Liverpool FC

[kinboshi]

He wouldn't have been my first choice, but he's better than what we had on the left.

Welcome to Liverpool Mr Downing!

[Waz1892]

Downing £18.5m bid accepted....

any-one else heard.....

No tweets about it yet so it cant be real!

BREAKING NEWS SSN..............FEE AGREED...20M!

I knew he'd signed (subject to medical and terms) but where did the £20m fee come from? Liverpool haven't announced that yet.

SSN have it as breaking................Liverpool agree £20m fee with Aston Villa for Stewart Downing

[Waz1892]

He wouldn't have been my first choice, but he's better than what we had on the left.

Welcome to Liverpool Mr Downing!

Young-ish, English and will be great for crossing for Caroll one would hope.

Clearly Henry / Comelli / Dalglish are looking only at English/British, with proven pedigree within the prem this summer

Be our best summer for ages...got to be a good sign

[The Baron]

He's 27 in a few weeks.

Anyway a hopeful article:

At £19million, Stewart Downing would represent a significant risk, but Nick Miller reckons Liverpool have been looking at the stats and he might just be the surest buy out there...

Gleaning any impressions from the feedback F365 receives from Liverpool fans is a dangerous business.

However, while drawing conclusions is clearly highly unscientific and should not be taken as fact, the summer target that seems to have least convinced Liverpool fans is Stewart Downing.

Quite why, I'm not sure.

Downing is not an especially eye-catching signing. Well, apart from the £19million fee that Aston Villa are apparently demanding for his services. That would be very eye-catching indeed. Perhaps it would be more accurate to state that his arrival would not excite neutral fans like the signing of, say, Juan Mata.

Once a Twitter sceptic, I've recently come around to the 140-character world, and one of the key reasons was the ever-excellent OptaJoe. For stat fans, he's basically opium. And this bottomless pit of statty joy recently informed the world of the following:

'135 - Stewart Downing has completed more crosses in open play than any other player in the Premier League over the last three seasons. Whip.'

Then later...

'34.4 - Stewart Downing has averaged 34.4 appearances over the past five Premier League seasons. Reliable.'

And there, friends, is the reason Kenny Dalglish is so keen on the Aston Villa winger.

While nobody seems absolutely sure how Dalglish will line up his Liverpool side next season, an adaptable 4-3-3 with different players to suit different opponents looks the favourite. Perhaps the only attacking player that one imagines being a permanent fixture in that system is Andy Carroll, largely because at present Liverpool don't have another centre-forward capable of leading the line. Luis Suarez does his best work a little deeper, while Dirk Kuyt works hard, bless him, but isn't exactly a target man and David Ngog...well, David Ngog is David Ngog.

Therefore, much of Dalglish's strategy will be geared around exploiting Carroll's talents. It doesn't take a tactical genius to spot that much of Carroll's best work at Newcastle was done with Joey Barton pinging crosses onto his piratey head.

So who do Liverpool have that can perform such a role? 'Nobody' is the short answer. Their current widemen are either inconsistent (Maxi), rebuilding their own game (Joe Cole), makeshift (Raul Meireles) or ****** awful (Milan Jovanovic). They currently do not have a winger in the side who can cross the ball. Charlie Adam's set pieces will help (particularly as he'll take over from Steven Gerrard on corner duty - a relief for Liverpool fans everywhere), but most of his work in open play will be done from a deep, central position.

In some respects, Downing is a 'Moneyball' signing. Those of you that have read Michael Lewis's book will know that this approach is based on statistical objectivity, rather than subjective gut feelings or opinions. Instead of looking at a player's physical attributes, Billy Beane - the man around whom the book is based - would pay more attention to his statistics. Indeed, Beane would sometimes select players who his scouts actively advised against, as long as their numbers stacked up.

Beane adopted the 'sabermetrics' (a method of analysing baseball statistics objectively) approach with the Oakland A's, a baseball team towards the lower end of the financial spectrum in the MLB, because every dollar had to be spent wisely. Liverpool aren't exactly in the paupers section, but their resources are much more limited than many in the Premier League, so the same theory applies. John W. Henry and the Boston Red Sox won a couple of World Series on the back of that approach, and it looks like the theory is being carried over to Anfield.

In Downing, Liverpool are buying a statistically reliable footballer, who should in theory help get the best out of their current resources.

And in fact, here's another stat from OptaJoe:

'110 - Jordan Henderson, Luka Modric & Samir Nasri have all created 110 PL goalscoring chances since Aug 2009. Transferable.'

So as much as we mocked the money paid for Henderson, there was at least logic to the signing. Liverpool already believe they have at least one man to put away the chances, so they're buying up the players they think can create them. It's all very simple really.

£19million is an awful lot of money, but in many ways Downing represents a more solid, reliable investment than a man that offers more excitement. For a club whose support is so notoriously passionate, it's an interesting approach.

[kinboshi]

We're certainly stronger now as a starting XI than we were at the start of last season, that's for sure.

With Downing and Henderson we seem to have a goal assists team being assembled like that article said.

