The Mag - Allardyce Interview (Milner)

[Keefaz]

Has anyone actually read the bastard thing?

[Elbel1]

Why would anyone read it when they can jump the gun and put words in other peoples mouths?

[Nobby]

Just reading it now, says fans need educating and that he knows best. Also says Shearer was a dick when he met him and that Wor Jackie wouldn't have made it today. Reckons SJP is a bit of a dump too compared to the Reebok. In so many words anyway.

 

worst post of the year? 

[Rich]

Bought this from Back Page today, quite a good interview as far as I can see, can't disagree with much.

 

Milner himself prefers playing left-mid, apparently, and Allardyce reckons he's better there than on the right.

[nufcjmc]

Bought this from Back Page today, quite a good interview as far as I can see, can't disagree with much.

 

Milner himself prefers playing left-mid, apparently, and Allardyce reckons he's better there than on the right.

 

if only that meant a bid for swp in jan then I would be very happy but possibly Sam may target the right wing as an area to improve either jan or the summer

[TRon]

FWIW Milner has looked miles better on the left than the right because he doesn't have the pace to get by players on the byline. I said it in the Milner thread probably so I agree with Sam on this one. He's got a good work ethic though.

 

 

[nufcjmc]

FWIW Milner has looked miles better on the left than the right because he doesn't have the pace to get by players on the byline. I said it in the Milner thread probably so I agree with Sam on this one. He's got a good work ethic though.

 

 

 

Is it my really bad imagination but didn't Milner get asked to do a job on the left under roeder on a few occasions?

[TRon]

was that before or after trying to sell him to Villa?

 

 

[nufcjmc]

was that before or after trying to sell him to Villa?

 

 

 

Well once we grabbed the lad back I think we did it in that brief session in something called the uefa cup.

[robbo_11]

was that before or after trying to sell him to Villa?

 

 

 

Well once we grabbed the lad back I think we did it in that brief session in something called the uefa cup.

 

Yeah I think he played there against Palermo and got an assist. Not sure if he played left wing on many other occasions, Man United at home?

[nufcjmc]

was that before or after trying to sell him to Villa?

 

 

 

Well once we grabbed the lad back I think we did it in that brief session in something called the uefa cup.

 

Yeah I think he played there against Palermo and got an assist. Not sure if he played left wing on many other occasions, Man United at home?

 

I know its getting a bit off topic but I cant remember if it was roeder tinking or if it was when zoggy was injured and we were playing Duff as a striker and I think he was asked to play their. From again what I remember he did ok and certainly he has not showed himself up when being asked to play there for SA I just agree with everyone that the lad has a lot of his game to improve to really deserve a week in week out place (possibly more competition will bring something out of him)

[EthiGeordie]

      When I start this thread I really hoped we can get his views and discuss it on constractive ways. In my opinion Milner is the best player we have at the club right now and at 21 he only gets better. However when his better foot is right leg and using him at left is not a good thing to do. Also having Duff and N'zogbia doesn't help that cause.

 

      If he use 4 3 3 I think Duff will be a big player for him backed up with a Zoggy as a left back we will be immense on the left but I don't think he see this thing like that so far.

[Yorkie]

EthiGeordie, i pray to dear God - for your sake - that Pie misses your post.

[madras]

EthiGeordie, i pray to dear God - for your sake - that Pie misses your post.

doubt he will for james milner will wake up in the morning, arise from pies mams bed,ruffle the little fellas hair and say "no you aren't getting a free ticket you little pikey"

[thenige]

I honestly think he's playing Milner on the left because he's going to sign Andrey Arshavin in January to play on the right. Okay that may just be wishful thinking, but it's Christmas ffs! 

[fredbob]

I happen to think Milner plays well on the left. Although i defnintely dont see him as a long term playerfor us, i think he's very dangerous when hes on the edge of the box, but when he recieives the ball deep he's not so great as the lack of pace really shows.  The most worrying thing about the SA quote for me is the future of Zog. If the article is about Milner being the best player left wing then that raises massive questions about enrique zog and duff. Especially Zog who i definitely see as along term player for us.

[merlin]

Lost the plot. Official.

 

The countdown starts here ........

