Money well spent by West Ham

It is fair to say that earlier in the season Sam Allardyce took plenty of flack for his summer transfer activity, with the entire budget effectively spent on Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing alone. Whilst the majority of Hammers fans were delighted to see their club sign a player of Carroll’s quality, plenty questioned the wisdom of spending the remainder of the budget on winger Downing, rather than another striker to supplement Carroll, with the misfiring Modibo Maiga the only other out and out centre forward at the club at that time.

This view was further strengthened, and probably extended to the vast majority of fans after the dismal first half to the campaign. Andy Carroll had suffered a new setback in his struggle to return to full fitness following his injury at the end of last season, and wouldn’t return to first team action until January. Downing also spent a large chunk of this stage of the season on the sidelines, and with West Ham placed in the bottom three, and struggling for goals, it seemed for a while that not spending that £5million on another forward would prove very costly indeed.

However, the return to fitness of Carroll and Downing has coincided with an excellent run of form that has now virtually guaranteed safety, and all is well again in the East End of London.

A huge reason for the recent run of six wins in nine matches has without doubt been the performances of Stewart Downing. The former England international, who has very arguably made an excellent case for a place in this summer’s World Cup squad (except that he plays for West Ham of course), has been showing the quality on the wings that led to Liverpool splashing out 20 million pounds on the then Aston Villa man nearly three years ago.

Whilst his stats are not the best, with just two assists and no goals to his name in 26 appearances so far this season, this does not reflect Downing’s true contribution to the club in those matches. Particularly so in the last couple of months, when he has looked the clubs most creative player.

Although he may not have many actual assists to his name, there have been many crucial goals scored by West Ham that he has been the main architect of. In the famous 3-0 win at White Hart Lane in October, it was from his corner that Winston Reid’s header was accidentally blocked on the line by Kevin Nolan before rebounding to the Kiwi to smash in. There have been quite a few other goals such as this, like against Swansea City at home, where his corner was headed back across by Carroll for Nolan to head home, or against Southampton, when two of the goals were crafted by Downing crosses.

Out of anyone else in the team, he always looks the most likely to create something, and is versatile and difficult to defend against. He can play on either wing, and has an excellent delivery with either foot, which is a big bonus. Aside from his crossing, Downing also has the necessary pace and trickery to beat his full back to put himself into a better position for a shot or cross. Just ask Rafael of Manchester United or Marcos Alonso of Sunderland in recent times. Also look at his dribble and subsequent cross for Nolan to score at Aston Villa this season.

Despite not yet scoring for the Hammers, Downing is also unafraid to cut inside and shoot from range if he sees the opportunity. This is an excellent addition to the West Ham attacking options, even though it is disappointing that he hasn’t found his goal scoring form from his Aston Villa days.

A final aspect to Downing’s play this season that is often overlooked has been his defensive contribution. As you may expect in a Sam Allardyce team, the wingers are always expected to track back and help the defence. Downing has proved he has the energy and desire for this, particularly in those matches where the Hammers have had to defend leads for long periods. Monday’s game at the Stadium of Light was just another example of that.

So Stewart Downing has, to me at least, proved that he was worth the transfer gamble last summer. David Gold said at the time that he thought West Ham had near enough stole him from Liverpool at that price and that assessment looks more and more correct as the season goes on.