2018/19 Kieran Dowell

[ArtetaMoney]

..I din’t get the ‘loan to a lower Premier League team’, when we might be around that position ourselves. It is a matter of play him or sell him.

I don’t think we will be and it’s a good way for the club to see if he is good enough for this level. If we sell him and he turns out to be a good player then we’ve potentially missed a trick, where as if we loan him out and he excels then Silva will know that he can trust him.

I do think that if he was good enough then he would have been played more, maybe he is Championship level and that’s why he gets very few chances.

 

[Eggs]

I think the big conundrum with the lad is where on the pitch do you play him. Out wide he drifts out of games far too easily. He just isn't good enough at the moment at finding pockets of space to play the number 10 role, so I'm not entirely surprised that he didn't grasp his opportunity the other night.

Personally I'd like to see him tried in a slightly more withdrawn role as part of a midfield 3. He played there quite often for forest last season and also for us against Rotherham. He's actually quite a strong runner with the ball at his feet and, as you know, has both the vision and ability to pick a pass. He'd need a hard working tackler alongside him, but given that we've been working with a combination of Schneiderlin, Davies and Gana this season, none of which has really worked, I'd have given him a go there against Southampton.

Difficult to see him getting another opportunity now there's extra pressure on Silva following the cup exit. Maybe a loan in January if he's not in his plans, either to Germany or Italy where the game is more suited to his style.

...I don’t know Fred. It’s widely reported that the coaches see him as a no10 but I really think Koeman missed a trick in not utilising him on the Right early last season when the only option we had was Aaron Lennon. Instead he went off to Forest but I think we’d have learned a lot more about him.

 

[davids]

Think it's a bit unfair to say he has no work ethic. He does tend to put a shift in. But he does have a very languid style that makes him look lazy, and he definitely switches off too often and drifts out of games. He's also not clever enough at finding space for himself to play the number 10 role at the moment which doesn't help.

I do agree though that the modern English game is not suited to his style. It's going to be very difficult for him to make it here I fear.

For me not so much his languid style,more that he doesn't look to close down players.As you say he drifts out of games,when really midfielders are being judged more these days on what they do without the ball.

 

[Barnfred 55]

...I don’t know Fred. It’s widely reported that the coaches see him as a no10 but I really think Koeman missed a trick in not utilising him on the Right early last season when the only option we had was Aaron Lennon. Instead he went off to Forest but I think we’d have learned a lot more about him.

As I said. A conundrum.

Maybe we just have to accept he isn't suited to the English game.

 

[Zatara]

I think the big conundrum with the lad is where on the pitch do you play him. Out wide he drifts out of games far too easily. He just isn't good enough at the moment at finding pockets of space to play the number 10 role, so I'm not entirely surprised that he didn't grasp his opportunity the other night.

Personally I'd like to see him tried in a slightly more withdrawn role as part of a midfield 3. He played there quite often for forest last season and also for us against Rotherham. He's actually quite a strong runner with the ball at his feet and, as you know, has both the vision and ability to pick a pass. He'd need a hard working tackler alongside him, but given that we've been working with a combination of Schneiderlin, Davies and Gana this season, none of which has really worked, I'd have given him a go there against Southampton.

Difficult to see him getting another opportunity now there's extra pressure on Silva following the cup exit. Maybe a loan in January if he's not in his plans, either to Germany or Italy where the game is more suited to his style.

Gana - tackler
Davies - box to box till gomes is ready
Dowell - deep playmaker

Would like to see that once gomes is up to speed.

 

[ToffeeTim]

Does he really want to make it here. That's the question. Professional sport is about seizing your chance. No one hands you everything on a plate in life.

He's running the risk of ending up in the lower leagues when players with far less ability forge top flight careers.

 

[Eggs]

As I said. A conundrum.

Maybe we just have to accept he isn't suited to the English game.

