Damion Downs

[Badger]

So far he’s living up to expectation as Mara MkII

[danjosaint]

1 hour ago, stknowle said:

Hmmmm. Early days of course but if you are looking for encouraging positive signs in your new striker his completely missing the ball when presented with two relatively simple chances wouldn’t be among them. God I hope we haven’t copped for another duffer.

Along with the miss that led to Stephens winner on Saturday 

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, Badger said:

So far he’s living up to expectation as Mara MkII

I mean after, what, 90mins - that's a crazy conclusion to come to. I've heard not giving players a chance, but this is all a new level.

[Sheaf Saint]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

2 games and 2 completely fluffed up attempts centre of the goal in 6yrd box.

 Hope he’s not a confidence player as both those attempts have been horrible from him

I'm gonna cut him some slack for that one tonight having seen the replay a couple of times. BBD didn't play it far enough forward and you can see Downs frantically try to slow down to avoid overrunning it completely. 

[Badger]

Just now, S-Clarke said:

I mean after, what, 90mins - that's a crazy conclusion to come to. I've heard not giving players a chance, but this is all a new level.

That’s why I said so far. There’s still plenty of time for him to come good. From what I’ve seen he’s got the pace, and height to be a decent CF at Championship level, and hopefully above.

But against L1 opposition he hasn’t shown he’ll set the league alight. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I'm gonna cut him some slack for that one tonight having seen the replay a couple of times. BBD didn't play it far enough forward and you can see Downs frantically try to slow down to avoid overrunning it completely. 

he is a professional footballer on millions of £, he was running onto the ball/play and this time he was completely unmarked.

It was (another) horrendous miss. 

Hopefully, he will come good...

[Paulwantsapint81]

Seem to remember James Beattie missing on the goal line then going on the score 20+ 

[saintant]

Not what I was expecting. He's rawer than a serving of sushi. Will take a hell of a lot of polishing from what he showed tonight.

[Saint86]

Just watched a highlight clip of the Wrexham winner. Downs is clearly/blatantly pushed over with an arm in his back for manning's cross. Doesn't get picked up on / complained about because we score anyway, but don't be too hard on the lad.

Also, by Phill "cry me a river" Parkinson's logic, that is a penalty and a straight red for the Wrexham player? Right?!

Edited Tuesday at 21:44 by Saint86

[saintant]

1 minute ago, Saint86 said:

Just watched a highlight clip of the Wrexham winner. Downs is clearly/blatantly pushed over with an arm in his back for manning's cross.

By Phill "cry me a river" Parkinson's logic, that is a penalty and a straight red for the Wrexham player? Right?!

Glad it wasn't because there's a chance we'd have missed the penalty.

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

Just watched a highlight clip of the Wrexham winner. Downs is clearly/blatantly pushed over with an arm in his back for manning's cross.

By Phill "cry me a river" Parkinson's logic, that is a penalty and a straight red for the Wrexham player? Right?!

😂

[Football Special]

31 minutes ago, Badger said:

So far he’s living up to expectation as Mara MkII

Looked even worse than him tonight, absolutely 💩 

[ErwinK1961]

The issue with his two misses seem to be he hasn’t timed his run properly, been ahead of the ball on both occasions (plus a bit of a push). Gone too early.

[Saint86]

33 minutes ago, danjosaint said:

Along with the miss that led to Stephens winner on Saturday 

29 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

I'm gonna cut him some slack for that one tonight having seen the replay a couple of times. BBD didn't play it far enough forward and you can see Downs frantically try to slow down to avoid overrunning it completely. 

The Wrexham chance he was fouled 🫠

[saintant]

1 minute ago, ErwinK1961 said:

The issue with his two misses seem to be he hasn’t timed his run properly, been ahead of the ball on both occasions (plus a bit of a push). Gone too early.

Yeah, which is not what you would expect from a professional striker - it's basic stuff.

[AlexLaw76]

5 minutes ago, Saint86 said:

The Wrexham chance he was fouled 🫠

You are probably my the only one on this fine earth saying this. 

[Saint86]

5 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

You are probably my the only one on this fine earth saying this. 

Just use my eyes rather than adopting the logic of some of our more toxic fans of blaming young players.

