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Can anybody explain that to me please?

No.

Perhaps Mancini thinks Milner gives us more defensively.

If the game had been closer and we had been containing Arsenal at the back I reckon Johnson would have come on for Milner to try and get the goal, as it was with Silva on and playing ok and two other strikers we would have been top heavy if we had introduced Johnson.

King Kev wrote:Can anybody explain that to me please?

Yes...

1...Damaged limitaton. If he hadn't conceded a second and third, johnno may well j
Have come on with 10/15 to go

2...Milner can play 6 positions, of which he played 2/3 of them today

I´m sure he was the one player Arse feared especially up againt Clichy - he would have fuclin mullered him - this is one of the reasons my doubts still persist over Bobby


....deep breath , lets see in May

King Kev wrote:Can anybody explain that to me please?

Yes...

1...Damaged limitaton. If he hadn't conceded a second and third, johnno may well j
Have come on with 10/15 to go

2...Milner can play 6 positions, of which he played 2/3 of them today

johnson probably would have played a part if we hadn't lost boyata.
i thought mancini picked the right team today, and i agree we would have won the game 11 vs. 11.

Last time I looked everyone was limited to three substitutions.

Today we had two substitutions pretty much enforced upon us, leaving Mancini with few options. I would have chosen Johnson rather than Balotelli but he's the man, not me.

david yearsley wrote:I´m sure he was the one player Arse feared especially up againt Clichy - he would have fuclin mullered him - this is one of the reasons my doubts still persist over Bobby


....deep breath , lets see in May

It gave Micah a chance to overlap on the right hand side..he did that pretty well. Johnson would have been another story but midfield would have suffered. I expect Arsenal had made their plans around the threats of Tevez and Silva as well and probably expected Ade to play from the off. Johnson is good but he is nowhere near the finished article and is not our sole threat by a long way.

I actually thought Milner played very well today.

When you are down to 10 you need grafters like Milner, Jinky would've been spent after half an hour with all the extra running being down to 10 men brings.

Apologies for earlier... Getting Breeshey off to bed... Multi tasking eh!

I think because Milner ended up playing in the middle, particularly after Barry went off.

Kladze wrote:Last time I looked everyone was limited to three substitutions.

Today we had two substitutions pretty much enforced upon us, leaving Mancini with few options. I would have chosen Johnson rather than Balotelli but he's the man, not me.

I agree that AJ should have come on instead of Mario. We needed some creativity, some majic and AJ, whose been in good form, could have provided that. Mario who made his PL bow under the worst circumstances could not be expected to perform miracles in his first match in 6 or 8 weeks (how long has it been ?).
As for Milner, though true that he contributes a lot defensively, but its his attacking play that's been worrying me as he has not shown anything special that we know he is capable of.

I'd have liked to see AJ on instead of Balotelli today as well, but with just the one tactical sub available (after two injury subs) we have to accept Mancini's decision, I think he'd basically written the game off at that stage anyway so wanted to 'blood' his Italian youngster in the Prem. Concerning Milner he laid on a nice chance for Silva which forced a save, he linked up quite well with Tevez and Silva on a few occasions too, plus he doesnt hug the touchline as much as AJ allowing the fullback to overlap, which was one of the reasons Micah had such a good game.

Milner was excellent imo. Worked his bollox off and should have been in the middle instead of Barry a lot earlier.

Sometimes I wonder what game folk are watching when they have a pop at a player who actually played well. Unless a lad scores or has a couple of assists he seems to be shite.

agree with others who say that milner did well v arsenal ... and also the one or two who noted that getting a man sent off within 4 minutes of kick off changes the plan around a bit.

Mancini's hand was forced sub-wise and you can argue that he should have brought johnson on instead of balotelli, but we needed someone with a scoring instinct in at that point if we were going to get anything and balotelli even did a bit of tracking back. Obviously we know how it worked out in the end, but I don't know how that can be blamed on Mancini really. I'm not being a mancini apologist, but I don't think this one really comes down to the manager ... thought we played excellently with 10 men, but in the end arsenals passing really knackered us ... nothing more to say.

xavi6 wrote:Milner was excellent imo. Worked his bollox off and should have been in the middle instead of Barry a lot earlier.

Sometimes I wonder what game folk are watching when they have a pop at a player who actually played well. Unless a lad scores or has a couple of assists he seems to be shite.

Agree with that 100%. For me, Micah, Silva and Milner (and Tevez whilst he was on) were the standout performers yesterday. Milner worked his fucking arse off for the team and barely put a foot wrong in the game I was watching. And I don't mean just hard graft, he certainly put in a shift but he looked on the same wavelength when in possession as our most dangerous players.

Every time we lose I thank god that some of the fucknuts who post amongst us are never going to be in charge of team affairs as they truly are bloody clueless.

Barry and Bridge (to an extent) are getting justified criticism from last night....slating Milner is just potty

xavi6 wrote:Milner was excellent imo. Worked his bollox off and should have been in the middle instead of Barry a lot earlier.

Sometimes I wonder what game folk are watching when they have a pop at a player who actually played well. Unless a lad scores or has a couple of assists he seems to be shite.

To be fair, I haven't seen anyone have a pop at him. But SO FAR he hasn't brought anything into team that we didn't already have. He isn't performing any better than SWP would and certainly no better than Johnson. I know he was brought in because of his verstility but at that price you'd expect bit of end product as well, don't you think?

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

xavi6 wrote:Milner was excellent imo. Worked his bollox off and should have been in the middle instead of Barry a lot earlier.

Sometimes I wonder what game folk are watching when they have a pop at a player who actually played well. Unless a lad scores or has a couple of assists he seems to be shite.

To be fair, I haven't seen anyone have a pop at him. But SO FAR he hasn't brought anything into team that we didn't already have. He isn't performing any better than SWP would and certainly no better than Milner. I know he was brought in because of his verstility but at that price you'd expect bit of end product as well, don't you think?

he's talking about Milner NOT Barry

ant london wrote:

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

xavi6 wrote:Milner was excellent imo. Worked his bollox off and should have been in the middle instead of Barry a lot earlier.

Sometimes I wonder what game folk are watching when they have a pop at a player who actually played well. Unless a lad scores or has a couple of assists he seems to be shite.

To be fair, I haven't seen anyone have a pop at him. But SO FAR he hasn't brought anything into team that we didn't already have. He isn't performing any better than SWP would and certainly no better than Milner. I know he was brought in because of his verstility but at that price you'd expect bit of end product as well, don't you think?

he's talking about Milner NOT Barry

I meant "certainly no better than Johnson". What is it with Johnson as I get him confused all the time. Last week I called him Andy Johnson.