James Milner

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I think players like Milner and Zabaleta are vital to our success, both fill in a lot of cracks, do the hard yards and are both the ideal 'model professional'. On top of that, they have both raised their game to match the current level of ability we have. Zabs was player of the season last time out, this time it may well be Milner.

I hope not, that would mean that our top quality players didn't perform consistently again.

[Risby]

I think players like Milner and Zabaleta are vital to our success, both fill in a lot of cracks, do the hard yards and are both the ideal 'model professional'. On top of that, they have both raised their game to match the current level of ability we have. Zabs was player of the season last time out, this time it may well be Milner.

I hope not, that would mean that our top quality players didn't perform consistently again.

I think Milner allows our skilful players to play. With his energy and commitment, he, like Slim said, fills in any gaps they leave and makes us more solid defensively.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I think players like Milner and Zabaleta are vital to our success, both fill in a lot of cracks, do the hard yards and are both the ideal 'model professional'. On top of that, they have both raised their game to match the current level of ability we have. Zabs was player of the season last time out, this time it may well be Milner.

I hope not, that would mean that our top quality players didn't perform consistently again.

I think Milner allows our skilful players to play. With his energy and commitment, he, like Slim said, fills in any gaps they leave and makes us more solid defensively.

That's exactly what he does, good article during the Euros which summed him up perfectly I thought.

http://www.theguardian.com/p/38g4y

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

I think MIlner will be in the top 7 when it comes to most starts for our club the next season.

I'm not sure about that, but I bet he's in the top 3-5 for playing time in all competitions.

How does that work then?

He will feature in 90% of matches at some point, whereas the likes of Nasty, Lescott, Nasri, Negredo, Dzeko, Kolarov, Richards, Jovetic, Garcia, Sinclair and Barry will probably feature in about 35-75% of our fixtures.

Say he makes 50 appearances and spends an average of 50 minutes on the pitch, that's a hell of a lot of playing time.

Thirty 90 minute appearances give you more minutes than fifty 50 minute appearances.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I think MIlner will be in the top 7 when it comes to most starts for our club the next season.

I'm not sure about that, but I bet he's in the top 3-5 for playing time in all competitions.

How does that work then?

He will feature in 90% of matches at some point, whereas the likes of Nasty, Lescott, Nasri, Negredo, Dzeko, Kolarov, Richards, Jovetic, Garcia, Sinclair and Barry will probably feature in about 35-75% of our fixtures.

Say he makes 50 appearances and spends an average of 50 minutes on the pitch, that's a hell of a lot of playing time.

Thirty 90 minute appearances give you more minutes than fifty 50 minute appearances.

Here's an overview of squad performance from last season including total minutes played. Think it's somewhat pertinent to this discussion.

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/manch ... _2012.html

[Alioune DVToure]

I think MIlner will be in the top 7 when it comes to most starts for our club the next season.

I'm not sure about that, but I bet he's in the top 3-5 for playing time in all competitions.

How does that work then?

He will feature in 90% of matches at some point, whereas the likes of Nasty, Lescott, Nasri, Negredo, Dzeko, Kolarov, Richards, Jovetic, Garcia, Sinclair and Barry will probably feature in about 35-75% of our fixtures.

Say he makes 50 appearances and spends an average of 50 minutes on the pitch, that's a hell of a lot of playing time.

Thirty 90 minute appearances give you more minutes than fifty 50 minute appearances.

Errrrrr... And?

I doubt anyone other than Hart and Kompany (if he stays fit) will play 90 minutes 30 times, so my point still stands.

[Cocacolajojo1]

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/manch ... _2012.html

Hughes never really understood what he had in Tevez, Mancini did. Mancini has never really realized what he had in Milner, let's hopep that Pellegrini does.

[Alioune DVToure]

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/manch ... _2012.html

Hughes never really understood what he had in Tevez, Mancini did. Mancini has never really realized what he had in Milner, let's hopep that Pellegrini does.

