Stewart Downing had a season to forget at Liverpool. After a £20 million transfer from Aston Villa big things were expected from the England international, but he failed to deliver.
No goals and no assists in the Premier League saw him finish his first campaign for the Reds without scoring or setting up a goal.
With Brendan Rodgers replacing Kenny Dalglish at Anfield, is Stewart Downing in for more doom and gloom this season?
Breaking down the game of Stewart Downing
Stewart Downing endured a miserable season that he’ll want to forget, this just a year on from scoring seven goals and assisting on nine others in an Aston Villa shirt.
However, if we look at the play of Stewart Downing, we can actually see that he was operating at a similar level after his move to Anfield.
Stewart Downing shooting
Stewart Downing scored seven goals in his final season for Aston Villa, then fired blanks in the red of Liverpool.
If we look at his statistics though, we can see that he was actually getting more shots with Liverpool, he just wasn’t as accurate.
| 2010-11 (Aston Villa) |
2011-12 (Liverpool) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mins on pitch | 3385 mins | 2591 mins |
| Goals | 7 | 0 |
| Shots | 62 | 72 |
| Mins per shot | 54 mins | 36 mins |
| Shots on target | 26 | 19 |
| Shooting accuracy | 42% | 26% |
| Mins per shot on target | 130 mins | 136 mins |
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Stewart Downing was taking a shot 18 minutes more frequently at Liverpool last season than when he was at Aston Villa in 2010-11. His accuracy though was down 16% as he slipped from 42% to just 26% being on-point. This may have to do with the fact that 33% of his shots were blocked, so he will have to focus on getting his shot away without defenders stopping it.
Stewart Downing crossing
Stewart Downing was brought to Liverpool to supply key passes and crosses to Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez. With zero assists in the Premier League last season, it looked like Downing had hit a steep decline in form, giving the critics plenty of ammunition to hurl at him.
If we take a look at his numbers though, we can see that he had a better year crossing the ball at Liverpool than in his last season at Aston Villa, where he supplied 9 assists
| 2010-11 (Aston Villa) |
2011-12 (Liverpool) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mins on pitch | 3385 mins | 2591 mins |
| Crosses attempted | 243 | 200 |
| Mins per cross attempted | 14 mins | 13 mins |
| Successful crosses | 51 | 45 |
| Mins per successful cross | 66 mins | 58 mins |
| Crossing accuracy | 21% | 22.5% |
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Liverpool most definitely looked to Downing to be the supplier of balls in to the box last season.
Compared to his final campaign at Villa Park, Stewart Downing was attempting to put in more crosses for Liverpool and completing them more often. He still failed to find a single assist from his service in the Premier League, so was there something more at work?
If we look at Liverpool as a team last season, they fired in the shots, but more often than not, failed to hit the target or convert them in to goals.
| Liverpool | Total | Premier League Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Shots at goal | 667 | 4th |
| Shooting accuracy | 29.8% | 16th |
| Goals | 47 | 11th |
| Goal conversion | 7% | 20th |
| Hit woodwork | 24 | 1st |
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Liverpool ranked only behind Man City, Spurs and Chelsea in terms of shots at goal in the Premier League last season.
With just 47 goals though, Liverpool scored 27 less than Arsenal and 42 less than Man Utd, both teams they outshot. They took twenty more efforts than Man Utd and thirty more than Arsenal, yet Liverpool only ranked 16th for accuracy in hitting the target and last in goal conversion. That has to improve this season.
Stewart Downing creating chances
It’s not just crosses that Stewart Downing was brought in to supply, he was also tasked with creating chances.
If we take a look at his key passing numbers from the last two seasons, we can see that he has stayed pretty consistent, even though he went from nine assists to zero.
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Mins on pitch | 3385 mins | 2591 mins |
| Key pass | 78 | 55 |
| Mins per key pass | 43 | 47 |
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Despite not supplying any assists last season, Downing’s key pass frequency only increased by just four minutes, not something that would indicate a dramatic drop-off in form.
So, the numbers look pretty good, but is Stewart Downing ready for a bounce-back in form this season?
Things may not get better for Stewart Downing at Liverpool.
Factors that may spell more doom and gloom for Stewart Downing
Although Stewart Downing statistically looks like he is ready to deliver this season, it might not be that straight forward. There are a number of factors that may just work against him with a new manager in charge and a new philosophy at Liverpool.
1. Brendan Rodgers likes to play to the right
Brendan Rodgers likes to play his 4-2-3-1 system of possession football and in doing so, he makes full use of the right side of the pitch to attack.
According to whoscored.com, Swansea had the biggest differential between attacking sides along with Stoke and Wigan. The Swans attacked down the right flank 42% of the time, compared to just 31% down the left and 26% up the middle.
Scott Sinclair, who was operating down the left side for Swansea, touched the ball every 3.1 minutes per match. In contrast, last season, Stewart Downing received the ball at his feet every 2.1 minutes per match. This might not seem like much, but it’s an extra 14 touches of the ball per game for Downing.
With Brendan Rodgers now managing Liverpool, will Stewart Downing see the ball coming his way less often?
2. Brendan Rodgers does not favour the cross
Liverpool last season were built on crossing the ball, with the team averaging 29 balls in to the box per game, the most of any team in the Premier League.
At the other end of the spectrum were Brendan Rodgers’s Swansea side, which were ranked eighteenth in the Premier League, averaging just 19 crosses per match. Only Fulham and Blackburn attempted less crosses per game in the Premier League last season.
With Rodgers’ staunch belief in possession tiki-taka football, Stewart Downing may find his number of attempts to cross the ball being limited in favour of probing build-up play.
3. Transfers and competition for places
Stewart Downing was pretty much assured the left-sided role last season despite failing to supply any goals or assists. This season however, Joe Cole is returning form a successful loan spell and could challenge Downing for the position.
Liverpool are also being linked with a move for Clint Dempsey, who we have seen starting out on the left for Fulham, before working his way inside to look for goals. That analysis can be found here on the positional play of Clint Dempsey at Fulham.
Dempsey’s style of play would suit Brendan Rodgers’ system of favouring the right to attack, then moving the ball back to the middle for the late arriving American. If Dempsey does transfer to Anfield, Stewart Downing’s place would be under serious threat.
4. The price tag
£20 million is a big sum of money and that will weigh on a player’s mind when he fails to perform and the fans get on his back. Stewart Downing has never played at a club the size of Liverpool before and after having a sub-par season in the last campaign, he won’t have much leeway this time out. A big price tag can be a hefty burden to shoulder, giving the critics plenty of ammunition, just ask Andy Carroll.
Stewart Downing looks like he is ready to bounce-back at Liverpool this season, but Brendan Rodgers’ system and style of play may make it harder for him to do so.
Okay! Everyone can have a bad season and undoubtedly his was one of the worst. Leave him alone and let’s see what transpires with the new look team – at least until Xmas.
I don’t think he’s having a go at the lad as the stats show he’s doing similar things to when he was at Villa. Interesting the points about how Brendan Rodgers plays though.