Norway vs. England, Friendly: Saturday 26/05/12, 19:45 Ullevaal Stadium, Oslo [R]

The French full backs are their weakness. We dont want a defensive winger who cant exploit that. Iceland carved up their defence down the flanks and should have scored more. Milner is a limited runner who isnt good enough for international level .

 

Starting Milner against France would be a big mistake.. it would be like the City game against Man utd when it was one way traffic the whole game and Man Utd couldn't come up with anything. We need to play a tight back line with 2 holding midfielders marking the areas that Ribery likes to drift into, and then 4 players in front of them with lots of pace so that we can devastate them on the counter. As a few people have said they have weaknesses at full back.. so Walcott, Ox, Young and Welbeck would be lethal on the counter

 

I wouldn't describe him as a limited runner, he can get up and down flank quikly and at a high rate, which makes it easier for the full back defensively. he is also one of the best crossers I have seen and has a powerful shot. But all I'm saying is I don't think he should be put into the same category as Downing, who really shouldn't be in the squad, whereas I think Milner can offer something to us.

Also on the French, they might look shakey but they might still have time to sort out their defensive troubles, so we shouldn't write them off yet.

 

I don't think we should play Welbeck, I think Carroll could frighten the life out of them, and even if he was ineffective, he would still draw away alot of their attention and create space for others. I have said before in the 'Euro 2012' thread that England should play a trio of fast forwards to counter attack, but the French could still be dangerous to us, so don't write them off yet

 

Like I said, The French don't worry me.. Talented yes, shakey yes...

 

Out of the so called 'top sides' they are probably the team that most would rather face.. I'm wary of their attack but I am confident that we can get at least a draw

 

Yeah, as if England is overflowing with flair pacy players. Please, this isn't Makelele doing a job for Zidane, Figo and co - Parker's already playing. Milner can play a few positions, but he can't play any of them well. At international level, that's a problem. He's a jack of some trades but clearly a master of none. There's nothing he does that Barry can't do better, and it's not like Barry's a player to base a side around. Which is exactly why Milner struggles to get playing time at Citeh, having started only 17 games this season.

 

Not only that, but without Ribery, they are even more suspect..

 

You miss the point completely, Barry only plays centrally , he does a completely different role to Milner, and he is clearly too slow for international level anyway, so why you are bringing up him as though he does the same role, I have no idea. Milner is kind of player that is needed in every squad, and we don't have an alternative to him. Whereas in Downing there is a clear alternative in Adam Johnson, that is all I was saying. And if you want to bring up Milner's record this season he has 5 assists and 3 goals in 25 appearences, which isn't bad, but he is a classic squad player, so his inclusion is perfectly justified. And I suspect Roy will start him against France, because he will want to be more secure on one of his flanks.

 

It is likely that Barry could be ruled out, if so I hope Roy tries to bring in Carrick

 

So after agreeing he's a utility player you expect Roy to start him against a side whose fullbacks are dire at defending. Brilliant. If Roy starts Milner and Downing against France, he deserves to lose.

 

If we play that way then we deserve to go 3 and out.

Milner doesn't even seem to help when defending.. it sure as hell didn't work against Germany at the world cup, and he seems to tuck in too much basically leaving the RB alone and giving no options to pass to when we recover possession

 

I didn't agree he was a utility player, I pointed out to you that he was one, which is the justification for him being in the squad.

He won't start downing, but it is likely he will want one secure flank with Milner and release a more pacy player on the other flank. I doubt he will show no respect to france by playing three attacking players. And that is not even saying Milner is no threat, he provides plenty of assists from the flank

 

He doesn't provide plenty of assists from the flank, he's not all that great defensively, he doesn't secure the flank. He's a utility player who should only play if other players are hurt. He plays behind Barry for his club (yes, that's relevant), and Barry's not exactly amazing. If Milner starts, England have problems.

 

So where did the five assists come from this season then? Or was that imaginary? The 12 assists 2009/10?

I don’t agree, but either way he is far better defensively then any other winger in the England squad.

I never said he should start every game, I’m just pointing out why he should be in the squad, and why I thought Roy might start him against France, not every other game in the group.

Barry only plays in the centre of midfield, he plays a completely different role to Milner for the squad. I do not rate Barry at all, I don’t think he offers anything to England, but that doesn’t mean Milner isn’t useful.

I think England will have problems if Walcott starts, unless he has a miraculous change of form over the next week. It is unlikly Roy will want to start Chamberlain, and he might want Young playing through the middle again, so I don't see many options on that squad list. Unless he changes his mind on Adam Johnson.

 

At some point in the future, possibly for WC 2022, this post will be cited as proof that England fans expect to win every tournament.

 

Nice, Barry and Milner are completely different players, even when played centrally Milner offers things Barry doesn't but is not as good a distributor as Barry. Milner is a good squad player, but the idea of him starting on the right is making me nauseous

 

Oh yeah! It's amazing how few clean sheets we've had for years unless we played against countries I'd never heard of 15 years ago and they had a population the size of Blackpool.

 

WRT Milner being a diverse player, over Barry who "only" plays as a defensive midfielder, did I just imagine all Barry's games at Villa as a CB, LB and Winger? Not that it matters, as he's injured...

 

barry played as a lb and a central midfielder for villa mostly but sometimes out wide left as a deeper crosser of the ball

 

France have an overated goalkeeper and also rely on ribery too much to support benzema, if we can nullify his threat we can win

 

I do not know why i can not post a thread?

 

can i post a new thread