Douglas Higginbottom wrote:The beauty of Milner seems to be that he has an all round game.He might say his best/favourite position is center mid but the way he plays takes him all over the field.He has a good touch , a good awareness of players around him , he can cross a ball , decent with both feet , will score a few goals and he gets back and defends too. Looks the real deal to me.
The comparison with Ireland is pointless.I do hope Stevie finds his game again as he was really good for that season but somehow it's disappeared and in center mid or wideish right he has looked lost and especially in his debut for Villa.
Agreed direct comparisons with Ireland are not really valid - I think that CITY fans are quite sentimental and a lot of the posts on here over the transfer was the desire not to let a 'home grown' talent go
That said - and not directly comparing as players in the same positions - when you analyse the Villa game you see how Stevie - for all his good intentions and effort in the opening minutes - just disappeared and could not get hold / retain the ball - he was actually bullied (by Newcastle FFS) - that game and an analysis of Milner last night should show everyone that we got - less a good swap (because for me it was not a swap) - a good deal, because we were able to acquire one of the top talents in the English game and a missing link for us - but also to move on a player who would not get a game for us - so that saved on the squad numbers, transfer fee and wage bill
I wonder what the talk was on villa fan forums last night?? and how Stevie felt if he watched the game