The Milner Novela... Final episode page 296

[Small Rodent]

He does'nt dominate a game, he has a nice pass, and a good shot, but we don't see it enough to suggest a £30m price tag.If we get anywhere near £30m, or even better the opportunity to get players like Onohua,/Ireland/Richards/Hart/SWP, then i think for OUR club to move forward then we have to do a deal.Good Luck to Milner, a beacon of integrity atm in the world of football, but we need better players in the team atm, and selling Milner is probably the only opportunity we will have this summer to get the kind of players in we need.

I agree. I saw a bloke running in Kennington Park wearing a Villa shirt the other day. Was it you? He was an ugly c**t!

[barrysleftfoot]

Compareed to you Small One.....no doubt we are all c***s.

[SoccerHQ]

Ireland certainly scores more goals than Milner from open play, I'm not sure why that's up to debate? Season 08/09, Ireland scored 9 league goals and he dosen't take penalties.

Outside of Milner, no one contributes goals from central midfield. Petrov has scored one league goal in two seasons, NRC rarely scores and Sidwell...well enough said.

Ideally you'd have Milner and Petrov as the two central midfielders and Ireland as the link man to the forward but if it has to be Ireland for Milner again not so bad.

[PaulWinch again]

I think Ireland could be an excellent player for us. If it was £25 million plus Ireland i'd take it. If not i'd sign him anyway.

[Chris Smith]

Agree totally, we should say 25 and Ireland and get it sorted, then we don't have to spend all summer worrying about it and have a replacement in. I actually think IReland and NRC could be more effective than Milner and Petrov, but we will see.

That would actually mean MON playing NRC, a task that seems beyond him most of the time.

Spot on, other than the 70 odd games he's started for us he's hardly featured.

[nechells]

Agree totally, we should say 25 and Ireland and get it sorted, then we don't have to spend all summer worrying about it and have a replacement in. I actually think IReland and NRC could be more effective than Milner and Petrov, but we will see.

That would actually mean MON playing NRC, a task that seems beyond him most of the time.

Spot on, other than the 70 odd games he's started for us he's hardly featured.

The issue is that once you get on the wrong side of MON then there appears no way back.NRC has hardly figured since his run in with MON-for some reason Luke Young has had similar problems & I wonder how many more points we'd have secured last season had Carew started instead of Heskey.

MON's man management does not appear to be the best-I'd hate to think what would have happened had MON been at the helm when McGrath was here.

[ktvillan]

Odd that so many people seem to accept Petrov is so fundamental to any possible new midfield combination.  His legs have gone, he can't manage more than 60 minutes, can barely manage a forward pass let a lone a shot at goal,  and he really aint all that.  I'd be more than happy to see him shipped out and replaced.  

As for Ireland, when he came on as sub for City at VP last season he changed the game and ran the game.  For me he's a very good player and a more than adequate replacement for Milner.

[eamonn]

I imagine Citeh value Ireland at about £15m. If there is to be a cash+swap deal we would be lucky to get £15m. Obviously it depends on how much they want Milner and we all know they have deep pockets. £25m plus Ireland is dreamland though. Not going to happen.

[Ozzjim]

YOu say that Eamonn, but common thought is their latest is 20 million and Ireland, so its edging up there! They seem to rate him at 8-12 by reports of him leaving go, so maybe not quite as out there.

Chris - smart comments about the 70 odd games re Nigel Reo Coker, but in reality he has started how many last season in the league? Even counting for injury, after spending 8.5 million on him, leaving him out when the squad needed rotating badly last season was poor management. More frustrating, he was great in the 5-0 home against Bolton and man of the match at Anfield.

[eamonn]

Milner's energy is the main benefit to our side. His non stop engine both going forward and back. He probably covers more grass than 2 players in one game, adding a valuable bite to our side

Ireland to me is the absolute opposite

Dunno about that.

Ireland spent pre season a few years back bulking up and working on his stamina. Wasn't instructed to, just done it of his own bat.

A feature of his Player of The Year campaign a few years back were regular lung-busting runs to get on the end of things in the box. He can also pass with imagination, do the unexpected. A player like that is always worth his weight in gold (or pimped out pink Audi's).

He might not be exactly the same type of player Jimmy is, but what he has could be very good for us.

Good points made, but just to point out that it was only the season before the one just ended (2008/09) that he was their player of the year and the pre-season at the start of that campaign that helped him have such a successful season. So it's just this season where he's not climbed the heights of last year.

[Nastylee]

Whatever happens to Milner we cannot start the season with Petrov as first choice. He's a spent force and needs replacing if we are to compete again next season.

[garyfouroaks]

Ideally you'd have Milner and Petrov as the two central midfielders and Ireland as the link man to the forward but if it has to be Ireland for Milner again not so bad.

I assume you mean Martin Petrov?

Ideally Stilyan Petrov will be playing for Blackpool or some such side next year.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

I think Ireland is the more technically gifted player, while Milner has far more industry in his play. I think we could do with keeping NRC or at least replace him with somebody who has that energy level to compliment him.

As has been said, with say £25 million and £15-20 million off Randy, we’d be able to get a real high quality striker in, a better right back than Luke and a couple of creative/attacking midfielder types, such as Benayoun or Bentley to give us extra depth.

As much as I’d like to keep Milner, if the only way we can get three or four good quality attacking options in is to sell him, then that’s what we have to do.

Agree with most comments but Luke Young is as good a right back as anyone in the premeire ship ................

[usav]

Agree totally, we should say 25 and Ireland and get it sorted, then we don't have to spend all summer worrying about it and have a replacement in. I actually think IReland and NRC could be more effective than Milner and Petrov, but we will see.

That would actually mean MON playing NRC, a task that seems beyond him most of the time.

Spot on, other than the 70 odd games he's started for us he's hardly featured.

The issue is that once you get on the wrong side of MON then there appearsher way back.

Mr Smith knows that, he's just maintaining his stereotype.

[Chris Smith]

Agree totally, we should say 25 and Ireland and get it sorted, then we don't have to spend all summer worrying about it and have a replacement in. I actually think IReland and NRC could be more effective than Milner and Petrov, but we will see.

That would actually mean MON playing NRC, a task that seems beyond him most of the time.

Spot on, other than the 70 odd games he's started for us he's hardly featured.

The issue is that once you get on the wrong side of MON then there appears no way back.NRC has hardly figured since his run in with MON-for some reason Luke Young has had similar problems & I wonder how many more points we'd have secured last season had Carew started instead of Heskey.

MON's man management does not appear to be the best-I'd hate to think what would have happened had MON been at the helm when McGrath was here.

He played and even captained the side after his bust up with MON. He then got injured and was out for several months.