Delph for England

[supertom]

I thought Milner was showing signs of being one of the best CM's that England had at the time. Milner had a good eye for a pass actually. He also has better ball control than Delph, and the ability to really rifle the football.
If you're comparing Milner from 09/10 to Delph, there's no comparison. If you're comparing Milner now, as a fairly average but hard-working second choice wideman, then I'd take Delph.
For all his riches and some silverware, Milners biggest career mistake was moving to Man City to become a useful utility player and nothing more. Never mind Wilshere apparently being the future of Englands midfield now, had Milner stayed with us or moved elsewhere where he'd play consistently in CM, then he'd be the main man in the middle by now, in my opinion.

[SoccerHQ]

That's a good point Tom.

Milner has just gone back to being a right winger workhorse he was for us for the first season and a bit after he came back albeit with a few extra medals and a much bigger bank balance.

Telling England never consider him as a central midfield option.

I still miss him though, our central midfield has been very poor since he left.

[supertom]

That's a good point Tom.

Milner has just gone back to being a right winger workhorse he was for us for the first season and a bit after he came back albeit with a few extra medals and a much bigger bank balance.

Telling England never consider him as a central midfield option.

I still miss him though, our central midfield has been very poor since he left.

I think it's a measure of how good Milner was that we missed him a hell of a lot more than we missed Barry when he left. Milner almost ran our midfield on his own at times. He mopped up defensively and he scored a lot of goals and made a lot too.
We didn't make exceptional signings that summer in 09. We could conceivably have fallen away when we lost Barry, who'd been so influential for years, but Milner stepped up and we has our highest points tally under O Neill and reached a cup final.
Losing Milner, one player, the following summer, obviously in conjunction with O Neill fucking off really hit us hard. I know the timing of O Neill leaving contributed a large part but our biggest problem was losing the industry and creativity Milner gave us in CM. I think that was key in us falling from being a top 6 side to being relegation strugglers for large parts of the season. He's still not been replaced either.

[Matt C]

Very true Supertom. Milner was, at the time, the life and soul of that side while the whole club seemingly revolved around MON so when they both left its no wonder we looked a bit lost.

[eamonn]

Stirred a bit of a hornet's nest there. I've just never seen any player continue to get such widespread praise on the back of one impressive season (now four years ago...one of the reasons people used to write-off Ireland) as Milner and it gets really tiring the constant clamour to have him back.

He was a driving force for us for a few months but if he was that good a central midfielder he would have a got a run there by now at Citeh. Yet in three years he's been stuck on the bench or at best out on the right wing.
I do think Delph is technically more gifted. If he had a Barry and Petrov alongside him like Milner did in his time here Delph, in his current form, would be adding goals and assists to his game. Hopefully he still can when we get upgrades for the powder-puff players around him in the middle of the park.

[not3bad]

It's a fair point.  There is more to come from Delph and the fact that Milner was in a good midfield helped him stand out.

That doesn't make sense. Standing out in a good midfield is obviously more difficult then standing out in a poor midfield.

Really?  So a good midfield won't back you up and give you the passes to make you look good?   If Fabian Delph, in his current form, played with Barry and Petrov at his best he wouldn't have more opportunities to look a whole lot better?

[Dave Clark Five]

Who gives a shit who plays for a England? It is nothing to do with Villa now. We are not part of the England set up.

[Isa]

It's a fair point.  There is more to come from Delph and the fact that Milner was in a good midfield helped him stand out.

That doesn't make sense. Standing out in a good midfield is obviously more difficult then standing out in a poor midfield.

Really?  So a good midfield won't back you up and give you the passes to make you look good?   If Fabian Delph, in his current form, played with Barry and Petrov at his best he wouldn't have more opportunities to look a whole lot better?

There is a difference between looking better and standing out. You are clearly unfamiliar with the 'big fish, small pond' argument.

[Broughty-Villian]

Delph has been our player of the month for three months and I know that might not seem a lot to other clubs supporters, but he's being getting good mentions in the media, but Woy's got his favourites and Villa players are not amongst them.