 

LOVE IT!!!

 

its not meant to be serious, but I fear it could be if it signals that this square pegs into round holes mentality is deliberate .....

 

I know, I just liked the terminology

 

I guessed that mate.

 

I've seen players play on the "wrong" side before and do well, but only if they have pace ...

 

 

Didn't Waddle end up on the opposite side to which he started?

 

Genuine question, not a wind up.

 

Yes. He played both sides though. Nowt against players doing this if they have the pace, but Milner hasn't, Chris Waddle had far better skills and dribbling ability than Milner too.

 

 

Waddle wasn't fast. I don't remember him being that much faster than Milner tbh.

 

He did have tremendous dribbling technique though, no doubt.

 

FWIW I really don't think Milner has let anyone down this season.

 

I rate him and think he gets a fair bit of unnecessary stick on here.

 

This is true - Waddle DIDN'T have lots of pace - he DID have great ability to drop his shoulder and beat a man through that and his dribbling ability. He was also better at crossing the ball than Milner, and could bend a shot better.

We haven't had a winger with REAL pace since Gillespie - Robert was quicker than he appeared to be, but not as quick as Gillespie, although he was more of a goal threat by far.

 

Over the years, we have lacked wingers of real pace - even in the 70s,a decade which saw us field some really decent individual players, the only one with real pace was Stewart Barrowclough, who Joe Harvey signed from Barnsley  as a teenager - he was really quick, but unfortunately, didn't have the football brain to go with it..played some outstanding games(seemed to really enjoy taking the Leeds defence on for some reason!)but could be incredibly mediocre.

One of the best ever wing performances I ever saw was Eddie Gray for Leeds against Chelsea in the first 1970 FA Cup Final(Chelsea won the replay). Gray was absolutely terrific & tore Ron Harris(the renowned Chelsea hardman) apart - how Harris stopped himself from really whacking Gray I do not know, because he was going round in circles..

That is far back enough, but older fans reckon Mitchell did this to full-backs regularly in the 50s.

 

There are very few players capable of doing this these days, even though they get more protection from Refs.

[Dr Venkman]

nice to see absolutely no-one's been listening to me and its come as such a surprise that he'll never play milner on the right

[Guest kevin carrs gloves]

Lost the plot. Official.

 

The countdown starts here ........

 

LOVE IT!!!

 

its not meant to be serious, but I fear it could be if it signals that this square pegs into round holes mentality is deliberate .....

 

I know, I just liked the terminology

 

I guessed that mate.

 

I've seen players play on the "wrong" side before and do well, but only if they have pace ...

 

 

Didn't Waddle end up on the opposite side to which he started?

 

Genuine question, not a wind up.

 

Yes. He played both sides though. Nowt against players doing this if they have the pace, but Milner hasn't, Chris Waddle had far better skills and dribbling ability than Milner too.

 

 

Waddle wasn't fast. I don't remember him being that much faster than Milner tbh.

 

He did have tremendous dribbling technique though, no doubt.

 

FWIW I really don't think Milner has let anyone down this season.

 

I rate him and think he gets a fair bit of unnecessary stick on here.

 

This is true - Waddle DIDN'T have lots of pace - he DID have great ability to drop his shoulder and beat a man through that and his dribbling ability. He was also better at crossing the ball than Milner, and could bend a shot better.

We haven't had a winger with REAL pace since Gillespie - Robert was quicker than he appeared to be, but not as quick as Gillespie, although he was more of a goal threat by far.

 

Over the years, we have lacked wingers of real pace - even in the 70s,a decade which saw us field some really decent individual players, the only one with real pace was Stewart Barrowclough, who Joe Harvey signed from Barnsley  as a teenager - he was really quick, but unfortunately, didn't have the football brain to go with it..played some outstanding games(seemed to really enjoy taking the Leeds defence on for some reason!)but could be incredibly mediocre.

One of the best ever wing performances I ever saw was Eddie Gray for Leeds against Chelsea in the first 1970 FA Cup Final(Chelsea won the replay). Gray was absolutely terrific & tore Ron Harris(the renowned Chelsea hardman) apart - how Harris stopped himself from really whacking Gray I do not know, because he was going round in circles..