A couple of people have said that about Mancini in this thread, but I think he used him well. He should've started the home derby and one or two other big games (usually instead of Nasri) but all in all I thought he was well used.

[Cocacolajojo1]

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/manch ... _2012.html

Hughes never really understood what he had in Tevez, Mancini did. Mancini has never really realized what he had in Milner, let's hopep that Pellegrini does.

A couple of people have said that about Mancini in this thread, but I think he used him well. He should've started the home derby and one or two other big games (usually instead of Nasri) but all in all I thought he was well used.

I disagree on that. I think it was obvious he was on fire during the autumn of 2012, forcing himself into the starting eleven despite the purchase of Nasri. The demolition-derby and the final pass to Aguero in that third champions league-game comes to mind. Then over the christmas holiday Mancini for some reason started to play him in central midfield and Milner was one of our major weaknesess against West Brom. I don't know if he played against Sunderland. Nevertheless, it seems Mancini blamed him for the entire thing and started playing him less than before, instead of just moving him out to the right again.

This was my impression of how it went down anyway. I haven't got the apperances-stats to back it up, just an impression. And then there was Milner first season, where Mancini tried to play him like a wing-forward (or whatever the term is, outer forward?) in a 4-3-3, which I would say he's not good at at all. Milner that is.

[Benjay]

A couple of people have said that about Mancini in this thread, but I think he used him well. He should've started the home derby and one or two other big games (usually instead of Nasri) but all in all I thought he was well used.

I seem to recall at one point in the past Milner having a run of games under Bobby in which he looked really good only for Bobby to squad rotate and we didnt seem him again for a while. He did it to Dzeko too. Some of his squad selections were very odd...

[Tokyo Blue]

A couple of people have said that about Mancini in this thread, but I think he used him well. He should've started the home derby and one or two other big games (usually instead of Nasri) but all in all I thought he was well used.

I seem to recall at one point in the past Milner having a run of games under Bobby in which he looked really good only for Bobby to squad rotate and we didnt seem him again for a while. He did it to Dzeko too. Some of his squad selections were very odd...

Didn't he have a broken arm at some stage? I seem to remember him being out for a month or two and then playing with a cast on for a time after that.

[Beefymcfc]

A couple of people have said that about Mancini in this thread, but I think he used him well. He should've started the home derby and one or two other big games (usually instead of Nasri) but all in all I thought he was well used.

I seem to recall at one point in the past Milner having a run of games under Bobby in which he looked really good only for Bobby to squad rotate and we didnt seem him again for a while. He did it to Dzeko too. Some of his squad selections were very odd...

Didn't he have a broken arm at some stage? I seem to remember him being out for a month or two and then playing with a cast on for a time after that.

He was mate. Milner played around 40 games for us last seen (plus England games) even though he was out through most of December. I'm not sure I ever saw him play predominantly in the middle, only for very short periods when he was covering.

[City64]

Certainly £20 plus million well spent on an ENGLISH player for us ! ;-)

[Mikhail Chigorin]

There are no reasons to dislike Milner.

He comes from Yorkshire.

(Oooh you regionist pig, cry the commie fun police)

As a Yorkshireman myself, all I can say to that is "Ouch"......

[Risby]

Certainly £20 plus million well spent on an ENGLISH player for us ! ;-)

He is and always will be a silent city favourite.

What I mean by that is, he's not the quickest, he's not the most skilful, but what he does do is well respected amongst us supporters and players.

The lad works his arse off every day for our club, it is seen every match day. He deserve the praise he gets.

[Wonderwall]

It must be me, I seem to enjoy watching players play for us that majority of people dont like.

Didi
Bosvelt
Barry
Milner

To name some, I love the way they read the game and their ease in doing so.

[MilnersJaw]

It must be me, I seem to enjoy watching players play for us that majority of people dont like.

Didi
Bosvelt
Barry
Milner

To name some, I love the way they read the game and their ease in doing so.

Since when was I not well liked?

[Wonderwall]

I think you need to read more.....not when you're just having a good game