Don't turn your nose up at Milner, we'll be lucky to have him (subscriber only article)

[ritchie]

Milner left or right no problem.

Milner as a central midfielder, I despair.

If this is the standard our midfield is looking at we may as well pack it all in now.

 

Fucking grim.

He could stay at City and be the fill in utility player. You know he's been promised centre mid here, probably the captaincy and a massive wage. Basically the de-facto Gerrard replacement.

 

Midfeld next season of Milner and Henderson as captain and vice captain, yet both of them are shit in a midfield two.

 

The thing is it'll actually deprive the team of energy and pressing high up the pitch (where those two players should be) whilst depriving us of quality and balance in the middle of the park.

 

A midfield diamond of:

Can (or Lucas or a new signing)

Henderson Milner

Coutinho

 

could work well if we could go out and get two good forwards to play up top. And I don't mean two of Benteke, Ings and Origi.

[bossy]

Don't get me wrong, Milner is a good player to have, but getting him on a free towards the arse end of his career and making out he's marquee stuff just shouts or rather mouths meakly, lack of ambition. Add to him, Ings another damn near freebie and it's looking like we are just hoping for a miracle. If we then add in 30 million for Benteke it screams lunacy.

I'm not against Milner in isolation, it's the context.

[Tony Moanero]

Don't get me wrong, Milner is a good player to have, but getting him on a free towards the arse end of his career and making out he's marquee stuff just shouts or rather mouths meakly, lack of ambition. Add to him, Ings another damn near freebie and it's looking like we are just hoping for a miracle. If we then add in 30 million for Benteke it screams lunacy.

I'm not against Milner in isolation, it's the context.

Agreed.

[ritchie]

Don't get me wrong, Milner is a good player to have, but getting him on a free towards the arse end of his career and making out he's marquee stuff just shouts or rather mouths meakly, lack of ambition. Add to him, Ings another damn near freebie and it's looking like we are just hoping for a miracle. If we then add in 30 million for Benteke it screams lunacy.

I'm not against Milner in isolation, it's the context.

A lot of symmetry with the Joe Cole signing in 2010. A player nearly 30 leaving one of the top 2 teams so he can get a big bosman deal elsewhere for his last big contract, while the club pass it off as a big marquee signing for a squad player with England.

 

Milner has more to offer than Cole (i.e. more than zero) but people were doing cartwheels at that signing as if all was well. Cole wanted to be a number 10 but was soon moved because he was a liability. How long will Milner last in centre mid? If he's the best we can do in central midfield then we're going nowhere.

 

Milner should not be the best player we go for this summer and he shouldn't be the best player we get. Added to other good players then fine.

[an tha]

Are fringe players 'winners'?

 

He played a lot last season, then again Man City didn't win anything.

 

He wasn't a regular when they won the league.

 

Wonder if Sunderland fans were calling John O'Shea and Wes Bronw winners when they signed.

26 and 31 games in their league winning campaigns

 

That's regular enough for me. I never explicitly called him a winner though, I commented on him being at a club who had won things and our severe shortage of winners.

 

Having someone who has been in a winning side and is regarded well in that team can only help us for my money

[TheHowieLama]

Poised to start the James Milner -- What are You?   thread

[ritchie]

26 and 31 games in their league winning campaigns

 

That's regular enough for me. I never explicitly called him a winner though, I commented on him being at a club who had won things and our severe shortage of winners.

 

Having someone who has been in a winning side and is regarded well in that team can only help us for my money

Milner's often been an impact player off the bench for City, particularly last season because he can come on and inject energy and bite to what can be a team without much brawn. A lot of those appearances would have been from the bench.

 

He's a jack of all trades there in the sense that there's better players and options than him in every position but he can fill in and do a decent job in any of the forward or wide positions. That's why City will miss him because he's a valuable squad player there. Big difference between that and us making him our marquee player.

[an tha]

Milner's often been an impact player off the bench for City, particularly last season because he can come on and inject energy and bite to what can be a team without much brawn. A lot of those appearances would have been from the bench.

 

He's a jack of all trades there in the sense that there's better players and options than him in every position but he can fill in and do a decent job in any of the forward or wide positions. That's why City will miss him because he's a valuable squad player there. Big difference between that and us making him our marquee player.

Hopefully he isn't our marquee signing, just a solid, experienced player adding to a team lacking in the qualities he will bring.

 

If he is being seen as the main man then we really have given up

[Turkish Delight]

Doing the dirty work or being a utility man for a top team full of world class players is very different to doing it for an average team full of average players/kids

 

If you were to add assists and goals together then only Aguero and Silva contributed more in the league last season for City than Milner.

 

To look at our own team he had as many assists as Sterling and scored only two less than him despite starting 16 fewer matches over the course of the season.

 

Not bad for a fella whose job is to do the dirty work. 

[Ezekiel 25:17]

I love how a few of you seem to already know exactly where he'll play and what's expected of him, let's wait and see who else comes and goes, or at least maybe let him have a game before we write him off.

[clangers]

All the targets we're now reduced to go for are all very Aston Villa circa 2009. The sort of buys 6th place in the league would go for and pay a substantial amount for.

 

FSG are on an ever decreasing circle, lowering expectations, cutting costs to be keep us profitable and repeat.

[zigackly]

Not our worst free signing, hopefully he's coming here to prove something. I think that could work.

[GJM]

I like Milner because he is an improvement on at least two of our midfielders that played a lot of games last season.

 

Keep signing players that are better than those we currently have and that will solve a lot of the problems we've had this season.

 

Simple. 

[milky]

Not our worst free signing, hopefully he's coming here to prove something. I think that could work.

 

I think I'm right in saying I remember an article in the Offal mag from Rush comparing Vorinin to Kenny in the way he played.

 

Really.

[Ranxerox]

Decent article but the title says it all doesn't it. It reminds me of what me ma said anytime she served up a meal she knew we couldn't stand and didn't want (even if it was good for us). We've really lost all the good feeling of the title run. Our transfer window isn't something to get excited about but rather an unpleasant task that we want to get over with as soon as possible without throwing up.  

[Gym Beglin]

He's taken the number 8...

[Ranxerox]

He's taken the number 8...

 

He's always been 7 hasn't he? Honestly who would want no. 8 walking into this club.

[Gym Beglin]

Trolling mate.