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Stewart Downing was the talk of the Championship when he returned to Middlesbrough this summer, moving for a fee believed to be around the £5 million mark. Last season, the Boro-born midfielder was in fine form for Premier League West Ham, where his performances were so good, he even earned a recall to the England squad in November 2014. This was over two years after his last cap for the national side. It was therefore a bit of a shock when the 31-year-old winger dropped down a division to join his boyhood club, seven years after he left Boro when they were relegated from the Premier League.
After leaving Teesside in 2009, he went on to play for Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham where he continued to be play as a natural winger, due to his ability to run at defenders and swing accurate crosses into the box with his trusted left foot. However in the 2014/15 season Sam Allardyce; West Ham manager at the time, deployed Downing in what football fans call, ‘the number 10 position’ – just behind the striker
That season, Downing was involved in 14 of the Hammers’ goals, with six goals and eight assists. They were his best stats since the 2010/11 season at Aston Villa, where he scored seven goals and set up just as many. It therefore begs the question, at 31-years-old, where exactly is Downing’s best position?
This campaign, Boro manager Aitor Karanka has, more often than not, gone with last season’s theory – that Downing performs best when playing behind the striker in Boro’s accustomed 4-2-3-1 formation. It is clear the Boro boss has wanted to try and get the best out of Downing, and feels he will see more of the ball in a central position. However he hasn’t always been so prolific.
In Boro’s opening game of the season away at Preston, Downing was man-marked out of the game by holding midfielder John Welsh. This certainly hasn’t been the last time this campaign that such a scenario has befallen the local lad. Downing’s high profile at this level has led to teams identifying him as a player they have to try and stop.
There have been highlights for Downing in a central role, most notably his man of the match performances against Rotherham in November and away at Ipswich in December. He has flourished late in games when they have become stretched and there has been space to run into on the counter attack. However, Downing has often found it difficult in congested midfield areas when teams have set up to keep close tabs on the former England international.
So, does that mean he is best suited moving back to his more recognised position out on the wing? At 31 years of age, Downing may have lost a yard of pace compared to a couple of seasons ago. For that reason, he may no longer be a winger who can skip past a full back continuously for 90 minutes. However, he still possesses a tantalising left foot and can deliver accurate crosses from either flank.
There was a stage at the start of the season where Downing was played wide in midfield, switching from left to right with his opposite winger during matches. This period arguably included Downing’s best game since returning to Teesside, when Boro beat the MK Dons at the Riverside in September. With the match locked at 0-0 after 70 minutes Downing took the game by the scruff of the neck, cutting in from the right before curling a left foot shot into the top corner of the net. That was Downing’s first goal back at the club since his summer move and he has only netted two more since, while registering four assists. Downing also has the experience to realise his defensive duties and track back when required.
It looks like Karanka may be drifting back to the view that Downing is best suited out on the wing after all. In Boro’s last game away at MK Dons he started on the left, as new signing Gaston Ramirez took the central role. It is a conundrum which could go on for the rest of the campaign, as Boro hunt for the winning formula to reach the Premier League.
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