The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[BedsVillain]

Hypothetically, because they might not go anywhere, who could we get that would make as big a contribution as Milner and Young did last season?

I think Ireland would make a good contribution assists and goal wise given a consistent place in the team and I also think Bentley could as well. Now that's only my opinion and I'm basing names on the pool of players that MON is likely to fish in, but personally I think it's hard to gage in reality.

I do think that it's not a case of trying to replace like for like, again personally I'd prefer us to play in a different way, I don't like the two winger system we adopted for most of the season, I'd prefer a 3 man midfield. I'd also prefer to keep both Milner and Young, as you've said Hilts, stats wise they contributed a lot last season. But neither of them are Messi or Ronaldo.
I guess I've become rather non-plussed about football in general of late, players come and go, but life and football goes on. If they both move on, so be it, I just want Aston Villa to get the best deal out of it as possible.

[Captain Trips]

This sounds to me very much like the situation when Andy Gray left us. If the internet had been around then, this site would have been in meltdown. I am resigned to him going after reading what he said at the press conference yesterday. I would however look at other options than the unwanted Man City players. Lets take some of there better players. how about Adam Johnson, De Jong and 10-15m?

[Concrete John]

Hypothetically, because they might not go anywhere, who could we get that would make as big a contribution as Milner and Young did last season?

Without the goals and assists figures to hand, I think Ireland would give us the attacking element of Milner's game, if not the workrate.  Along with Ash, Bentley was one of the best wingers outside the top 4 in 08/09, so as a regular starter we could get something similar output wise, but again he does have a habit of shirking his defensive duties, which we can't say of Young.

[BedsVillain]

Hypothetically, because they might not go anywhere, who could we get that would make as big a contribution as Milner and Young did last season?

Without the goals and assists figures to hand, I think Ireland would give us the attacking element of Milner's game, if not the workrate.  Along with Ash, Bentley was one of the best wingers outside the top 4 in 08/09, so as a regular starter we could get something similar output wise, but again he does have a habit of shirking his defensive duties, which we can't say of Young.

Great minds John, the same players that I mentioned. I do think however that we need to stop relying on our forward/attacking players doubling up as defenders so much. We don't play with attack minded defenders really do we, so if we invest in a specialist DM and leave our atatckers to attack we should be both solid at the back still and capable of scoring more goals than we did last season.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

When the Negative Tendancy were on their MON out crusade a couple of months ago they were confident that we could attract a top class replacement. I take it that you all feel the same should Milner go.

Would this be the same 'negative tendancy' that appears when PRO MON posters insist that we'd get no better than Mark Hughes if he left?

[Greg N'Ash]

When the Negative Tendancy were on their MON out crusade a couple of months ago they were confident that we could attract a top class replacement. I take it that you all feel the same should Milner go.

in a similar vein , if Milner goes i take it you'll be retiring your "milner might go if MON goes " spin?

[Concrete John]

Great minds John, the same players that I mentioned. I do think however that we need to stop relying on our forward/attacking players doubling up as defenders so much. We don't play with attack minded defenders really do we, so if we invest in a specialist DM and leave our atatckers to attack we should be both solid at the back still and capable of scoring more goals than we did last season.

I'd agree in principal, but all managers want hard work from their players and Martin is no different.  Even sides like Man Utd have a tremendously hardworking midfield.  I don't mind them not being particularly good tacklers, etc., but I do mind them not at least trying to get back and help out!

[BedsVillain]

Great minds John, the same players that I mentioned. I do think however that we need to stop relying on our forward/attacking players doubling up as defenders so much. We don't play with attack minded defenders really do we, so if we invest in a specialist DM and leave our atatckers to attack we should be both solid at the back still and capable of scoring more goals than we did last season.

I'd agree in principal, but all managers want hard work from their players and Martin is no different.  Even sides like Man Utd have a tremendously hardworking midfield.  I don't mind them not being particularly good tacklers, etc., but I do mind them not at least trying to get back and help out!

Oh I agree John! I'd never want a Berbatov for example. But I think from what I've seen of the players we've mentioned we'd still get a decent work rate out of them, I know Pavlyuchenko is somewhat laid back in training from what I've heard, but I think he puts in a shift when playing. I just think maybe we've worked our players into the ground over the last couple of seasons, not just from non-rotation but from having to cover every blade etc etc... I also think maybe it's the reason we've not been scoring as much too.

[Concrete John]

Were we to say to our better players "Don't worry about tracking back and just stay up the pitch" then I'm sure would score more, but would that be negated by letting more in at the other end?  At the moment we defend as a team and everyone pulls their weight, so we would lose that if we adopted the different approach you are suggesting.  Even saying signing a better striker to solve the goal scoring problem might have a similar effect, as whe playing both Carew and Heskey come back to help defend corners and set pieces.

The trick is as obvious as it sounds - score more without conceeding less, but this is much easier said than done.  Our attempt to balance this last season probably saw us be too defensive/conservative, which does need to change.  I think a lot of this goes back to the end of 08/09 where we were leaking goals for fun and I think Martin was determined to stop that.

I agree a more specialist holding player would give some more freedom to the attacking midfielders, so this is a key element for me.

[Chris Smith]

When the Negative Tendancy were on their MON out crusade a couple of months ago they were confident that we could attract a top class replacement. I take it that you all feel the same should Milner go.

in a similar vein , if Milner goes i take it you'll be retiring your "milner might go if MON goes " spin?

Why don't you just try answering the question?

[john e]

Barry was still a bigger loss if/when Millner goes,
you canot replace a player like barry for 12mill, and we still havent,

whereas if we do get in the region of 25-30 mill for Millner then he can be replaced a lot easier, Ireland for a start, what we need is better more creative midfielders,

we might have to pay over the odds to get one to VP, but it will be a price worth paying and Millners overprice will have helped,

there must be a few decent midfielders in Europe who would come if we have 20+ to spend

[i know MON thinks europe stops at Dover but i'm just speculating]

[Greg N'Ash]

far easier to replace MON than Milner especially as Randy will no doubt look abroad

[hilts_coolerking]

When the Negative Tendancy were on their MON out crusade a couple of months ago they were confident that we could attract a top class replacement. I take it that you all feel the same should Milner go.

in a similar vein , if Milner goes i take it you'll be retiring your "milner might go if MON goes " spin?

Why don't you just try answering the question?

What does Randy's ability to replace Martin have to do with Martin's ability to replace Milner and / or Young?

[BedsVillain]

far easier to replace MON than Milner especially as Randy will no doubt look abroad

Can't agree with that in the slightest Greg. Stability in management is far harder to replicate or replace, decent CM's are ten-a-penny. Plus MON has a knack of creating them from other positions.

I think it was far more important to keep MON this summer than it was any player.

[jonzy85]

far easier to replace MON than Milner especially as Randy will no doubt look abroad

Can't agree with that in the slightest Greg. Stability in management is far harder to replicate or replace, decent CM's are ten-a-penny. Plus MON has a knack of creating them from other positions.

I think it was far more important to keep MON this summer than it was any player.

Agreed.