It seems Villa will have to be in the top four before any players are likely to be considered for the England squad, a sorry state from the not too long ago days of Barry, Milner, Young, Bent, Downing and Gabby. Even Walker got into the squad while at Villa, but these days, we've lost our nucleus of English players. Is this good or bad?

Why do you want him in the en-gur-lund squad....It seems every Villa player that gets into the England squad seems to get tapped up

Platt, Southgate, Ugo, Milner, Diving wankstain, Skidmark Downing.

For me, as at the mo he's integral to the Villa midfield I'm quite happy that he's nowhere near Jobbie Terry and the rest of 'em.

[Mister E]

If he had a Barry and Petrov alongside him like Milner did in his time here Delph, in his current form, would be adding goals and assists to his game.

I think that's a reasonable supposition.
He knows how to score (see his ngoals for Leeds) andhe's now a more mature and intelligent footballer ... he'll get better.
And, like DC5 says, what's the big deal about playing for England anyway as far as the Villa are concerned.

[PaulWinch again]

Who gives a shit who plays for a England? It is nothing to do with Villa now. We are not part of the England set up.

I think the point is that there may be a chance that promising young English players may start to think they won't get into the national squad if they play for Villa, and then that is a problem for us. Delph being a case in point, it's not really a problem at the moment but if he continues to play really well and improve and still doesn't get in the squad he may feel he needs to move to fulfill any international ambitions he may have.

[eastie]

Possibly pwa, but the flip side is players have got themselves into a regular squad selection at villa and moved on to then find they struggle at so so called bigger clubs and lose their England place - downing, young and Milner all looked good playing week in week out at villa but faded from scene somewhat after leaving.

If Delph continues to progress as he has done then the call up will come for him - hodgson has proved that by picking 3 from saints - playing for villa will be better for delphs England hopes than warming the bench at spurs, or Liverpool.

[mal]

Possibly pwa, but the flip side is players have got themselves into a regular squad selection at villa and moved on to then find they struggle at so so called bigger clubs and lose their England place - downing, young and Milner all looked good playing week in week out at villa but faded from scene somewhat after leaving.

If Delph continues to progress as he has done then the call up will come for him - hodgson has proved that by picking 3 from saints - playing for villa will be better for delphs England hopes than warming the bench at spurs, or Liverpool.

Is a good point but unless we suddenly return to being sponsored by Nike (Barkley) or Adidas (the three Saints) none of our players will be getting a call from England even as fringe calls for friendley squads.

[danno]

Stirred a bit of a hornet's nest there. I've just never seen any player continue to get such widespread praise on the back of one impressive season (now four years ago...one of the reasons people used to write-off Ireland) as Milner and it gets really tiring the constant clamour to have him back.

He was a driving force for us for a few months but if he was that good a central midfielder he would have a got a run there by now at Citeh. Yet in three years he's been stuck on the bench or at best out on the right wing.
I do think Delph is technically more gifted. If he had a Barry and Petrov alongside him like Milner did in his time here Delph, in his current form, would be adding goals and assists to his game. Hopefully he still can when we get upgrades for the powder-puff players around him in the middle of the park.

This X 100.  I'll be happy when Milner, Young and Barry retire so there not mooted as potential loan moves every January.

[AlwaysAVFC]

Possibly pwa, but the flip side is players have got themselves into a regular squad selection at villa and moved on to then find they struggle at so so called bigger clubs and lose their England place - downing, young and Milner all looked good playing week in week out at villa but faded from scene somewhat after leaving.

If Delph continues to progress as he has done then the call up will come for him - hodgson has proved that by picking 3 from saints - playing for villa will be better for delphs England hopes than warming the bench at spurs, or Liverpool.

Is a good point but unless we suddenly return to being sponsored by Nike (Barkley) or Adidas (the three Saints) none of our players will be getting a call from England even as fringe calls for friendley squads.

Can't work out whether you are being serious or not?