You're not taking O'Neill's side on this, are you... ?
Interesting that Milner questioned the lazy regime. 15 years on he's still playing. Maybe Gabby would be too if he hadn't been emboldened by Derry's Woody Allen to take the piss.
Long post alert!
I'm not a MON fan. He never moved with the times and so became yesterday's man very quickly. I found him a bit lazy at Villa and Ireland despite his Woody Allen/Brian Clough-isms. But it's a bit like in his time with Ireland when pundits like Keith Andrews at the time were complaining about his old school antics like picking the team an hour before kick off. Nobody complained when results were going well. Same for Villa really.
But let's look at the facts - is there any data backing up the assertion that his teams always collapsed around March?
- Certainly in MONs last season 09/10, after his and our meltdown in that 7-1 hiding at Chelsea we won 5 of the next 6 to in my mind bring it down to a winner takes all game at Man City which ended our CL hopes.
- the previous season 08/09, the one we blew really, there was a collapse for sure but for me that was more a tactical one. The disastrous attempt to shoe horn Heskey into the team after his signing in January left our midfield exposed. That was the classic lazy MON signing.
- 07/08 - were we ever in contention for top 4? Liverpool finished 16 points above us in 4th so unlikely. Three losses in a row in March were followed up with three wins in a row in April including the 5-1 derby win. From memory I thought we played great football that season with 71 PL goals.
Asides
- Milner played the best football of his career under MON in 09/10 when he effectively replaced Gareth Barry in the centre of the park. He was nothing more than a utility player for club and country afterwards.
- Gabby also played his best football of his career under MON. The fact he barely tried a leg afterwards is surely his responsibility and nobody else's.
- maybe with the exception of Gareth Barry, and only maybe, did any of those players kick on again post MON? Milner and Young won medals elsewhere but declined as players Id argue. Downing flopped at Liverpool. Warnock ended up in the championship?
- MON certainly flounced out at a terrible time and was given far too much authority with his budget. But that was far from a bad team he left behind that Houllier spectacularly mismanaged. If MON had been allowed to spend the Milner money on a Darren Bent/Robbie Keane a few months earlier (avoiding complete duds like Ireland and Makoun in the process), that squad should have been capable of a similar finish again.