[Sheaf Saint]

38 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

he is a professional footballer on millions of £, he was running onto the ball/play and this time he was completely unmarked.

It was (another) horrendous miss. 

Hopefully, he will come good...

So it was entirely his own fault that BBD misjudged his run and the direction/weight of the ball in was it? 

[ErwinK1961]

25 minutes ago, saintant said:

Yeah, which is not what you would expect from a professional striker - it's basic stuff.

Think we’ve had plenty (including some still here) that can’t do the basics well as a striker. Let’s hope it starts to flow for him when the first goes in.

[Saint_lambden]

His movement is brilliant. Would be more worried if he wasn’t getting in to goalscoring positions. It’ll come, he just needs that first one and it’ll flow from there. 

[SWLondon Saint]

He's just trying way too hard right now, trying to play 1 touch flick passes and fancy layoffs, and getting ahead of the ball is part of that trying too hard.

Fingers crossed he does figure it out because the raw materials are there. Couple of times tonight you could see they didn't fancy getting in a footrace with him and he looks strong. He should be bullying defenders, not letting himself get pushed around. 

Edited Tuesday at 22:19 by SWLondon Saint

[maysie]

Horrible misses but a couple of times today his movement was great darting near post and then going behind etc… I’m sure it will come 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

So it was entirely his own fault that BBD misjudged his run and the direction/weight of the ball in was it? 

Are you seriously saying an international striker shouldn’t be scoring this?

 

[Willo of Whiteley]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

So far he’s living up to expectation as Mara MkII

I said the same when he signed, granted you could say he isn’t 100% but he is inexperienced for a team that is looking for promotion.

MLG maintained that this was a good signing when he joined.

[BarberSaint]

1 hour ago, SWLondon Saint said:

He's just trying way too hard right now, trying to play 1 touch flick passes and fancy layoffs, and getting ahead of the ball is part of that trying too hard.

Fingers crossed he does figure it out because the raw materials are there. Couple of times tonight you could see they didn't fancy getting in a footrace with him and he looks strong. He should be bullying defenders, not letting himself get pushed around. 

I'm kinda impressed. I agree on the movement and positioning; better than I'd thought but not so sure on the goalscoring ability. 

 

I think he's a bit like Jay-Rod when he joined us: needs to get a bit tougher and street-wise.

[Chez]

7 hours ago, Turkish said:

Are you seriously saying an international striker shouldn’t be scoring this?

 

Its a poor pass that is slightly behind him. He got there a fraction too early, adjusted and them fluffed it. I'm guessing he's right footed? 

I can see why he missed both but thought he should have bundled both chances in somehow.

[AlexLaw76]

24 minutes ago, Chez said:

Its a poor pass that is slightly behind him. He got there a fraction too early, adjusted and them fluffed it. I'm guessing he's right footed? 

I can see why he missed both but thought he should have bundled both chances in somehow.

he should not have missed. I am sure the player himself would agree. 

The excuses being made for an international, regarding two sitters, is quite something

Edited 22 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[Harry_SFC]

Poor miss really but the pass from BBD was not ideal. You'd expect an international striker to do better with it though. 

[hypochondriac]

It's very early but I was hoping that Downs was more of a development squad signing like Mara rather than a starter. 

[Sheaf Saint]

7 hours ago, Turkish said:

Are you seriously saying an international striker shouldn’t be scoring this?

 

Not saying he shouldn't be scoring it. Just pointing out some mitigation for why he didn't.

It was a poor pass from BBD. You can clearly see on the replay that Downs had to slam on the brakes because it was slightly behind him and that's why he couldn't get a clean shot away. 

[lambtiss]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

Are you seriously saying an international striker shouldn’t be scoring this?

 

Nobody is saying he shouldn't miss that, but, many of us are asking some of the more impulsive posters (Mara #2, etc.) to cut him some slack after just two half-games in a Saints shirt. 

[Turkish]

23 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Not saying he shouldn't be scoring it. Just pointing out some mitigation for why he didn't.

It was a poor pass from BBD. You can clearly see on the replay that Downs had to slam on the brakes because it was slightly behind him and that's why he couldn't get a clean shot away. 

