Downing’s best (oh my) period for us was playing RW near the end of the 12/13 season. He had some good games then, finally showed some end product also. Almost earned himself another season. Brendao I think wanted to keep him as backup RW. Then he went to West Ham and initially played really well as a LCM double pivot, under Sam. Weird and interesting.
But yeah, one of the most uninspiring Liverpool signings ever. We were crying out for a serious winger since I don’t know, McManaman (when you look now we had Barnes, McManaman and until Mane, so many years between them with not enough threat out wide). We were finally able to spend a few quid on one. And then we get a guy with 0 imagination about him. I used to say about him that he probably never watched cartoons in his childhood.
The funny thing is that the previous season, he was playing more inside right of a midfield 4, very narrow. Then Kenny probably had an idea of Henderson imitating Houghton on the right side, Downing imitating Barnes (oh boy) on the left (very easy to defend against) and then Suarez and Carroll to be his Beardsley and Aldridge.
With a little bit of hope returning to Man Utd, they might have an outside chance of getting a draw against Arsenal in midweek. Arsenal are much the better team, but with wind in their sails, Man Utd might make a contest of it.
