Damion Downs

[Convict Colony]

Based on the shower of shit this season i would struggle to think Haaland would of made an impact yesterday.

Agree Downs shouldnt be starting he should be developing and having sub appearances in a promotion chasing team........

Instead we are fucking shit

[S-Clarke]

So the weeks go on and I still have no idea if he can play football.

I honestly couldn't tell you.

Chances are, no he can't, but if anything sums up our current plight it's him.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

I actually felt a bit sorry for him yesterday when he came on. Not sure if it was boo's for him or the actual decision from Still. He's obviously a player with zero confidence at the moment, think he needs to move even on loan in January. 

[sledger]

he was bought as a target player i believe,hes not so did saints actually watch him before buying,if they did then that person should be sacked.Watch him hes trying to play the same as armstrong playing on the last defenders shoulder to run in behind.His pre season goal was exactly this.

[wild-saint]

thought he looked ok in parts. made some decent runs unlike armstrong that were totally ignored with our dull, low tempo predictable football. not one ball was played in for him. sometime you need to criticize the build up play rather than the man starved of any type of service.

based on our lack of options at 9 id persist with him and try and build his confidence. is more likely to work than armstrong poncing about up front on his own.

[Mboto Gorge]

3 hours ago, sledger said:

he was bought as a target player i believe,hes not so did saints actually watch him before buying,if they did then that person should be sacked.Watch him hes trying to play the same as armstrong playing on the last defenders shoulder to run in behind.His pre season goal was exactly this.

Well Spors told us he was our main target and he’d bring an extra dimension to the team….

Group Technical Director Johannes Spors said: “Damion is a player we have been monitoring for some time who possesses excellent physical qualities and the ability to disrupt defences.

“Strengthening our attacking options was one of our top priorities this summer, and Damion is a player who will add real quality to the group. Despite his relatively young age he is already a senior international, so we are excited to see him thrive in the environment here at Southampton.”

 

[Turkish]

Have we had more managers in the last 18 months than times DD has touched the ball this season?

[saintwbu]

I do think it’s very difficult to judge him at this point as i’m not sure there’s a single shred of confidence left in him. It’ll be interesting how a new manager utilises him, if at all. Unless it’s accepted in the club that he really is crap, I can’t see we have much to lose by starting him and seeing if he can play his way into some confidence/form. Imagine being a young lad with no confidence and getting chucked on into that mess on Saturday. 

[Sir Ralph]

10 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

I do think it’s very difficult to judge him at this point as i’m not sure there’s a single shred of confidence left in him. It’ll be interesting how a new manager utilises him, if at all. Unless it’s accepted in the club that he really is crap, I can’t see we have much to lose by starting him and seeing if he can play his way into some confidence/form. Imagine being a young lad with no confidence and getting chucked on into that mess on Saturday. 

There is a difference between a lack of confidence and not trying.

[OldNick]

When he came on he was running on the wshoulders of their defenders and pointing for a ball to be put through, but never was he given one. I also noticed how quick he was when he went to chase the keeper down,

[saintwbu]

2 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

There is a difference between a lack of confidence and not trying.

I agree he doesn’t look very high intensity, but it doesn’t always mean someone’s not trying. I remember a few years back when Arsenal had Özil and Sanchez in their team; Sanchez was seen as all energy and effort and Özil was ‘lazy’, but would frequently dwarf Sanchez when it came to distance covered stats during the game. I also think a player low on confidence is more likely to hide and not put himself about as much as he doesn’t want to do anything wrong. Might be giving Downs more credit than he deserves but I do find it hard to believe he can’t be better than what we’ve seen.

[Sir Ralph]

2 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

I agree he doesn’t look very high intensity, but it doesn’t always mean someone’s not trying. I remember a few years back when Arsenal had Özil and Sanchez in their team; Sanchez was seen as all energy and effort and Özil was ‘lazy’, but would frequently dwarf Sanchez when it came to distance covered stats during the game. I also think a player low on confidence is more likely to hide and not put himself about as much as he doesn’t want to do anything wrong. Might be giving Downs more credit than he deserves but I do find it hard to believe he can’t be better than what we’ve seen.

