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Ted Hughes wrote:Both Milner & Lescott should be playing regularly in the top 4 or 5 imo. Like Barry, they are vastly underrated players. Somehow this happens particularly at City. Barry received more positive press last season than he did in his whole City career in spite of being older & slower. Lescott I suppose could be on his last legs fitness wise, we will have to see, but if Milner signed for Liverpool tomorrow, he would suddenly become an invaluable member of the England side & 'vastly improved'.

I'm with Ted on this one.

Micah would probably also be England's first choice right back if he was at Liverpool (and fit!!)

If Milner was played regularly we would eventually get the Bayern away performances from him regularly. Who would you rather see representing England, an egotistical chainsmoking liar such as Wilshere or a teetotal hardworking (regularly played) professional like Jimmy?

Trouble he's simply not good enough to play regularly for City in central midfield given our huge strength there. If he really wants regular starts there Pellegrini can't promise that. Navas with his pace is always likely to be ahead of him in the pecking order too. If he's happy to play right side or left side as the need arises he will remain a valuable member of the squad. That's why I'm sure the club would be happy to offer him an extension of his contract. It's up to Milner though. I doubt we'll sell him this window because he's home grown but he may choose to run his contract down rather than agree to an extension. Then he'd get a signing on bonus to make up for lower wages somewhere else. It would be his choice. You can't blame the Club.

We've never really given him a chance in central midfield so people can't claim he's not good enough to play there for us based on the odd disjointed match here or there during his time with us - we simply don't know what he's capable of. Before he joined us he was playing arguably the best football of his career at that point centrally so he can play there (given time). The point was that he is top four material, versatile, and always puts a shift in, even if he's having a bad game.
I'm not claiming we should bench our regular midfield to accommodate him there, either (since it seems to be shaping up nicely for what Pellegrini wants).

Dameerto wrote:We've never really given him a chance in central midfield so people can't claim he's not good enough to play there for us based on the odd disjointed match here or there during his time with us - we simply don't know what he's capable of. Before he joined us he was playing arguably the best football of his career at that point centrally so he can play there (given time). The point was that he is top four material, versatile, and always puts a shift in, even if he's having a bad game.
I'm not claiming we should bench our regular midfield to accommodate him there, either (since it seems to be shaping up nicely for what Pellegrini wants).

We have tried him in there mate - rubbish nowadays. Excellent on the flanks though. Except that Sunderland game - ugh.

john@staustell wrote:

Dameerto wrote:We've never really given him a chance in central midfield so people can't claim he's not good enough to play there for us based on the odd disjointed match here or there during his time with us - we simply don't know what he's capable of. Before he joined us he was playing arguably the best football of his career at that point centrally so he can play there (given time). The point was that he is top four material, versatile, and always puts a shift in, even if he's having a bad game.
I'm not claiming we should bench our regular midfield to accommodate him there, either (since it seems to be shaping up nicely for what Pellegrini wants).

We have tried him in there mate - rubbish nowadays. Excellent on the flanks though. Except that Sunderland game - ugh.

And how many games in a row was he tried there last season? Our regular midfielders took four or five games to start playing the way Pellegrini demands in his system and they have played midfield for the bulk (if not all) of their careers, but Milner is a crap central midfielder because we give him the occasional start in that position? I'm not having it at all. Like I said in my post we have never given him a string of games to settle into central midfield so we don't have the current data to write him off there.

At whose expense would we give him a string of games in central midfield? Yaya Fernandinho? He's no defensive midfielder either so he's hardly going to keep out Fernando.

Let's be realistic. It's not going to happen because we have much better players in central midfield than Milner. Maybe domestic cup games but not league games short of multiple injuries.

I'm not claiming we should bench our regular midfield to accommodate him there, either (since it seems to be shaping up nicely for what Pellegrini wants).

The point was that Milner would benefit from regular matches (as would we) and that he would be a better option in central midfield for England than a chain smoking liar such as Wilshere.

Why is it that Garcia can have 30 games in midfield, then become half decent, Nastasic cb for two seasons & not even half decent, but Milner has to be fucking brilliant 10 games on the trot in whatever position they stick him ? Why isn't Milner allowed 20 games in centre mid to get his act together like every other cunt ?

Milner needs to leave and it was a bad decision for him to join us. He my have won things but I've never seen him play regularly enough to say we are getting tthe best out of him. We have now brought in Fernando who will most certainly get in infront of Milner and agai he'll be left of the fringe.

It was his choice to come to us and I have no doubt he took the right decision at the time but now he's up against near WC players and the only thing in his favour is that he's home grown.

Love Milner, hope he makes the right decision.

Guardian reporting that Milner may stay till January and then decide whether to stay or go based on how often he plays. We won't get much for half a season's contract so I guess he'll either extend or leave as a free agent next summer.

Ted Hughes wrote:Why is it that Garcia can have 30 games in midfield, then become half decent, Nastasic cb for two seasons & not even half decent, but Milner has to be fucking brilliant 10 games on the trot in whatever position they stick him ? Why isn't Milner allowed 20 games in centre mid to get his act together like every other cunt ?

I reckon he'd be superb in there, Ted. Won't get the chance with us, however.

blues2win wrote:Guardian reporting that Milner may stay till January and then decide whether to stay or go based on how often he plays. We won't get much for half a season's contract so I guess he'll either extend or leave as a free agent next summer.

I always expected him to stay this time, and the above is what I would do if I was him.

Deserves to play more, been criminally underused at City with Garcia and Rodwell getting games centrally when he should have.

Can understand why he would leave but his value to us has never been higher given a) he's dependable and not a shitbag in the dressing room, b) he is English and we have that daft quota we accepted.

He'll play out this year giving 110% like he always does, then walk wherever he wants next summer and he will deserve that right when he does.

seems this has popped up again.

frankly, we can't afford to lose him. his versatility and work rate are immense. unfortunately, with everyone healthy and in form, he's usually not in the starting 11….but we're rarely healthy and rarely have everyone in form which is why its important to have good squad depth.

plus, he's English…and we're not likely to find relatively cheap English talent that offers as much as him or more.

Reading his interview this morning it seems a new deal is very close just a guarantee of regular football . A no brainer as City are concerned and Milner is sitting pretty .

I wasn't over keen on his initial signing as I didn't really rate him. But to his credit, year on year he's grown on me to the extent that he pars with Zab's and his two starts this season have been nothing shy of absolutely fantastic

Simple solution.....Start Jimmy Jaws more often and he'll sign again

phips wrote:seems this has popped up again.

frankly, we can't afford to lose him. his versatility and work rate are immense. unfortunately, with everyone healthy and in form, he's usually not in the starting 11….but we're rarely healthy and rarely have everyone in form which is why its important to have good squad depth.

plus, he's English…and we're not likely to find relatively cheap English talent that offers as much as him or more.

Milner wasn't cheap. Nor should his replacement be were he to actually leave.