Kenny happy with Stew impact

KENNY DALGLISH has hit back at Stewart Downing's critics — and insisted the England winger has been an even bigger hit than he expected.

There has been growing terrace unrest that Downing is falling below the levels which tempted Liverpool into splashing out £20million to land him from Aston Villa last summer.

After a bright start, he has only one goal — against League One Oldham — and, more worryingly for fans, failed to provide the ammunition from out wide for Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll to fire the bullets.

Yet Dalglish reckons the only surprise about Downing's arrival has been a pleasant one for everyone apart from Jamie Carragher, when the defender has tried to shackle the 27-year-old in training.

He insisted: "Stewart is a fantastic footballer, an England international, who made a big move in the summer to come here.

"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 the surroundings, which is only natural.

"But we don't have any change of opinion on him as a player from what it was before, other than he's better than I thought he was.

"He's a better footballer, he's quicker than I thought — and he's quicker than Carra thought as well!

"Stewart's got more crosses in than anyone else, according to the stats. That's part of his job — and the other part is to put them in somewhere where we are going to score goals from them. Ours as a team is to get in there and put them in the back of the net.

"He's better than I thought he was going to be. And I don't think it's been too comfortable either because we've played him in two or three different positions. Maybe we have to look at ourselves and say we have to be fair as well."

While the doubters may yet need more evidence of Downing's talents, Dalglish has backed him all the way and he has featured in all but three of Liverpool's games this term.

Downing will face Bolton today, with Owen Coyle's men beginning life without Gary Cahill, after the defender's £7m move to Chelsea.

Coyle cashed in now rather than losing Cahill on a free in the summer.

Dalglish said: "The players are the ones with the strength nowadays, far more so than the clubs.

"So although financially it might have been a good deal for Gary, I don't know whether it was the best football decision for Owen."