2018/19 Kieran Dowell

[ArtetaMoney]

I think it speaks volumes when a set of Championship fans saw right through him by wanting him to dropped from the Forrest squad.

Really? One of the lads I work with has a ST at Forest and absolutely loved him, said he’s the best player he’s seen play for them. I didn’t realise other fans didn’t like him.

I think if Dowell was good enough we would have seen more of him by now, but we haven’t really got a back up no10 so he’ll have to do till we have a chance to sort it.

 

[Zatara]

I think it speaks volumes when a set of Championship fans saw right through him by wanting him to dropped from the Forrest squad.

Sarcasm font?

Really? One of the lads I work with has a ST at Forest and absolutely loved him, said he’s the best player he’s seen play for them. I didn’t realise other fans didn’t like him.

I think if Dowell was good enough we would have seen more of him by now, but we haven’t really got a back up no10 so he’ll have to do till we have a chance to sort it.

Yeah my mate said he's going to be top class...mentioned Ian Woan and caps for england

Said what some of us here posted, shifted out to the left under Karanka who was very defensive minded...said before that he looked levels above.

 

[Eggs]

I think it speaks volumes when a set of Championship fans saw right through him by wanting him to dropped from the Forrest squad.

...I think he was Forests leading scorer for much of the season and was lauded until his form fell away over the last few months. Anybody who scores double figure goals from midfield in their first season of open-age football at that level is clearly a talent.

The @atrottel summaries in the loan thread are always worth a read for accurate game-by-game fans reaction. They are essential reading.

The situation remains, though, that he has to grasp opportunities when they arise. He has the ability to do very special things on a football pitch but his game time will be limited if he fails to deliver.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

...I think he was Forests leading scorer for much of the season and was lauded until his form fell away over the last few months. Anybody who scores double figure goals from midfield in their first season of open-age football at that level is clearly a talent.

The @atrottel summaries in the loan thread are always worth a read for accurate game-by-game fans reaction. They are essential reading.

The situation remains, though, that he has to grasp opportunities when they arise. He has the ability to do very special things on a football pitch but his game time will be limited if he fails to deliver.

He hasn’t had many opportunities to be fair to him, not as many as others.

 

[TraffordBlue]

Dowell isn't good enough for the Premier League or Everton at the moment. I'd move him on because we need players to be able to contribute now and I still don't see him making a difference within 2 or 3 seasons either. But scoring a number of goals for Forest, and some of the top class ones he has for our U23s shows that he has talent.

I think he needs a move to a Championship side with a realistic chance of promotion, or a bottom half Premier League side so he can get that Premier League experience. If the latter, he would need a good manager who believes in him so he can get regular time to improve on his weaknesses.

Doesn't seem to have the desire, physical strength or be mentally switched on enough to play for us at the moment.

 

[Eggs]

He hasn’t had many opportunities to be fair to him, not as many as others.

..which is more reason for him to grab them when they arise. It’s difficult to see him getting game time in a wide position, so it’s only no10 role that he has to persuade Silva.

 

[Toffee in Jandals]

Was the league cup game against Southampton his first start in a long while, I think, since maybe when Unsy started him in that game v Norwich after Martinez was sacked?

Hopefully it was a learning experience for him. Not all career's start promisingly... I remember Benfica destroying Seamus Coleman on his debut.

 

[sageyefc]

Was the league cup game against Southampton his first start in a long while, I think, since maybe when Unsy started him in that game v Norwich after Martinez was sacked?

Hopefully it was a learning experience for him. Not all career's start promisingly... I remember Benfica destroying Seamus Coleman on his debut.

He started against Rotherham in the previous round

 

[ArtetaMoney]

..which is more reason for him to grab them when they arise. It’s difficult to see him getting game time in a wide position, so it’s only no10 role that he has to persuade Silva.

I agree, to a certain extent. His games are months apart at the minute, that’s no way to get into a rhythm. I’d like to see him used a bit more as a sub for the last 20 min, it would be easier if we finished teams off early and had a chance to bring players like him on. A loan to a lower premier league team in January, would probably be better for him.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

Gotta be honest - thought he was more than decent on Tuesday night. Subbing him for Niasse at HT was the wrong decision.

 

[blueblue]

I find it strange that a young player gets a chance to play in the first team and doesn't burst a gut in an effort to impress the manager.

