Right and Left Midfielder

Our right and left midfielder(first team - Downing and Henderson) are the worst wingers of the top 6 teams.
Downing - Regular Starter 12games - 0 assists - 0goals And we blame Carroll because he doesn't score!?  I don't remember a game where Carroll or Suarez got decent crosses from the wingers(maybe vs Wolves? ). The only good and dangerous player who has been good at crossing till now in Enrique (or maybe Kelly).
Our first team is good on paper only, the wingers are useless.  Our midfield  is good, better than many teams above us. Lucas, Gerrard and Adam are better than any CM in ManU, Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham(except Modric).

I support this team, however we play or whoever plays for it. But it irritates me when there are fans who blame players who do their best and support players who haven't proven themselves when given too many chances.

We need two creative attacking midfielders able to play on the wings or in the middle.
If Carroll or Suarez had the wingers Swansea had the last match they would have scored 3+ goals.
Our only constant and really dangerous goal creators(catalysts as I call them) are Adam and Suarez. (Gerrard and Bellamy also)

Last year we were moaning about the fact that the wingers are not good enough and today we blame the strikers!?
The service wingers give are useless.

We need 2wingers/AM and maybe a CM(but Shelvey is good).
Carroll and Suarez will score if they are given good balls(crosses) in the box. You cannot ask Carroll to create his goals or Suarez to create AND score.

alex mate! we are still only eleven games in. I know you start to get a weird feeling in your gut after draws like we've had but we will have a good season.

you are right about our midfield, we expect those names, with our defense behind them, to excel. I disagree that Downing and Henderson are our starting wingers I think that Jordan is getting good time and had a shocking half vs swansea but hasn't been bad so far. obviously Dirk is bursting to start and when he does he will fire so this is all good for the squad, which is what kenny has said he has, a fresh squad to work with. we don't even have a starting back four let alone a starting XI! although it is probably starting to take shape in Johnson Skrtel Agger Enrique. agree that Shelvey is something else and could be that creative spark that Henderson isn't quite. seems like Henderson is being groomed for that wide right midfield role but when Dirk plays he offers a lot more because of his experience. still, Henderson will grow and hopefully play another game in a central role, maybe against Chelsea in the cup. his crossing is good when he is thinking which he should do more often because he seems to be a smart player.

I think we've seen much better delivery then some people are willing to admit, there have been glorious opportunities missed from Downing and Enrique crosses. if these goals and Jordan's big hit at the end of the manc game all went in we would be outright second on the table but that's football. we must persist with the lads we have as they are slowly gelling. remember how well the team started to work together at the end of last season with the new strikers, now we have a whole bunch of new midfielders to work in which is harder. plus we are obviously playing a bit differently with steve clark.

it's fair to say that something about Stewart Downing's game is different like he hasn't settled in to Liverpool and it's style, he reminds me of Robben in that he will create something and hope to get on the end of it and deliver but other than that doesn't contribute to the team play.. I mean Robben can't be compared but there are just times where I see similarities in the way they attack. I still look at him like a Villa player on our wing or something you know, I hope whatever that feeling is gets shut down quickly. personally I wouldn't drop him though he is top class and I'd love to see him floating around in a 3 behind Carroll. but having said all that when the team settles they wont be so foreign to each other and the goals will flow. it is just the team gelling that makes the way we attack appear a little robotic, but the way we play, it is still fantastic to watch. we are lucky we have Kenny in charge after what we've been through the last two seasons especially. we are lucky to have some of the talent we have, hopefully we do add to it but our buys come through.

Swansea was very poor nearly all over the pitch.

Yes the wingers were exceptionally poor on Saturday - but I still think this topic is a little bit on the knee-jerking side.

We have been playing some good stuff for the majority of this season - and most of us agree that with a few less posts and crossbars hit we should have more points than we do and not less.

We were faced with a massive clearout last summer, one that many thought beforehand would take a couple of seasons to sort out.  We all know we need a right winger, but there weren't too many available at the right price last summer.  I am sure it is something that the club are looking at improving.

Downing started brightly for us but has indeed gone off the boil of late for whatever reason.  And I agree that at Liverpool we expect wingers to chip in with goals which he needs to start doing.

Still very early days in his Liverpool career though.

All our problems were never going to be solved in one summer, we are still a work in progress.

I think Downing needs to score a couple of goals and I am sure he will get his confidence back,we have got to stop expecting a couple of players to score the goals and win matched for us.I still get excited when I think of the goals Barney Rubble,Chris Lawler,Emlyn Hughes,Ray Kennedy.Terry McDermott and so many others who were not strikers scored for us.I an aware that the great Ray Kennedy was a striker before Bob Paisley converted him into a midfielder.I still think that someone (hopefully it will be City and Chelsea) is going to get a bloody good hiding off us before too long.

Lucas Moura linked with us a few times bound to be not true but seriously if we got this lad. No one talks about hm because of Neymar.

Btw probably get smacked a few times but downing hasnt played that bad hes been average. Stats dont lie but they are misleading i can recall times where downing has been inches away from scoring and could easily have three assists but thats because of not puting chances away.

If we can move johnson on to the right flank i think him & maxi could offer us threat by cutting in just as gerrard did when rafa played him on the right flank.