Behave, your making excuses. a ball on the ground across goal right onto the edge of the six yard box for an on running striker is not a poor pass 😂😂

It wasn’t a perfect pass he might have had to adjust his run slightly but you’d be disappointed if and U9 missed that 

[Turkish]

26 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Not saying he shouldn't be scoring it. Just pointing out some mitigation for why he didn't.

It was a poor pass from BBD. You can clearly see on the replay that Downs had to slam on the brakes because it was slightly behind him and that's why he couldn't get a clean shot away. 

But equally why are people making excuses for his miss? It was shocker

[Turkish]

47 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Poor miss really but the pass from BBD was not ideal. You'd expect an international striker to do better with it though. 

One of the very basic finishing lessons we teach kids is that you will rarely get a perfect pass and you have to adjust your position and time your run, the ball in was low, at the right pace and right onto the edge of the six yard box any further forward and the keeper gets it, it’s laughable the excuses. Just accept it was a shocker and hope he does better than he’s shown so far. He fell on his arse a few minutes later when receiving a fairly straightforward pass too so that suggests to me the issue is timing and composure not how shit the passes are to him 

[Sheaf Saint]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

But equally why are people making excuses for his miss? It was shocker

Just trying to provide a bit of balance. Some of the comments so far have been ridiculous.

Yes, he will be very disappointed not to have scored, but the blame doesn't lie 100% with him. BBD needs to shoulder some as well for misjudging the ball in. 

[Whitey Grandad]

10 hours ago, Saint86 said:

Just watched a highlight clip of the Wrexham winner. Downs is clearly/blatantly pushed over with an arm in his back for manning's cross. Doesn't get picked up on / complained about because we score anyway, but don't be too hard on the lad.

Also, by Phill "cry me a river" Parkinson's logic, that is a penalty and a straight red for the Wrexham player? Right?!

But since it's Downs it's not an obvious goal scoring opportunity. 

[Whitey Grandad]

24 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Just trying to provide a bit of balance. Some of the comments so far have been ridiculous.

Yes, he will be very disappointed not to have scored, but the blame doesn't lie 100% with him. BBD needs to shoulder some as well for misjudging the ball in. 

You can't blame BBD for that. He got a pass across avoiding both the covering defender and the goalkeeper. 

[skintsaint]

Got to be in those positions to miss 'em......one assist in 90mins ish of footie isn't bad, with a lovely lay off for Stephens.

 

Edited 20 hours ago by skintsaint

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Tbf it was a decent bit of hold up/knock down play from him that started the move for our goal yesterday. 

[Turkish]

30 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Just trying to provide a bit of balance. Some of the comments so far have been ridiculous.

Yes, he will be very disappointed not to have scored, but the blame doesn't lie 100% with him. BBD needs to shoulder some as well for misjudging the ball in. 

Where else could BBD have put it? A lot of people are blaming him purely because i think they dont like him. If BBD puts the ball into the area perfectly for Downs to hit on the run the keeper gets it. In most peoples world a low ball, at the right pace right onto the edge of the six yard box is meat and drink for any striker. 

Watch Downs run, he's sprinting, he's in 4 yards of space with no defender round him, his timing, awareness and postiioning was  poor. He had plenty of space to slow down slightly so he could easily adjust his postion, he didn't. The ball was almost on the 6 yard box line, a yard further forward the keeper can get it.

Lets hope he gets better, im sure he will

Edited 20 hours ago by Turkish

[CheshireSaint]

34 minutes ago, Turkish said:

One of the very basic finishing lessons we teach kids is that you will rarely get a perfect pass and you have to adjust your position and time your run, the ball in was low, at the right pace and right onto the edge of the six yard box any further forward and the keeper gets it, it’s laughable the excuses. Just accept it was a shocker and hope he does better than he’s shown so far. He fell on his arse a few minutes later when receiving a fairly straightforward pass too so that suggests to me the issue is timing and composure not how shit the passes are to him 

The reason he has to reposition himself, is not because the ball is bad but because he seems obsessed with playing it with his left foot, rather than letting it go across him to his right foot which would have meant no readjustment nor break in stride. Perfect cross. The argument that it was behind him is only if the player can't use his right. I'm left footed and pants with my right, but as I'm not trying to bend into the top corner from 30 yards, I'd have taken it on my right as it only needs a stabbed connection, and I'm obviously not a pro footballer. I remain optimistic he will build on his composure, but right now, looks a little flappy. 