But he doesnt try and win headers, gets pushed off the ball, doesnt move, etc. I get you can look lethargic but if you give up on challenging for the ball isnt that just being lazy? Thats my problem with him. Play badly but at least put yourself about

[benjii]

19 hours ago, sledger said:

he was bought as a target player i believe,hes not so did saints actually watch him before buying,if they did then that person should be sacked.Watch him hes trying to play the same as armstrong playing on the last defenders shoulder to run in behind.His pre season goal was exactly this.

Yep. He makes the same run behind in the channel all the time. Nothing wrong with that if we are looking to get it down the channel quickly.

However, when the ball is hit towards him he seems scared of it, and also seems to have zero intensity in the box.

[Midfield_General]

25 minutes ago, saintwbu said:

Imagine being a young lad with no confidence and getting chucked on into that mess on Saturday. 

And only having £40,000 or something like that dumped into your bank account every week.

The poor flower, my heart bleeds for him, it really does. 

[notnowcato]

13 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

And only having £40,000 or something like that dumped into your bank account every week.

The poor flower, my heart bleeds for him, it really does. 

Imagine he's your 20 year old son, you'd feel the same, I'm sure

[Midfield_General]

4 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

Imagine he's your 20 year old son, you'd feel the same, I'm sure

If I had a 20 year old son who was earning £40k a week I'd have installed myself as his agent and would be kicking it in the Maldives, toasting his misery from my gold-plated yacht

[James G]

I genuinely believe Downs is better than he has shown.

If you think about it, Azaz was good at Middlesbrough but he has looked rubbish too

I'm hoping a new manager will bring the best out of the new players

I'm shocked at how bad we have been this season. It's crazy

[disconnect]

31 minutes ago, James G said:

I genuinely believe Downs is better than he has shown.

If you think about it, Azaz was good at Middlesbrough but he has looked rubbish too

I'm hoping a new manager will bring the best out of the new players

I'm shocked at how bad we have been this season. It's crazy

Think about their key strengths - Downs is known to want to play on the shoulder and run in behind - we've seen him score a good goal like this in pre-season, and from last season. Azaz is good at getting on the ball and slotting it through the defence for strikers - he's done this a few times for Armstrong who's fluffed it, but it is probably Downs who wants that sort of service and we haven't actually seen these two guys really play much together to utilise their talents.

[wild-saint]

32 minutes ago, disconnect said:

Think about their key strengths - Downs is known to want to play on the shoulder and run in behind - we've seen him score a good goal like this in pre-season, and from last season. Azaz is good at getting on the ball and slotting it through the defence for strikers - he's done this a few times for Armstrong who's fluffed it, but it is probably Downs who wants that sort of service and we haven't actually seen these two guys really play much together to utilise their talents.

Made a number of decent runs when he came on saturday but not once was a ball played in to those areas. Bigger problems than the initial assessment of Down. Id play him for a few games as we all know Armstrong is fucking hopeless as a 9. Build his confidence and play balls into runs. 

[Sir Ralph]

2 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Imagine he's your 20 year old son, you'd feel the same, I'm sure

Not if he wasnt putting the effort in. I would be on his back explaining that he was throwing away the last 12-15 years of hard work and needed to remind himself of how he got here. You are responsible for your own actions on the pitch.

Edited yesterday at 12:13 by Sir Ralph

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

If I had a 20 year old son who was earning £40k a week I'd have installed myself as his agent and would be kicking it in the Maldives, toasting his misery from my gold-plated yacht

It's these touching family stories, that brings us that warm generational and community feeling. 🙂

[Midfield_General]

8 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

It's these touching family stories, that brings us that warm generational and community feeling. 🙂

We don't buy success - we breed it 🥰