That is far back enough, but older fans reckon Mitchell did this to full-backs regularly in the 50s.

 

There are very few players capable of doing this these days, even though they get more protection from Refs.

 

He could also play the killer pass with extreme regularity and was proficient with the outside of the boot. Something many players including Beckham simply cannot do today.

[healthyaddiction]

It just seems fairly obvious to me from some things Sam's said about the place about liking inswinging crosses and liking wingers who cut inside,and also from the style of full backs he's been using (quick, athletic and able to support the attack) that what Sam wants is a right footer on the left in the form of Milner and a left footer on the right (probably Duff with N'Zogbia possibly taking over once Enrique gets fully bedded into England), this way he has people able to cut in, cross in swingers or take shots but also fullbacks who are natural to there side (left footer on left right, footer on right) who can put some more conventional crosses from the byline.  This could create a really good balance in our wing play and some unpredictability in what we will do as well rather than just get to the by line and cross over and over again.

 

Not saying this is a great idea but an interesting one none the less.  We'll see when Duff is back i suppose.  I think the left wing play has mostly been good but our right is mostly ignored, hopefully that is because he is waiting for Duff to return.

 

Ummmm sorry about it being one stupidly long sentence.

[madras]

I've seen players play on the "wrong" side before and do well, but only if they have pace ...

 

It is the tactic often used by clubs who struggle to score as it means the two out wide are always cutting in to shoot on there stronger foot. I remember when Peter Reid had Michael Grey playing right midfield Kranjar plays on the left for Pompey & iirc he is right footed & Ginola could whack a ball with his right.

 

 

For me, Milner doesn't really have much in his locker. He's just a player with a great attitude who crosses the ball. Because of this, he needs to whip his crosses in quickly and early, like Nobby Solano and Beckham, 2 other players who didn't have pace. He won't do that with his left foot, so his only chance of becoming a good player - or a better player - is to become better at this IMO.

 

I concede he will score the odd goal, or get the odd cross in from the byline against a full back who is one paced like himself. Not enough though.

 

 

pointless if we don't have the forwards there. the way we play means viduka needs pace to get there,martins cannot read play well enough and owen can and does do it but only when fit. no matter how good the cross is if you do it when you know there is no-one there then it's deliberatly giving the ball away (robert in his latter days done it all the time--fantastic crosses when he had looked up and saw there wasn't anyone there)

 

give me a scott sellars any day. wasn't fast by any stretch and didn't have to go outside but had the strange idea of passing to players on his team, ably assisted by players moving into space..............it's a simple game really.

[Parky]

I'm more bothered about where N'Zogbia plays than Milner really. This only worries me if it means our most attacking option is set for a long stint in defence.

 

SA think is gives him more time on the ball running from deep postions...On the other hand he is less in dangerous areas. This is a player imo handled correctly can get 10 goals a season.

[jep]

However when his better foot is right leg and using him at left is not a good thing to do.

 

 

It's not a good thing to do? Why?

[Chris_R]

I guess if we MUST play 4-3-3 then Milner on the left and N'Zogbia / Duff on the right kind of makes sense. We'd offer nothing with them the other way round. Problem is though that he's not playing Zog or Duff on the left, he's playing Martins and he's looking lost out there.

 

However when we play 4-4-2 (As we have at times) then it's nonsensical to play them on the "wrong" wings. I still think 4-4-2 is the only way to go, we don't have the players for 4-3-3 and it's not a tactic I've ever been a fan of anyway.

[Dr Venkman]

I guess if we MUST play 4-3-3 then Milner on the left and N'Zogbia / Duff on the right kind of makes sense. We'd offer nothing with them the other way round. Problem is though that he's not playing Zog or Duff on the left, he's playing Martins and he's looking lost out there.

 

However when we play 4-4-2 (As we have at times) then it's nonsensical to play them on the "wrong" wings. I still think 4-4-2 is the only way to go, we don't have the players for 4-3-3 and it's not a tactic I've ever been a fan of anyway.

 

it's a transitional season though in sams view, i think he's setting us up, i'd expect a lot of changes next summer so he can bring in players that are suited to 4-3-3