[Saint NL]

10 minutes ago, for_heaven's_Saint said:

Tbf it was a decent bit of hold up/knock down play from him that started the move for our goal yesterday. 

This is true. This part of his game is decent, the jury is out on his finishing however.

[Ekelund24]

10 hours ago, Saint_lambden said:

His movement is brilliant. Would be more worried if he wasn’t getting in to goalscoring positions. It’ll come, he just needs that first one and it’ll flow from there. 

Two games in a row he has been in the right position so can't complain about that. The technique whilst there has let him Downs but it is early days and he will score a few this year I am sure.

[Sheaf Saint]

32 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

You can't blame BBD for that. He got a pass across avoiding both the covering defender and the goalkeeper. 

Avoiding the defender and GK is all well and good, but you also need to put the ball right where the onrushing player needs it. He didn't even look up though, so couldn't possibly judge DD's run.

For the chance to be an absolute sitter, the ball in needed to be perfectly in front of him, and it wasn't. So I'm not going to join the bandwagon of knee jerk fans who seem to have already decided he's shit. The jury is still out for me.

Che Adams was frequently guilty of far worse misses than that, but was a very key player for us last time in this division and still got 16 goals, so I'm not gonna write Downs off just yet on the basis of a missed chance that wasn't quite as easy as many seem to think it was.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Sheaf Saint said:

Avoiding the defender and GK is all well and good, but you also need to put the ball right where the onrushing player needs it. He didn't even look up though, so couldn't possibly judge DD's run.

For the chance to be an absolute sitter, the ball in needed to be perfectly in front of him, and it wasn't. So I'm not going to join the bandwagon of knee jerk fans who seem to have already decided he's shit. The jury is still out for me.

Che Adams was frequently guilty of far worse misses than that, but was a very key player for us last time in this division and still got 16 goals, so I'm not gonna write Downs off just yet on the basis of a missed chance that wasn't quite as easy as many seem to think it was.

LoL

he put the ball on the 6 yard line ready for an on coming player to tap it into an empty net.

The mental gymnastics going here is a sight to be seen.

it was a piss easy chance for any level of football, let alone for an international 

[SWLondon Saint]

40 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Where else could BBD have put it? A lot of people are blaming him purely because i think they dont like him. If BBD puts the ball into the area perfectly for Downs to hit on the run the keeper gets it. In most peoples world a low ball, at the right pace right onto the edge of the six yard box is meat and drink for any striker. 

Watch Downs run, he's sprinting, he's in 4 yards of space with no defender round him, his timing, awareness and postiioning was  poor. He had plenty of space to slow down slightly so he could easily adjust his postion, he didn't. The ball was almost on the 6 yard box line, a yard further forward the keeper can get it.

Lets hope he gets better, im sure he will

Absolutely this, the problem right now is he's just flat out running as the pass is made, he's not anticipating having to adjust as it's struck when you can move to the flight of the ball. It just all says panic stations right now. Calm down lad!

For all the criticism of BBD, the one thing he really does seem to do well... Is cross it. Which considering he seems to lack most of the tools to get in position for it regularly, is just. Weird.

[Sheaf Saint]

4 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

LoL

he put the ball on the 6 yard line ready for an on coming player to tap it into an empty net.

The mental gymnastics going here is a sight to be seen.

it was a piss easy chance for any level of football, let alone for an international 

It really wasn't that easy. Watch the replay again. The second the ball left BBD's boot, Downs had to slam on the brakes because he could see it was going just a fraction too far behind him. 

[miserableoldgit]

I do hope that we keep hold of Fernandes. It would be nice to have one player in the squad that we like and isn't useless.

[Colinjb]

Yes, let's berate the 21 year old lad who is adjusting to a new country, new team and new manager. More then willing to give him time. Graziano Pelle looked like a carthorse until he got a bit of confidence going, hope he can (literally) find his feet soon.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Colinjb said:

Yes, let's berate the 21 year old lad who is adjusting to a new country, new team and new manager. More then willing to give him time. Graziano Pelle looked like a carthorse until he got a bit of confidence going, hope he can (literally) find his feet soon.

Who is berating him?