I really don't think Johnson could play wide right in a 4-4-2, but think he could work in a 5-3-2/3-5-2.  As for Downing, I think he just needs time to settle and come to terms with playing here. 

I really don't think Johnson could play wide right in a 4-4-2, but think he could work in a 5-3-2/3-5-2.  As for Downing, I think he just needs time to settle and come to terms with playing here. 

I see this too. Reason why offensive full backs such as Alves, Cafu, Ramos, Carlos etc are so good at attacking is because of the amount of space ahead of them to attack and having your attacking player hold the ball waiting for the overlap and then to release that through ball etc.

Being a winger or wide forward is a totally different. They are the more focused point out wide. They don't get much space to attack, usually doubled up against and more involved centrally where as the full back is more wide when attacking the space to support or distract.

I just don't think Johnson would be good as a winger/right forward, I still think his decision making when on the ball in the opposition half is poor.

The main point of this thread which underlines it in my eyes is the 2 players in question are signings we've made to improve the team and at the moment we are carrying them while out of form. Dropping them will hurt their confidence of course but it's for the good of the team at the moment and they need to know they aren't guaranteed first picks too. Henderson has shown only very brief glimpses of anything in a Liverpool shirt so far, I really don't know why we persist with him in the first team, a spell in the reserves with an onus on attacking and taking risks would do him the world of good because at the moment you'd think he was playing the game with a brick wall in front of him. Having said that the few times he has got into the box and had a chance made for him he's fluffed it so I can't say I'm impressed so far, I see small glimmers of hope in his technique and energy but sometimes he looks a bit like a kid who has been asked to play football with a rugby, it's all too alien to him.

Downing is an experienced professional who I demand better from, not just going forward but put some damn effort in your lazy git, if you're out of form try harder is what we as fans have always demanded. I can live with it more if he at least put a damn shift in but when he does neither it irritates me so much and dropping him would be right also. It's a shame Raheem is still so young and small as we desperately need something special on the wings and Downing / Henderson are not that and don't ever see them being. Henderson may yet make a good central midfielder but out wide he disappoints and Downing is quickly losing my respect.

Our right and left midfielder (first team - Downing and Henderson) are the worst wingers of the top 6 teams.

Wrong. Our creative central midfielder is the worst at the top 6 teams, and the deficiencies in his game are influencing the game of our wide attacking players. Kuyt and Riera were not better wide attacking players than Henderson and Downing, but they've got Alonso feeding them the properly timed and placed passes.

Before the transfer window, it was almost consensus that we needed 2 wingers, but we only signed 1. I've been repeatedly complaining about it cause I think the wings are - and have been for a long time - our biggest problems, and now we have resources, we should take the opportunity to address them.

I'm not the biggest fan of the only winger we signed either. In Downing we have a player whose ability I've always questioned; in fact, to be more precise, a player whose ability nearly the entire forum has always questioned apart from last season. He started well and I hoped to be proved wrong but I just don't feel like I'll anymore. Give me the "Match of the Day players" ahead of the "invisible" wonders any day of the week..

I still think we should try a game or two with Bellamy on the left and Stewie on the right.

Btw probably get smacked a few times but downing hasnt played that bad hes been average. Stats dont lie but they are misleading i can recall times where downing has been inches away from scoring and could easily have three assists but thats because of not puting chances away.

This is pretty much how I see it. Downing was very good the first 6-7 games of the season and you felt he just needed a goal to really settle down and push on from there. It hasn't worked out for him the past few games though and a couple of games on the sidelines and some form in training is probably what he needs right now. Also, I would say his delivery into the box has generally been pretty good and on a good few occasions he's teed them up for Carroll to charge onto only for the big man to be static in the box. I think he'll be ok but i'd deffo look to give Bellers a couple og games to show what he can do. On the right it's a different matter. If Kenny inists on playing 4-4-2 then the only player we have at the club who can do the position justice is Steven Gerrard.

I actually hoped and thought young Sterling might make a breakthrough at some stage this season but it looks like being another 12 months away. He's the one i'm pinning my hopes on because we haven't had anything truly decent in wide areas for years and years.

Wrong. Our creative central midfielder is the worst at the top 6 teams, and the deficiencies in his game are influencing the game of our wide attacking players. Kuyt and Riera were not better wide attacking players than Henderson and Downing, but they've got Alonso feeding them the properly timed and placed passes.

Not to mention we played with one striker and Gerrard offering some form of protection to Alonso.

I'd very much like to see us return to that formation.  A formation that netted us over 100 goals one season.  Even with the absence of Gerrard I see no reason why Suarez can't play tucked in a little - if there is one player good running through the middle with the ball at his feet it is him.

I hope we will look to strengthen in a Right Wing/Attacking Midfielder in January.

Don't know if anyone has strong opinions on this, but looking at the contracts:

Arjen Robben (27) 2013 - RW
Marko Marin (22) 2013 - LW
Mario Gotze (19) 2014 - AM
Douglas Costa (21) 2014 - RW/LW
Christian Eriksen (19) 2014 - AM
Lucas Moura (19) 2015 - AM
Eden Hazard (20) 2015 - AM
Ezequiel Lavezzi (26) 2015 - Striker

Plenty of talent out there for positions we could do with strengthening.