Liverpool boss backs Downing to silence critics

Downing has yet to score or create a Premier League goal since joining Liverpool in a £20million deal from Aston Villa.

“Stewart is a fantastic footballer, an England international, who made a big move in the summer to come here,” Dalglish told the Liverpool Echo.

“This is a massive club, with all due respect to the others he’s been at. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to his surroundings, but we don’t have any change of opinion on him as a player from what it was before.

“He’s got more crosses in than anyone else, according to the stats. Our job as a team is to get in there and put them in the back of the net.”