Milner

[citytilidie]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

[CityGer]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

[CitizenYank]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

why? He did brilliant job with fairly poor national team. Some of you seem to bit overrate some of your players. Someone even mentioned here while back that we should sign Landon Donovan. Madness.

[CitizenYank]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

why? He did brilliant job with fairly poor national team. Some of you seem to bit overrate some of your players. Someone even mentioned here while back that we should sign Landon Donovan. Madness.

Bradley is a great squad selector and has done a good job of developing talent, but he follows the same midfield clogging tactics that every natural born American manager has used before him. The USMNT needs some a fresh foreign blood. The name Klinsmann comes to mind.

I mean 5 MIDFIELDERS!! Give me a fucking break we don't even have one quality striker if it wasn't for Davies!!!

[ryanmjo]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

why? He did brilliant job with fairly poor national team. Some of you seem to bit overrate some of your players. Someone even mentioned here while back that we should sign Landon Donovan. Madness.

Bradley did not do a brilliant job with the national team. He did an average job. He made the same mistakes in 3 straight games, and Ghana finally punished him for it.

[CitizenYank]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

why? He did brilliant job with fairly poor national team. Some of you seem to bit overrate some of your players. Someone even mentioned here while back that we should sign Landon Donovan. Madness.

Bradley did not do a brilliant job with the national team. He did an average job. He made the same mistakes in 3 straight games, and Ghana finally punished him for it.

Thank You!!

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

I would agree with you. Trolling their boards and talking to their supporters, find quite a few fans are using terms like 'money-grubbing' and 'glory-seeking." They are more interested in the idea of getting Stephen Ireland and £25 sterling for him.

I'd be more concerned about Bob Bradley walking their pitch than Milner leaving. Everyone Yank breathed a sigh of relief when he quit the national job.

why? He did brilliant job with fairly poor national team. Some of you seem to bit overrate some of your players. Someone even mentioned here while back that we should sign Landon Donovan. Madness.

Bradley did not do a brilliant job with the national team. He did an average job. He made the same mistakes in 3 straight games, and Ghana finally punished him for it.

and you genuinely thought someone could've done better with that bunch of players. Wow.

I watched all usa games and was very impressed with way he had set team with very little talent. Klinsy will make you play 'good football' but as far as the results go, you'll probably do worse.

[bluej]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

Perhaps you should start another thread on it.

[Grob]

Just saw his goal on MOTD - awesome!

Some reception he got, considering.

Perhaps you should start another thread on it.

[youtube]QL15Ya5fsgo[/youtube]

[ryanmjo]

and you genuinely thought someone could've done better with that bunch of players. Wow.

I watched all usa games and was very impressed with way he had set team with very little talent. Klinsy will make you play 'good football' but as far as the results go, you'll probably do worse.

Yes, someone else clearly could have done better. In the England match, Ricardo Clark gets caught watching the ball, lets Gerrard in to score a goal. Against Slovenia, Robbie Findley is so ineffective that his biggest contribution is getting hit in the face with a shot and bizarrely earning a yellow card. So, come the knockout rounds against Ghana, what does Bradley do? He starts Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley. What happens? Clark gives the ball away, the usa concedes a goal. Findley delivers one of the worst 45 minutes of the tournament up top. I watched the USA all through qualifying- all 16 fixtures. I understand that you watched them at the World Cup and everything, but Bradley failed to learn from or correct his mistakes through the whole cycle of qualifying, and at the World Cup as well.

I'm not claiming he's horrible, and I don't think Klinsmann is the answer for the USA either, but let's not deify the guy.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

and you genuinely thought someone could've done better with that bunch of players. Wow.

I watched all usa games and was very impressed with way he had set team with very little talent. Klinsy will make you play 'good football' but as far as the results go, you'll probably do worse.

Yes, someone else clearly could have done better. In the England match, Ricardo Clark gets caught watching the ball, lets Gerrard in to score a goal. Against Slovenia, Robbie Findley is so ineffective that his biggest contribution is getting hit in the face with a shot and bizarrely earning a yellow card. So, come the knockout rounds against Ghana, what does Bradley do? He starts Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley. What happens? Clark gives the ball away, the usa concedes a goal. Findley delivers one of the worst 45 minutes of the tournament up top. I watched the USA all through qualifying- all 16 fixtures. I understand that you watched them at the World Cup and everything, but Bradley failed to learn from or correct his mistakes through the whole cycle of qualifying, and at the World Cup as well.

I'm not claiming he's horrible, and I don't think Klinsmann is the answer for the USA either, but let's not deify the guy.

Point is, who are Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley?? And who would their replacements be? And how would they be any better in marking one of the best midfielders in the world?

[ryanmjo]

and you genuinely thought someone could've done better with that bunch of players. Wow.

I watched all usa games and was very impressed with way he had set team with very little talent. Klinsy will make you play 'good football' but as far as the results go, you'll probably do worse.

Yes, someone else clearly could have done better. In the England match, Ricardo Clark gets caught watching the ball, lets Gerrard in to score a goal. Against Slovenia, Robbie Findley is so ineffective that his biggest contribution is getting hit in the face with a shot and bizarrely earning a yellow card. So, come the knockout rounds against Ghana, what does Bradley do? He starts Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley. What happens? Clark gives the ball away, the usa concedes a goal. Findley delivers one of the worst 45 minutes of the tournament up top. I watched the USA all through qualifying- all 16 fixtures. I understand that you watched them at the World Cup and everything, but Bradley failed to learn from or correct his mistakes through the whole cycle of qualifying, and at the World Cup as well.

