Criminally? I wouldn't say so. He wasn't blessed with pace, didn't have a great amount of technical ability and his dribbling was somewhat effective yet not great. What made this painfully obvious is that stupid one trick pony faint he used to do every single game when he was on the left wing, attempting to knock the ball past his opponent with his left and use what pace he had to get a cross in. The cross being the only attribute i would say was standing out over anything else, but then he lost that "standout" ability later in his career. The truth is he was better than average but never had the potential to be a great player. He scored some great goals for Boro, but unfortunately never scored enough of them. Downing would never have been the player that was going to stand out every week and he never did when things went sour for Boro. Coming off a 9 goal season the year before, you'd think he'd push on and become a talisman in the side especially when we were struggling for points for most of the season. The season we got relegated he never scored a single goal in the league. He could probably be regarded as one of the Boro greats, but a great player or underrated, i wouldn't really say so. I'm grateful i got to watch him numerous times, and back then i used to love Stewy but i can look back with hindsight with my better football knowledge than when i was 17 and appreciate him for what he did for us back then and have this opinion of him now.
Fantastic player and a true servant of Middlesbrough FC. Seems poetic that his debut was Ipswich (A) in 2002 and his last goal for the club was also Ipswich (A) in 2018, 16 years later...
Downing was a much better player than James Milner from 2005 to 2016 yet Milner would get in the England teams leaving Downing on bench or out squad completely
Downing is my best player. He used to be and he'll always be.
Great player, I remember he was a menace in pro evolution soccer 2008🎉
my favourite ever player. criminally underrated
Criminally? I wouldn't say so. He wasn't blessed with pace, didn't have a great amount of technical ability and his dribbling was somewhat effective yet not great. What made this painfully obvious is that stupid one trick pony faint he used to do every single game when he was on the left wing, attempting to knock the ball past his opponent with his left and use what pace he had to get a cross in. The cross being the only attribute i would say was standing out over anything else, but then he lost that "standout" ability later in his career. The truth is he was better than average but never had the potential to be a great player. He scored some great goals for Boro, but unfortunately never scored enough of them. Downing would never have been the player that was going to stand out every week and he never did when things went sour for Boro. Coming off a 9 goal season the year before, you'd think he'd push on and become a talisman in the side especially when we were struggling for points for most of the season. The season we got relegated he never scored a single goal in the league. He could probably be regarded as one of the Boro greats, but a great player or underrated, i wouldn't really say so. I'm grateful i got to watch him numerous times, and back then i used to love Stewy but i can look back with hindsight with my better football knowledge than when i was 17 and appreciate him for what he did for us back then and have this opinion of him now.
I kinda ment just before he went to Blackburn as I thought he still had a place in the team.
Fantastic player and a true servant of Middlesbrough FC. Seems poetic that his debut was Ipswich (A) in 2002 and his last goal for the club was also Ipswich (A) in 2018, 16 years later...
Underrated player , got a lot of stick for a home grown lad. UTB
Deadly left foot! Happy retirement Downing. Thanks for your time at Liverpool
Downing was a great midfielder.Nowadays few strikers wield such a powerful kick let alone midfielders
The Ali brownie commentary made me cry😂😂😂
Oh how long I've waited for this.
Downing from 2005 to 2008 was unreal.
That's my guy, local legend 👏
Probably my 2nd favorite boro player behind the star man Jeremie Aliadiere ⚽️⚽️
The GOAT
legend
Wicked left foot
Look at the 3rd on when he stops look behind
Next Every Goal Mendieta
Do you have all Adam Johnson's goals.... Oh wait?!
What was with his DJ celebration
Who thinks Juninho is the best ever Middlesbrough player
Merson for me. Carried that team to promotion. He was more influencial than Juninho.
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
Did not score enough for me, for someone with his finishing ability he would often go far too long without a goal.
Was still setting loads up tbf
It's a tragedy how Gibson treated him
Mendieta !
Next.
2
Me
He got lazy before his move to villa
So why is the video more than 8 mins? You don't need to replay every goal five or six times.
Downing was a much better player than James Milner from 2005 to 2016 yet Milner would get in the England teams leaving Downing on bench or out squad completely