Downing says Liverpool will let him leave

Liverpool winger Stewart Downing says he has been told he can leave the club by manager Brendan Rodgers.

The 28-year-old has played in five of Liverpool's last six games but has often had to play at left-back rather than in midfield.



"The manager has said I can leave if I want to," Downing told the Reds' match day programme before playing in their 3-1 loss to former club Aston Villa.

"But then I've come back into the team, it's a strange situation."

Downing joined the Anfield club from Aston Villa in summer 2011 for a fee believed to be in the region of £20m when Kenny Dalglish was the manager.

"I've played for a long time and there are spells when you can be in and out of the side," added Downing.

"At the minute I'm trying to play as many games as possible.

"If that doesn't happen I'm at an age where I can't be sat around. I need to play and the manager understands that."

He recently admitted he was "disappointed" by criticism from Rodgers before the Reds boss praised the player after his winner in a Europa League group game against Anzhi Makhachkala.



"That's how the situation is and we'll have to see what happens in January or the summer."

Downing could be offered return to Boro

Championship high-flyers Middlesbrough are reportedly ready to offer Liverpool winger Stewart Downing a return to his hometown club.



Boro have been monitoring Downing's situation for the past few weeks as it has become apparent he is not going to be a first-choice starter under Brendan Rodgers.



Now Liverpool look ready to sanction a loan deal, which has alerted Boro to the possibility of striking a move for the 28-year-old.



Whilst a number of Premier League sides are known to also be keen on taking Downing from January, Boro are in a position where they could possibly strike a deal this week before Thursday's loan deadline.



Boro's initial thought was to wait until January but, with injuries impacting their squad in recent weeks, they are now ready to make a move this week, although it appears they face an uphill battle to try and do it before Thursday.



Boro's hierarchy are understood to have given the green light to a move for Downing, who is on considerable wages at Liverpool and a portion of them would need to be covered by any club taking him.



But, as with Jonathan Woodgate who returned in the summer, Boro hope the lure of moving back to The Riverside and possibly helping them back to the Premier League could be enough of an incentive for him to persuade him to drop down to the Championship for six months.



Downing left Boro in 2009 after making over 200 appearances for the club and joined Aston Villa, before moving to Liverpool last year.

Downing long-range strike keeps Reds on track

Stewart Downing offered a reminder of his talent with an eye-catching winner in Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Anzhi Makhachkala in the UEFA Europa League.



The winger was featuring in just his 10th game of the season after being forced into a fringe role in the plans of new boss Brendan Rodgers.



But Downing, who scored just two FA Cup goals in his debut season at Anfield following his £20million summer 2011 arrival from Aston Villa, struck a second-half winner to defeat Anzhi.



The goal followed his earlier effort against Gomel in the Europa League qualifiers and kept Liverpool in contention to progress from Group A after moving top of the table.



Victory was no less than the Reds deserved having been the better side for much of the contest, and they now have six points from three games.



Liverpool manager Rodgers fielded a strong side including the likes of Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez, resisting the temptation to rest a host of players ahead of Sunday's Premier League derby at Everton and making only three changes from the win over Reading on Saturday.



It was clear Rodgers was not about to underestimate nouveaux riche Anzhi, who lead the Russian top flight, are overseen by one-time Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink and have former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto'o up front.



The Reds were looking to bounce back from a 3-2 home defeat to Udinese in their previous Europa League outing and made a positive start without fashioning anything to really trouble visiting goalkeeper Vladimir Gabulov.



He easily collected a shot from Suarez in the 12th minute and then pushed away an effort by Glen Johnson before Jonjo Shelvey - scorer of three goals in the previous two group games - ballooned an attempt over the crossbar from the edge of the box.



Eto'o had been relatively quiet, miscontrolling on the occasion when the ball had come to him in a useful position in the area, and Liverpool continued to carve out half-chances, with Oussama Assaidi seeing Gabulov get behind his strike to the near post and then catching his free-kick.



Johnson found himself through on goal in the 35th minute, but failed to get a shot in and took a tumble under the attentions of Kamil Agalarov, with the referee waving the Reds defender's penalty claims away.



Nuri Sahin headed a corner over and Daniel Agger was next to make a foray forward from defence, trying his luck from distance with an effort that curled high and wide.



Anzhi registered an attempt on goal in first half stoppage time when Fedor Smolov fizzed the ball across Brad Jones and wide.



Rodgers added new impetus to his attack at the interval by introducing Raheem Sterling for Johnson, and there were encouraging signs for Liverpool soon after the break, with Martin Skrtel's powerful drive bringing a save out of Gabulov before Gerrard headed Shelvey's cross wide.





The Reds kept up the pressure and moments later they made the breakthrough as Downing, who had been shifted to left-back, cut in from out wide and smashed the ball into the net.



Suarez almost swiftly added another with a strike that went just the wrong side of the post, and Shelvey then sent a shot into Gabulov's arms.



With the lead still only at 1-0, though, Liverpool could not afford to switch off at the back and they survived a scare in the 70th minute when defensive sloppiness saw the ball come to Eto'o, whose effort was saved by Jones.



Assaidi and Suarez went down in the box in separate tussles with the referee only being moved to book the latter for protesting, before Mbark Boussoufa saw a shot deflect wide of Jones' goal.



Agger thought he had doubled Liverpool's advantage when he headed the ball from Gabulov's hand and lashed in, but he also only picked up a booking.



Anzhi issued further warnings, with Skrtel making a goalline clearance to deny Mehdi Carcela and substitute Lacina Traore striking wide.



Gerrard then fired over and Carcela struck wide at the other end before the full-time whistle confirmed Liverpool's win.



Watch Highlights HERE: 

Downing backs starlet Sterling

Liverpool winger Stewart Downing has praised Raheem Sterling and suggested he takes on board as much advice as he can.



The 17-year-old received a surprise call-up to the England squad on Monday to provide cover after the withdrawal of Theo Walcott and concerns over Daniel Sturridge's fitness.



Having been a couple of outings last season Sterling has found himself thrust into the limelight in new manager Brendan Rodgers' first campaign at Anfield and Downing sees similarities with his own career.



"Credit where credit is due, he's a good player," said the England winger, who missed out on selection for this round of World Cup qualifiers after ironically losing his first-team place to Sterling.



"He deserved his chance and he's done well in two difficult games (against Manchester City and Arsenal). We weren't great against Arsenal but I thought he was one of our stand-out players.



"He's very mature for his age. He listens and he's got a good future. He's got a lot of experienced players around him and that is similar to how it was for me at Middlesbrough when I was young.



"I played with a lot of top professionals like Paul Ince and Gareth Southgate and had good people around me who could help.



"Raheem's certainly in good company here and I think in terms of advice I would tell him to listen and learn and just keep doing what he's doing at the moment.



"Take advice from the manager and listen to the players who are on the pitch on the day."



Downing's own focus is to regain his place in the starting line-up, having been used as a stop-gap left-back on a couple of occasions .



"I just want to play. I think for me it's a case of being adaptable and playing anywhere," he told liverpoolfc.com.



"In the modern game you have to be able to play in two or three positions.



"First and foremost I'm an attacking player but if the manager needs me to help out at the back then I'm willing to do so.



"It (playing left-back) has been demanding. I was up and down the wing and it involved a lot of running but as long as you are involved in the game and get plenty of the ball you tend to enjoy it more.



"I played there a few times at Aston Villa but I played there during the UEFA Cup campaign with Middlesbrough (in 2005-06).



"I was playing wing-back, similar to how I have done in recent games here at Liverpool, so I think that's what the manager has seen and maybe he thinks I can do the job there."