I'm not claiming he's horrible, and I don't think Klinsmann is the answer for the USA either, but let's not deify the guy.

Point is, who are Ricardo Clark and Robbie Findley?? And who would their replacements be? And how would they be any better in marking one of the best midfielders in the world?

I understand what you are saying. If all he had was Rico Clark and Robbie Findley to work with, I'd be commending him. The thing is, he had better players than Clark and Findley, namely Maurice Edu and Benny Feilhaber (in more of a 4-4-1-1), and somehow he refused to see that until it was too late.

I'll be wishing Bob success at Villa if he gets the job, but I won't be sad to see him leaving the U.S.

[Colin the King]

Having seen the way we set up yesterday, I'd be more inclined to think Milner would be a really valuable signing. There was nothing particularly wrong with the midfield, we passed tidily and didn't concede space in the centre, but there was too much grass that went uncovered. It was either Tevez and Silva 30 yards away from the midfield, or more often, both of them in midfield dropping deep with nothing up front. Milner offers the threat of grabbing the game by the scruff of its neck and driving the team forward, he's done it consistently well for Villa since signing and was Newcastle's most dangerous player before moving (no coincidence that he and Given leaving coincided with them going down).

He's not the classy perfectionist we saw in Ireland or Elano, for example, but what plagued both of them was being hot and cold, and therefore (Ireland's one season excepted) unreliable. He does everything well- tackling, passing, shooting, goalscoring, crossing, dribbling, tracking- and is exactly the guy to shorten the space between midfield and attack, because he's not afraid to charge forward with the ball, and on top of that, isn't afraid to have a crack. Sometimes we try to be too intricate in our build-up play.

I initially had reservations about spending so much on him, but it's the market and our reputation that dictates the cost- if we go elsewhere we'll be paying over the odds too, except with Gourcuff, for example, have no idea whether he'll fit in this league, and if he does, how long the process will take. Milner is pretty much guaranteed to hit the ground running and be influential. We have Silva as the little link-man and a multitude of defensively minded players, what we need is someone primarily attacking but with the heart and acceleration to get back when necessary, in other words, a consistent reliable Superman from 08/09. I think that's James Milner.

[The Man In Blue]

good post mate. he's a really effective all rounder, with a rare, valuable quality - a workrate to go with his talents. someone on here mentioned a few months back that milner's presence in the side would really help our away performances, what with his graft and consistency i totally agree with this. really want this deal to go through, sorry stevie.

[john@staustell]

Someone posted another derogatory thread a while back about 'how exactly does Milner fit into this'? Or something.

Well it's clear that on Saturday he would've been right side midfield, instead of dear old SWP. And anyone who says it wouldn't have made a great improvement has serious issues!

[Goaters 103]

Someone posted another derogatory thread a while back about 'how exactly does Milner fit into this'? Or something.

Well it's clear that on Saturday he would've been right side midfield, instead of dear old SWP. And anyone who says it wouldn't have made a great improvement has serious issues!

Correct. He would give us a genuine box to box midfielder that we lack.

[Mike J]

Someone posted another derogatory thread a while back about 'how exactly does Milner fit into this'? Or something.

Well it's clear that on Saturday he would've been right side midfield, instead of dear old SWP. And anyone who says it wouldn't have made a great improvement has serious issues!

completely agree. he would of been ideal for the spurs game. get this done asap.

[Blue Blood]

Has he signed yet?

Jeebus this one is dragging!

[Murph]

Having seen the way we set up yesterday, I'd be more inclined to think Milner would be a really valuable signing. There was nothing particularly wrong with the midfield, we passed tidily and didn't concede space in the centre, but there was too much grass that went uncovered. It was either Tevez and Silva 30 yards away from the midfield, or more often, both of them in midfield dropping deep with nothing up front. Milner offers the threat of grabbing the game by the scruff of its neck and driving the team forward, he's done it consistently well for Villa since signing and was Newcastle's most dangerous player before moving (no coincidence that he and Given leaving coincided with them going down).

He's not the classy perfectionist we saw in Ireland or Elano, for example, but what plagued both of them was being hot and cold, and therefore (Ireland's one season excepted) unreliable. He does everything well- tackling, passing, shooting, goalscoring, crossing, dribbling, tracking- and is exactly the guy to shorten the space between midfield and attack, because he's not afraid to charge forward with the ball, and on top of that, isn't afraid to have a crack. Sometimes we try to be too intricate in our build-up play.

I initially had reservations about spending so much on him, but it's the market and our reputation that dictates the cost- if we go elsewhere we'll be paying over the odds too, except with Gourcuff, for example, have no idea whether he'll fit in this league, and if he does, how long the process will take. Milner is pretty much guaranteed to hit the ground running and be influential. We have Silva as the little link-man and a multitude of defensively minded players, what we need is someone primarily attacking but with the heart and acceleration to get back when necessary, in other words, a consistent reliable Superman from 08/09. I think that's James Milner.

Sums up pretty much how I feel about signing Milner and what he will offer to us. I to was a bit dubious when I heard we were in for him but the more I have thought about it the more I'm convinced he's just the type of player we need.