I don't think there is a doubt in anybody's mind that Kieran Dowell has the skill and the physique to be a top player.
What is in doubt, for me, is his application and grit to make such an impression that he just cannot be ignored... he does not take these opportunities.
The top players are hugely skilful but look at their enormous work rate, Dowell is half way there but for me so far the other half has not been shown.

 

[Brisan123]

I've been watching Keiron since he was sixteen, his skill has never been in doubt, when he has the ball he will make you sit up and take notice, when he loses it he never goes looking for the ball, he drifts out of the game for long periods, for such a big lad he lacks bite, his heart doesn't lookin it, can't tackle, doesn't like the rough stuff. I saw him against Spurs U23's the other week, playing with lads a lot younger than himself, instead of showing an example and having a good go
he just ambled around the pitch making it obvious, to me anyway, he didn't want to be there. He has never changed his attitude in the five years I've watched him. Skill is fine, but is never, ever any use on it's own, you need, bottle, heart and guts to go with it. It doesn't look like the lad will ever change.

This from a chap who has probably seen more of Dowell playing than the rest of us combined says it all for me
If Cameron says he hasn’t got it then that says it all
And from what I’ve read Cameron wants our young players to succeed

 

[Barnfred 55]

I think it speaks volumes when a set of Championship fans saw right through him by wanting him to dropped from the Forrest squad.

Barring an injury crisis it's very difficult for young players to break into a premiership side these days. When given an opportunity they need to grasp it with both hands, and it's fair to say that Kieran didn't do that on Tuesday night. far from it in fact.

But that's no need to make things up about him. In the first half of last season nobody had better goals and assists stats from a midfield position in the Championship. I used to go onto the forest fan sites and they were extremely complimentary of the lad. Some saying they hadn't had such quality at the club since the days of Clough. For most of that period he was still a teenager. Things changed when they brought in a new manager in the January and he was moved to a wide position, and asked to do a far more defensive role. He wasn't anywhere near as effective from that day on, but it was never a case of the Forest fans "seeing right through him". He was then injured for the final 4 weeks of the season which is when he lost his place in the squad altogether.

 

[Barnfred 55]

I've been watching Keiron since he was sixteen, his skill has never been in doubt, when he has the ball he will make you sit up and take notice, when he loses it he never goes looking for the ball, he drifts out of the game for long periods, for such a big lad he lacks bite, his heart doesn't lookin it, can't tackle, doesn't like the rough stuff. I saw him against Spurs U23's the other week, playing with lads a lot younger than himself, instead of showing an example and having a good go
he just ambled around the pitch making it obvious, to me anyway, he didn't want to be there. He has never changed his attitude in the five years I've watched him. Skill is fine, but is never, ever any use on it's own, you need, bottle, heart and guts to go with it. It doesn't look like the lad will ever change.

A lot of that is fair mate, but I think you are wrong to say he isn't interested. He just has a very languid style about him, very similar to the great (IMO) Matt Le Tissier back in the day. It's in his make up and I don't think he will ever change that. He's the footballing equivalent of Bill Nighy.lol

His natural ability is unquestioned, but in many ways he has so much more than our other young players to develop before being ready for our first team. In fact, I'm beginning to doubt he will ever be ready for us because his game isn't really suited to our league.

His biggest failings for me are not his application or work rate, if you watch his game he does normally put in a shift. But he does switch off at times (a concentration issue) drifts out of games for long periods, and is absolute rubbish at finding little pockets of space for himself, imperative when playing 10.

The big question is where do you play him. I think you'd need to build your team around him, but there's no room in the current English game for a modern Matt Le Tissier. If you give him a run of games I'm pretty certain he'll give you a decent return in assists and goals, because he has that quality. But he won't bring much else to the game, and that will be the overriding factor I'm afraid. If I was Silva, I'd have him on the bench when up against teams who park the bus, because his quality could help if we're struggling to break teams down. But realistically, at this stage, his opportunities are going to be pretty limited, especially after going out of the cup the other night which has put extra pressure on the manager.

 

[Barnfred 55]

Needs to be told by the manager he's in for a run of games.

You cant find anything out by playing a lad like him for 45 minutes here and there.

It's what this season is for as far as I'm concerned: take chances and experiment and find out what we have already here.

Having started him I thought it was then wrong to bring him off at half time. Unless he was having an absolute stinker which I don't think he was. I didn't see the game by the way.