Video: Stewart Downing v. Valencia

By: Ed | August 7th, 2011

In his post-match presser, Kenny Dalglish spoke about the time the squad spent preparing for a more organized, composed display—the struggles defensively throughout the preseason hadn’t quite reached a crisis point, but were deserving of increased attention and played a large part in Liverpool’s midweek preparations. And for most of the 90 minutes, it paid off, with an experienced and confident back line largely shutting down Valencia’s attack.

Success at the back also allowed for more fluidity going forward, particularly in the first half with fully-fit versions of Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio keeping the ball on the turf and distributing both through the midfield and down the flanks. And nobody seemed to benefit more than Stewart Downing, who turned in probably the best individual performance of the preseason and proved a threat nearly every time he was in possession. Excellent wide and dangerous moving inward, he provided a much-needed boost going forward and was unfortunate not to be directly involved in a goal. He also gave support at the back when needed, breaking up play and tracking back on a day when defensive solidity was the main objective.

So yes, preseason and all that, but for a match in which much of the focus was on finding reasons for optimism ahead of next Saturday’s opener, Stewart Downing gave us just that:

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Miscellaneous

« Liverpool 2, Valencia 0: Closing Out the Preseason | Home | Manchester United’s Ticket Allotment Cut and Other Monday Notes »

Antonio

Liverpool must perform not only at home, need to be as strong too well playing away.
Downing got all the attention, he is good no doubt, but Liverpool has not has a decent quick winger for so long, that make him even more excited to watch.
I seriously hope we got another right-sided winger, player with pace, that should almost complete our attacking group, though another backup striker will be nice, not Ngoo. However if Kyut don't play at the right, he can be a backup striker.
On defend we need a left back and probably a center back as well for cover our injury-prone and aging back line.
All the best to Liverpool on the coming new season
Russell

I think my favorite play from Downing was when Henderson had a looping ball to the corner and even though Downing couldn't control it, he ran it out and hit it out for a throw-in instead of a goal-kick. A lot of players would have let that one go out of bounds even with 10 yards left.
prad

Downing and Aurelio worked really well together on the left.
Really hope Aurelio can keep himself healthy because he's always a solid player on the field. Defends well, intercepts a lot of passes to break up opposition moves, and is good at link up play. Plus, I like his attitude - he's always positive.
CheekyFellow

Man, I'm glad this Pistolero guy is a liverpool fan. He even has an Aurelio video from yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

It's a good watch, because you see how vital Aurelio is for the counter attack. The liverpool of the 07-08/08-09 seasons were almost a machine in transitional play, especially when you include Gerrard/Alonso in that discussion. Even if Aurelio is only available for the few matches here and there, he can easily step in and be a factor.
Ed

Yeah, he and MKB over at Footylounge are must-follows during the season.
Gano1

I was there and Downing is incredibly quick carrying the ball, he is two-footed and terrifies defences. I believe he is a superstar and at Liverpool he could be immense, never seen a winger as good apart from John Barnes in his pomp. I thought Liverpool were superb all over the pitch yesterday, defensively we looked solid against a quality side and Carra and Agger were top class, we need Scott Dann and Enrique then the title is our's!!!
alcatrazzledazzle

Brilliant performance by Downing. Can't wait to see how he shapes up this season playing with the Actual Liverpool Starting Squad. As a side note, I hope fans don't start chanting "Stuuuuuu" when he does well because its similarity to "Boooo" always confuses me as an at-home television viewer.
Thomas Hoppe

you might be in trouble there sir, Sport fans love an oo/ew sound in a name because it is so much fun to cheer
Red2death

Well, at Anfield as long as Hodgson's not in charge we can pretty sure it's not a Boo. It takes someone really special to get Anfield booing, and that kind of Special One only comes once in a lifetime (hopefully!).