The other difference is that we seem to have a few options now as well. When Gerrard comes back into the side he'll be like a new signing, and not a bad one at that!

Not sure how everyone is going to be accommodated in the side. I guess we have to look beyond a starting XI, or a 'best' XI as I'm not sure there is one. Assuming everyone's fit it looks like Kenny will have choices to make, which is nice to see.

Defence is probably the area of concern for many. But with Robinson, Kelly, Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Flanagan, Aurelio, Wilson (and Skrtel) we have quite a few options and some young lads there amongst the experience who could really start to shine.

[77dave]

Im really happy with the Downing signing, all the Villa fans i have spoken to say he was by far the player of the season and leaves a bigger hole than Young. Sure ill like a young flair player to play off the front 2 but i think Downing is what we need right now.

Looking at the 23 players that played yesterday, Lucas and Suarez in the copa, Stevie and Pepe returning from injuries and more signings still coming in it really is time to drop the deadwood.

Konchesky has moved on and will prob do well at Leicester, Jova and Poulsen could be next out the door, i think we really need to get Cole off the wage bill and i really dont know about Aquaman, if KK doesnt fancy him then cut our loses and move him on as well.

Can you see how our 26 man squad fits in the 40 or so players we have right now?

[sweet potata!]

                                          Reina


Kelly                            Carra          Agger                     Johnson

                                          Lucas

                         Gerrard                    Adam



      Suarez                     Carroll                           Downing

I wouldn't say thats far off what we start with against Sunderland, opinions?               

[millidonk]

                                          Reina


Kelly                            Carra          Agger                     Johnson

                                          Lucas

                         Gerrard                    Adam



      Suarez                     Carroll                           Downing

I wouldn't say thats far off what we start with against Sunderland, opinions?               

On paper that looks Delicious. I think carra looks like a massive weak link imo. This season is defo 1 too many for me.

[77dave]

                                      Reina

Johnson            Carra                    Agger              new lb


Henderson           Stevie            Adam                  Downing


                     Carroll               Suarez

4-4-2 but plenty of flexiblity as posted above can easily move to a 4-3-3

Doni
Kelly
Skrtel
Lucas
Meireles
Kuyt

Can Aqua and Meireles both have a future at Anfield?

[mondatoo]

                                      Reina

Johnson            Carra                    Agger              new lb


Henderson           Stevie            Adam                  Downing


                     Carroll               Suarez

4-4-2 but plenty of flexiblity as posted above can easily move to a 4-3-3

Doni
Kelly
Skrtel
Lucas
Meireles
Kuyt

Can Aqua and Meireles both have a future at Anfield?

All them players but only 6 good enough to even make the bench, wp Kenny.

[mondatoo]

I reckon I can guess Kinboshi's team...

                                         Kuyt

Kuyt                     Kuyt                  Kuyt                    Kuyt


Kuyt                    Kuyt                   Kuyt                    Kuyt



                        Kuyt                  Kuyt

Kuyt
Kuyt
Kuyt
Kuyt
Kuyt
Kuyt
Kuyt

Manager : Dirk mfkn Kuyt

[dan]

WOW, i cant think of many times that I'm would be happy at missing out on a "£20 million player" but I'm glad he is not signing for us.

I think he may do well for Liverpool but i think that also depends on how well Carroll does from his crosses. I know Liverpool have been buying English but £75m on Downing, Henderson and Carroll is never right....

On the otherhand I think Suarez is a real class act and could be lethal next season.

What do Liverpool fans really expect from next season because from an outsiders point if view I still think they will be about the same as this year, battling it out with Spurs for 5Th or 6Th.

[vegaslover]

                                          Reina


Kelly                            Carra          Agger                     Johnson

                                          Lucas

                         Gerrard                    Adam



      Suarez                     Carroll                           Downing

I wouldn't say thats far off what we start with against Sunderland, opinions?               

On paper that looks Delicious. I think carra looks like a massive weak link imo. This season is defo 1 too many for me.

Yeah agree. think its time to replace Carra. Give one of the youngsters a decent run.

[boldie]

                                      Reina

Johnson            Carra                    Agger              new lb


Henderson           Stevie            Adam                  Downing


                     Carroll               Suarez

4-4-2 but plenty of flexiblity as posted above can easily move to a 4-3-3

Doni
Kelly
Skrtel
Lucas
Meireles
Kuyt

Can Aqua and Meireles both have a future at Anfield?

Kuyt on the bench? FARCE!

[The Baron]

Massively depends on Fabregas/Nasri IMO. If they go it's a different picture.

WOW, i cant think of many times that I'm would be happy at missing out on a "£20 million player" but I'm glad he is not signing for us.

I think he may do well for Liverpool but i think that also depends on how well Carroll does from his crosses. I know Liverpool have been buying English but £75m on Downing, Henderson and Carroll is never right....

On the otherhand I think Suarez is a real class act and could be lethal next season.

What do Liverpool fans really expect from next season because from an outsiders point if view I still think they will be about the same as this year, battling it out with Spurs for 5Th or 6Th.