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Im quite surprised to see a fair few suggest that he doesnt have the required quality, he gets into the team over most of our midfielders on quality. The only 2 question marks surely are the fact that he has only signed now and has missed the games in which we have been short, and also the risk (not helped with a 4 month gap) that age will have got the better of him. If he is the player we had last year he is right up there fighting with our first 11.

Absolutely correct.

He was one of our best players for the most part of last season. In fact he'd have been a strong contender for our player of the year before lockdown and the form of Armstrong. He's an absolute professional as well, so he'll probably be fitter than most of our squad even at his age. He can cover a few positions and we are struggling somewhat with numbers. No brainer of a signing for me, we must be able to afford whatever he is on.

[RevidgeBlue]

8 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Im quite surprised to see a fair few suggest that he doesnt have the required quality, he gets into the team over most of our midfielders on quality. The only 2 question marks surely are the fact that he has only signed now and has missed the games in which we have been short, and also the risk (not helped with a 4 month gap) that age will have got the better of him. If he is the player we had last year he is right up there fighting with our first 11.

I wouldn't want to see him in the starting line up ahead of Brereton Johnson Dolan or Elliot, I think it would be completely contrary to the free flowing play we've shown in the games we've played well in.

I wouldn't play him ahead of Douglas either. He only comes under consideration for selection  if Douglas is unavailable imo.

[LeftWinger]

There were only 6 players that got more assists than him in the Championship last season.

** This may actually be out of date, this statistic was from July.

Edited November 3, 2020 by LeftWinger

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 hours ago, philipl said:

He can play left back and the two we have are quarantined.

I can't see him playing left back before the two we have return from quarantine.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

13 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Mowbray wants a deep midfielder playmaker for the role not a hard tackling midfielder. 

 

Yeah, he's not smart enough to get a ball winner in the team.

[rigger]

14 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Well.thats your opinion but not everyone tho

Well.thats your opinion but not everyone tho

[Guest]

12 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Come on, you can say there's no evidence he's lost his legs until you're blue in the face but it doesn't make it any more true.

The evidence was there last season. To myself and most people he slowed up and his performances dropped off considerably in the second half of last season.

Somebodies performances dropping off has nothing to do with their legs. 

The bit that's untrue is to state that somebodies legs have gone, and that they had poor intentions pre-transfer, when in-fact none of us can say either for sure.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

41 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Somebodies performances dropping off has nothing to do with their legs. 

The bit that's untrue is to state that somebodies legs have gone, and that they had poor intentions pre-transfer, when in-fact none of us can say either for sure.

If Downing was a bank manager I'd agree with you, but without being too controversial I'd like to think that running ability is a pretty crucial requirement for a pro footballer.

[Blue blood]

I think my main issue with Downing other than the fitness/age risk is that we have a lot of midfield options but few defenders. If anywhere was crying out for an additional squad player it was defence. 

I still can't get over how we only ever go with 3 centre backs in a season. It's stupid - especially since 2 are injury prone & and even without that suspensions, injuries, Covid and loss of form all happen. Would have much rather we got an actual defender in. 

That said given there's more quantity than quality in our midfield roster Downing isn't the worst signing we could make. He's versatile, is an actual left footer which could widen the play, is  better than Evans, and gives another option at left back where many of the back up options are less than ideal. He knows the club which makes it easier too. 

That said I really would have preferred a defender. How we think we can get on with what we have is beyond me. 

[bigbrandjohn]

Anyone still worried about Downing?  We are dropping like flies with injuries and bookings mounting up. Football brain, versatile and if we get an hour a game out of him that gives us options. 

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, bigbrandjohn said:

Anyone still worried about Downing?  We are dropping like flies with injuries and bookings mounting up. Football brain, versatile and if we get an hour a game out of him that gives us options. 

Yes  Wonder how much he earned for sitting in the stand last night. £10k?**  And as soon as a couple of injuries clear up I don't see how he gets in the side

** (I'd have done it for 5)

[pjt]

On 02/11/2020 at 23:22, LDRover said:

Good post. You articulated my thoughts far better than I could. Think it'll be possession for possession's sake. No doubt he'll knock a few cracking 50 yard floating diagonals that show his quality but don't threaten the opposition.can get

The 50 yard floating diagonals might be threatening with Elliot or Dolan on the right, both seem to be able to quickly get the ball under control and do something with it.

[AllRoverAsia]

The Boro lads season so far:

After getting time to get fit he has started on the bench for 7 consecutive games, in the midst of an injury crisis and Covid pandemic he has made 3 sub appearances for a total of 56 minutes playing time.

Alleged weekly wage: £14K

Way to go .....