...not sure that’s the case, Fred. He’s got magic in his boots and it’ll only take a sprinkling to turn things around but when he gets a chance as he did on Tuesday, he has to take it.

 

[Osamabindiesel]

It’s hard to judge anyone fairly if they aren’t getting a run of games. The problem with Kieran is he will probably never be the type to come in and work wonders right away. He’d need some time to gel with the team, but I’m not sure we can afford to give him that time. Vlasic appears to be further ahead of him in development as well, so I don’t believe he’d get a shot unless he turns it around and finds a place this year.

 

[Goat]

As I said. A conundrum.

Maybe we just have to accept he isn't suited to the English game.

I mostly meme about the lad to wind dave up.

But he hasnt really performed yet, I think we expect far too much from these young lads, hes 20 years old, its possibly likely he wont make it here, but he wont improve sitting on the bench every week and IMO hes not even close to being at the level required to play in the Prem currently.

He needs a loan, rumours that he didnt want to go on loan after signing his new contract, fair play to the lad for backing himself, but he simply has to take his chances when hes given them and I dont recall him ever doing that.

 

[Toffe3m4n]

To those saying he had a 'stinker' on Tuesday.. what game were you actually watching?

He doesn't have nearly the same productivity levels as Sigurdsson, admittedly, but the kid is good on the ball. Barely put a foot wrong from what I saw.

 

[Lanolin]

To those saying he had a 'stinker' on Tuesday.. what game were you actually watching?

He doesn't have nearly the same productivity levels as Sigurdsson, admittedly, but the kid is good on the ball. Barely put a foot wrong from what I saw.

Depends what you class as a stinker I suppose. He wasn't giving the ball away every time he got it or anything, but he didn't really do anything at all to impact the game, so I would have to say he was poor. According to the club's own stats, he completed 5 forward passes, no successful dribbles and no shots. Allied to the fact he made no tackles or interceptions, you'd have to wonder what exactly he did to elevate him beyond stinker level.

 

[carolinablue232]

Gana - tackler
Davies - box to box till gomes is ready
Dowell - deep playmaker

Would like to see that once gomes is up to speed.

??? You want to see a midfield without Gomes once Gomes is up to speed?

 

[Billysgingham.]

Gana - tackler
Davies - box to box till gomes is ready
Dowell - deep playmaker

Would like to see that once gomes is up to speed.

Let's hope we don't see that mate because that would be a frigging disaster.

 

[toffeeblue9]

To those saying he had a 'stinker' on Tuesday.. what game were you actually watching?

He doesn't have nearly the same productivity levels as Sigurdsson, admittedly, but the kid is good on the ball. Barely put a foot wrong from what I saw.

I want him to succeed more than anyone (other than maybe Dave), but he was totally anonymous on Tuesday. Mitigating circumstances, maybe, but he needs to do more than that. Given we are now out of The League Cup and he didn't really grab his chance, you have to wonder when the next opportunity he'll get might be.

 

[Barnfred 55]

I mostly meme about the lad to wind dave up.

But he hasnt really performed yet, I think we expect far too much from these young lads, hes 20 years old, its possibly likely he wont make it here, but he wont improve sitting on the bench every week and IMO hes not even close to being at the level required to play in the Prem currently.

He needs a loan, rumours that he didnt want to go on loan after signing his new contract, fair play to the lad for backing himself, but he simply has to take his chances when hes given them and I dont recall him ever doing that.

I don't know mate. Maybe I'm just feeling a bit low today or something, but I'm absolutely fed up of the constant barracking our young lads get on here. If they run around a lot they want more quality. If they show quality they want them to run around more. Seems everybody is focusing on what they do bad rather than what they do well. And like you say, expectations are ridiculously high.

It's not quite as bad at the game but there is still that underlying feeling there that certain elements are just waiting for them to make a mistake to jump on them. I'm not surprised some are lacking in confidence. I certainly hope none of them ever come on here cos they'll be queuing up outside the Royal to get their wrists re-stitched.