Stewart defends his 34 England games without scoring a goal

I'M STEW-PENDOUS ... Downing aims to shine for England boss Roy Hodgson

STEWART DOWNING’S stats do not make great reading for a player whose priority is to attack.

In 34 games for England, the Liverpool winger has never scored a goal.

And he neither scored nor contributed an assist for his club in their entire Premier League campaign following his £20million move from Aston Villa last summer.

Yet Downing is favourite for the left-wing berth against France in the Euro 2012 opener on Monday — ahead of promising Arsenal youngster Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Some believe he is lucky to be in the squad, let alone the team.

His response is that Martin O’Neill and Kenny Dalglish were both prepared to spend big money signing him and successive England bosses have selected him.

Downing, though we may have forgotten, actually played three games at the 2006 World Cup in Germany under Sven Goran Eriksson.

And he was the only outfield player to feature in all nine internationals during 2011.

He said: “I’ve been continually picked by the last four or five England managers and I’ve been signed by two top managers in the game. For me, that’s enough.

“Obviously, these managers see something in my performances and my ability.

“That’s all I concentrate on. I keep my head down and get on with my job.”

He does concede, however, that his displays for Liverpool have been a mixed bag.

Downing, 27, admitted: “My form has been up and down this season, some good and some indifferent.

“I should score more goals but I’ve been a bit unlucky at times.”

Statistics do not always tell the whole story according to the Kop wide-man.

He said: “I’ve seen the stats on the goals and assists but, on the assist thing, I’ve constantly set up chances as I did at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. I can’t be criticised for not creating — I’ve just been unlucky that, while I’ve created a lot of chances, they’ve not been stuck away.

“Stats have taken over the game — he doesn’t score this, he hasn’t set up that. You can read into it as you like.”

But asked if the stats were an embarrassment, Downing agreed: “The goals one is. I should score more.

“I hit the post and the bar many times and missed a few chances so I was disappointed, especially when I scored goals for Aston Villa the year before.

“It’s football. Sometimes you are on a run and get goals, sometimes you don’t.

“I try to score and maybe next season I will get 10 or 15, you never know.”

Liverpool finished eighth in the Premier League and Dalglish got the sack. But with six players in England’s squad here, they are the club with the biggest representation.

Downing said: “As a club and a team, we were generally a bit up and down.

“Getting to two cup finals was brilliant but the league form wasn’t good enough.

“We played some great football but didn’t have that killer instinct to finish teams off.

“We probably only had one or two bad performances as a team over the whole season.

“I don’t think the six players here did that badly personally over the season, it’s just as a whole group we weren’t clinical enough.

“I do feel sorry for the manager leaving as he could see that we were building.

“The Liverpool fans saw that at Anfield we battered every team but didn’t score enough goals. That’s what it came down to. It just didn’t happen for us.”

So Downing has still to win over supporters of his club and country.

But he insists he can cope with the boo-boys and critics.

He added: “We’ve all had criticism through our careers — it’s how you deal with it.

“It’s hard when you’re younger but you get mentally stronger with age.”

Downing is not drowning.