And therein lies the rub. If Milner plays like that consistently (and he does, just go look through his player thread to see everyone asking what on earth he contributes), then 9 games out of 10 nothing good will happen.
I'm sorry Fed, I can't accept what you're saying.
First, your suggestion that the fact that people criticise him in his player thread MEANS that he IS playing badly.
Many fans criticise in the heat of the moment, without the analytical nous of someone who KNOWS the game, watches from the standpoint of experience, and perhaps has played to any level. I haven't, but I know two lads who have, as pros. They both say that without Milner we'd be relegation fodder, because he's the kind of player who gets his 'hands dirty' and allows more creative, technical players (and I'm certainly not saying
he isn't creative or technical!) to play their game. He gets criticised for things like 'having no end product' (how many assists?!), 'losing the ball,' (who do we have who
doesn't deserve that one?), going missing in the middle (he isn't a CM, and we all know he's ineffective when played there - hardly his fault), appearing a bit clumsy (OK he's not elegant a la Digger Barnes, but I don't mind - elegance doesn't always equate to quality in my book), and his poor set-piece delivery (and again, who have we got who IS reliable in that respect?).
Second, your ..."9 out of 10 games nothing good will happen" comment is clearly nonsense when you consider the contribution Milner has made in the last 10 games. Assists, goals, some great wins - Man Utd, Dortmund, Stoke, Man City, Palace, Bournemouth, the draw v Spurs - have you actually watched any of those?
Third, he never lets anything stand in the way of doing his damndest to help his team win football matches. He never disappears when fans get on his back, never sulks, never rants at refs or team-mates, never shirks a challenge, never passes-on responsibility and never takes to Twatter to tell the world what a wonderful human being he is, or someone else isn't. He's professional in the old-fashioned sense, and so much of his good play goes unnoticed because he isn't naturally spectacular, and doesn't seek attention. He's the kind of player every team needs; and every winning team has.
I have to say that a lot of fans strike me as ignorant about the nitty-gritty of football, and seem to think its like a game of FIFA in many respects.
I know you cop a fair bit of stick for some of your posts, mate, sometimes you deserve it. But there's odd occasions when I actually think you might have a point.
Sadly, this isn't one of them.
He's a proper player. Right now, I wouldn't swap him.
