Stewart Downing has hit back at recent criticism of his record at Liverpool, despite failing to score or produce an assist all season.
Downing joined the Reds for £20million from Aston Villa last summer but couldn't hit the target or produce an assist in 36 Premier League games.
The former Middlesbrough man's inclusion in Roy Hodgson's England squad for Euro 2012 was met with a mixed response, with a number of pundits pointing out the fact Downing didn't provide a single assist all season.
However, the 27-year-old insists his debut campaign with Liverpool should not be considered a disappointment as he believes poor finishing from the Reds frontline is to blame for his poor return, although he admits he is embarrassed at his inability to find the net to date for the Anfield outfit.
"I've constantly set up chances, as I did at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough and have done at Liverpool, season in and season out," he told The Independent.
"I can't be criticized for not creating. I'm in the team to do that and I've done that throughout the season. I've just been unlucky that we've not finished the chances.
"The goal thing is [embarrassing], the fact that I didn't get enough goals."
He added: "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. If you look at what I did at Aston Villa, those chances got put away.
"Last season I was on a par with that, but at Liverpool they didn't [get put away]. It seemed to take us four or five chances to score a goal."
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