So how do you rate Kieran Dowell after yesterday?

[cambridgeshire canary 6,716]

Beacause I'm still feeling rather conflicted. On the one hand it's great to see him start coming into the team and playing well, but at the same time.. He had the perfect chances to score and he fluffed them, not just once but twice. Had he been able to find the net we would have been 2-0 up within half an hour  and I do feel that we would have go on to win from that.  Of course this is not new, and he's not the only one who missed sitters yesterday (Pukki's miss pretty much summed us up..) and quite frankly these kind of misses are of course a big part of why we are going down. You cannot be granted such fantastic chances to score after such good build up play only to then somehow miss such golden chances as in the top flight these will most likely be the only chances you might get all match and all it will take is the opposition to then get a similar golden chance only for them to score it and then it's game over, we have seen that so many times this season.

 

I do feel that he's a decent player and it's fair to say he is clealy improving match after match (He was fantastic against United for exaple) but sadly at the same time I do feel he is sadly summing us up pretty well when it comes to fluffing it when the big chances happen.

[Cantiaci Canary 557]

A gem for next season - in the second tier  - for sure.

In a confident and better balanced top tier side I think he could also find a spot but I can't think of another Premier League side who would currently take him off us and put him in their starting line up.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Cantiaci Canary

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

He missed two very good chances, Bruno G missed a better one on the first 5 minutes so that would’ve been us 0-1 down before we actually could’ve been 2-0 up. And of course, if we go 0-1 down we don’t necessarily make the chances that followed. 
Dowell is ok. Nothing more. I expect he will be fine in the championship. Not close to a Buendia but better than a Cantwell. 
Just a completely ‘meh’ player 

[Ken Hairy 3,772]

He's a decent Championship midfielder, nothing more. He'll do alright for us next season, but 1 of many that would need upgrading if the miracle occurs and we somehow get back up in the next couple of years. 

[canarydan23 4,060]

He was very lazy in his defensive duties yesterday. Byram constantly left with two players to mark and he was jogging back when Joelinton scored his first in acres of space. Space that would not have existed if Dowell got back instead of being stood all on his own doing absolutely nothing 30 yards out.

[The Real Buh 3,432]

An uncompetitive premier league player

[Samwam27 527]

He's done more in a few games than the likes of Placheta. He'll be an asset in EFL.

The thing I find odd is Rowe was looking an exciting talent, and pushing for a start after some great cameo performances, even admitted by Shakes & smith, and all of a sudden Dowell gets a starting berth out of nowhere.

[lake district canary 4,531]

If you look at Dowell's second chance yesterdy, it was not as easy as people make out. The ball was slightly behind him and he had to try and dig it out, so a tough one, although it didn't look like it at first glance. Good free kick later on too.

[vos 155]

Barely Championship standard. Seems to be anonymous for long periods. Lacks strength and pace for modern football.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,163]

16 minutes ago, vos said:

Barely Championship standard. Seems to be anonymous for long periods. Lacks strength and pace for modern football.

Stupid comment.

[paddycanary 539]

I think he'll be an important & influential player next year if he can stay fit.

One could argue he epitomises where we are as a squad of players at the moment; very competitive at top-level Champo with the occasional flash of quality at Prem level but simply not good enough/consistent enough to be regularly competitive in the top flight.

(use of above semi-colon very much on purpose!)

[First Wazzock 902]

I really can't see the point in trying to bait everyone to say he's useless and generally have a go.

Nobody exactly covered themselves in glory yesterday, so my opinion is unchanged.

He's a good addition to our squad, with plenty of promise.

Edited April 24, 2022 by First Wazzock

[The Great Mass Debater 1,090]

Just watched the highlights as I missed the first 30mins. What a pass from Normann. (Whose pass to Pukki against Utd was clearly meant for someone else, despite ending up as the perfect pass)

[Newtopia 517]

He is the best player we have in transition, should have a good season next year

[(Hoola)Han Solo 324]

Gets into good positions and is a danger from dead ball situations. Has a through ball in him. Should’ve done a lot better with his chances yesterday. Like a lot of our players probably just below PL standard but could be very useful next year.

[Mason 47 1,379]

If he's a regular starter next year for us, he'll get into double figures for goals and assists. I don't feel confident saying that about any of our other midfielders.

[All the Germans 1,075]

3 hours ago, First Wazzock said:

I really can't see the point in trying to bait everyone to say he's useless and generally have a go.

Nobody exactly covered themselves in glory yesterday, so my opinion is unchanged.

He's a good addition to our squad, with plenty of promise.

Sensible post. I'm not keen on flip floppin' based upon every appearance either. It's just Cambridge being Cambridge...

Edited April 24, 2022 by All the Germans

[Move Klose 303]

10 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Beacause I'm still feeling rather conflicted. On the one hand it's great to see him start coming into the team and playing well, but at the same time.. He had the perfect chances to score and he fluffed them, not just once but twice. Had he been able to find the net we would have been 2-0 up within half an hour  and I do feel that we would have go on to win from that.  Of course this is not new, and he's not the only one who missed sitters yesterday (Pukki's miss pretty much summed us up..) and quite frankly these kind of misses are of course a big part of why we are going down. You cannot be granted such fantastic chances to score after such good build up play only to then somehow miss such golden chances as in the top flight these will most likely be the only chances you might get all match and all it will take is the opposition to then get a similar golden chance only for them to score it and then it's game over, we have seen that so many times this season.

 

I do feel that he's a decent player and it's fair to say he is clealy improving match after match (He was fantastic against United for exaple) but sadly at the same time I do feel he is sadly summing us up pretty well when it comes to fluffing it when the big chances happen.

Not good enough, simple as

[Branston Pickle 3,657]

Those chances were tough for Dowell, on his wrong foot.  He did ok again, and will be an asset in the Champs next season.

[Making Plans 936]

Always looks the part but invariably fails to deliver anything of note

[BigFish 1,986]

6 hours ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Stupid comment.

If you stopped posters on here posting stupid comments the board would be empty

[Petriix 2,835]

10 hours ago, canarydan23 said:

He was very lazy in his defensive duties yesterday. Byram constantly left with two players to mark and he was jogging back when Joelinton scored his first in acres of space. Space that would not have existed if Dowell got back instead of being stood all on his own doing absolutely nothing 30 yards out.

It always amazes me how so few football fans notice the fundamentals like this. Dowell was excellent when we had the ball, but poor when out of possession. However, most if this was tactical ineptitude in how the team was setup rather than individual culpability by Dowell himself as I'll explain... 

Our wide attacking midfielders were both too high and left us exposed down both flanks. We had the central DMs covering the wide areas but this was flawed. For both Newcastle's first-half goals they attacked down the right (our left) drawing the central midfielders to that side, leaving a gaping hole on the other flank from where we ultimately conceded.

Sadly this is reminiscent of the flaws of the 4-2-3-1 Farke initially employed in the first part of his tenure. These issues were fixed last season by bringing the wide AMs deeper and keeping the DMs more central. Unfortunately Dean Smith has taken us back to square one with the imbalance in this system. Hopefully he'll learn quickly next season and fix this flaw without abandoning what is fairly obviously our best system.

[Yellow Wal 314]

Considering it is doubtful we will be playing 4231 next season as both Smith and Shakespeare have achieved most of their successes with variations of 442, where would you play him?

Dowell doesn't work hard enough for a central position and has not got enough pace for a wide position. 

He has looked better in recent games than I thought he would but I wouldn't be disappointed if he moved on.

 

[Capt. Pants 4,233]

Goes missing for long periods, weak in the challenge, lack pace,

On the plus side he has an eye for a pass, takes a mean freekick and looks very good when he gets his head up.

Championship level footballer and if played more centrally could be a real asset for us, if he can get really match fit.

[Petriix 2,835]

1 hour ago, Yellow Wal said:

Considering it is doubtful we will be playing 4231 next season as both Smith and Shakespeare have achieved most of their successes with variations of 442, where would you play him?

Dowell doesn't work hard enough for a central position and has not got enough pace for a wide position. 

He has looked better in recent games than I thought he would but I wouldn't be disappointed if he moved on.

 

This is my fear. I doubt we'd be successful in the Championship playing 4-4-2, but look forward to being proved spectacularly wrong. Dowell could play tip of the diamond pretty well but I'd prefer him as the attacking 10 in a 4-2-3-1.

I think he works hard enough for that. We need creativity, otherwise we've got nothing going for us. 

[Yellow Wal 314]

4 minutes ago, Petriix said:

This is my fear. I doubt we'd be successful in the Championship playing 4-4-2, but look forward to being proved spectacularly wrong. Dowell could play tip of the diamond pretty well but I'd prefer him as the attacking 10 in a 4-2-3-1.

I think he works hard enough for that. We need creativity, otherwise we've got nothing going for us. 

Again, any team Smith or Shakespeare have anything to do with are very hard working.

I just don't feel Dowell falls into that category, well at the moment anyway.

[Move Klose 303]

1 hour ago, Yellow Wal said:

Considering it is doubtful we will be playing 4231 next season as both Smith and Shakespeare have achieved most of their successes with variations of 442, where would you play him?

Dowell doesn't work hard enough for a central position and has not got enough pace for a wide position. 

He has looked better in recent games than I thought he would but I wouldn't be disappointed if he moved on.

 

Pukki, Idah up top Tzolis and Rashica wide. I like it. No room for Dowell in any formation apart from one that has a No10

[Yellow Wal 314]

Just now, Move Klose said:

Pukki, Idah up top Tzolis and Rashica wide. I like it. No room for Dowell in any formation apart from one that has a No10

I almost agree with that but still have massive doubts about Tzolis, Rowe may be a better bet.

[Move Klose 303]

Just now, Yellow Wal said:

I almost agree with that but still have massive doubts about Tzolis, Rowe may be a better bet.

Well Tzolis is potentially a world class player, Farke said so 🤣🤣🤣

[vos 155]

10 hours ago, vos said:

Barely Championship standard. Seems to be anonymous for long periods. Lacks strength and pace for modern football.

"Barely" might be a bit harsh, but bearing in mind in the Championship last season, playing in a forward role, he scored 5 goals in 24 appearances, he did not exactly set the world alight. This was playing in a team who swept all before them and scored goals galore.