Hi,
There is no doubting the individual qualities of James Milner and Jesus Navas, but which player will make Manchester City function better as a team?
James Milner's strengths lie in his defensive contribution and keeping possession (a little bit like what Nasri does on the opposite flank). I'm very tempted to say he is a good crosser, but this is far from true. He makes far too many inaccurate crosses every game compared to good crosses. He was an important part of the squad last year when we didn't perform great.
From this, and thinking about it logically, we can almost conclude that by having two non-incisive 'blunt' wide players like Nasri and MIlner, its very hard to score through our strikers. Our track record over the last season wasn't as good as when we had Adam Johnson and Micah Richards available to play half the games on the right side during our 2011/2012 title winning season.
So, now Navas has come along, it seems that he will drastically improve the team offensively. This comes at a small cost defensively - he does track back occasionally and pressures well, but he very rarely can put in a tackle because he isn't physically suitable for the task. However, he can deliver crosses more accurately, which means more chances for our strikers to score goals and headers (depending on whether they are low or high). Again, this is a major boost for us, as Aguero used to score quite a few goals 2 seasons ago when Micah hit crosses low and hard to the far post. He also has more of an ability to beat a man. Milner can do this as well, but he often requires a couple of one-twos with someone like Zaba or Silva before being put up behind the defense to deliver a cross. Whereas Navas is fast enough to beat most full backs on his own.
With our extra focus on possession, it can be more useful for us (especially when against top opposition in the Champions League) to keep our right back in a deeper position and allow Navas to control the right flank. To support this it is worth noting is that opposition teams tend to allow Milner a lot of space knowing that he can't do much damage without a supporting player to carve an opening. As a result Milner does not in fact help to stretch the defending team and their defense line as much as Navas can (who actually plays much closer to the touch line) making it difficult to pass through the middle as well.
Lastly, we can hit on the counter attack better with Navas. While this is not his (and our current team's) usual style of play, against Bayern in the Allianz Arena, you could see signs that Navas can run very fast and create chances on the counter attack with Negredo playing up front. Milner is no slouch, but Navas is physically lighter and can accelerate and reach quicker sprinting speeds with the ball at his feet. Even subtle differences in pace can often make a difference in losing the ball and actually getting past an opposition defender.
Overall, Navas brings a lot more options to the table offensively, however we lose that defensive stability that Milner possesses when he tirelessly runs and helps out the defense. Nonetheless, there is less of a need for our full backs to push far forward with Navas able to assume greater offensive responsibility and our defenders will be less likely to be caught out on the counter attack ourselves. Anything could happen this season, but I expect that Navas will be a large improvement for the team playing key passes and helping the team attack better. I predict he will be very successful in his first season and in my opinion is among the smartest signings we've made for a while.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCUjqHPw0O0[/youtube]
^This video belongs to BluemoonHD03 ·
There is no doubting the individual qualities of James Milner and Jesus Navas, but which player will make Manchester City function better as a team?
James Milner's strengths lie in his defensive contribution and keeping possession (a little bit like what Nasri does on the opposite flank). I'm very tempted to say he is a good crosser, but this is far from true. He makes far too many inaccurate crosses every game compared to good crosses. He was an important part of the squad last year when we didn't perform great.
From this, and thinking about it logically, we can almost conclude that by having two non-incisive 'blunt' wide players like Nasri and MIlner, its very hard to score through our strikers. Our track record over the last season wasn't as good as when we had Adam Johnson and Micah Richards available to play half the games on the right side during our 2011/2012 title winning season.
So, now Navas has come along, it seems that he will drastically improve the team offensively. This comes at a small cost defensively - he does track back occasionally and pressures well, but he very rarely can put in a tackle because he isn't physically suitable for the task. However, he can deliver crosses more accurately, which means more chances for our strikers to score goals and headers (depending on whether they are low or high). Again, this is a major boost for us, as Aguero used to score quite a few goals 2 seasons ago when Micah hit crosses low and hard to the far post. He also has more of an ability to beat a man. Milner can do this as well, but he often requires a couple of one-twos with someone like Zaba or Silva before being put up behind the defense to deliver a cross. Whereas Navas is fast enough to beat most full backs on his own.
With our extra focus on possession, it can be more useful for us (especially when against top opposition in the Champions League) to keep our right back in a deeper position and allow Navas to control the right flank. To support this it is worth noting is that opposition teams tend to allow Milner a lot of space knowing that he can't do much damage without a supporting player to carve an opening. As a result Milner does not in fact help to stretch the defending team and their defense line as much as Navas can (who actually plays much closer to the touch line) making it difficult to pass through the middle as well.
Lastly, we can hit on the counter attack better with Navas. While this is not his (and our current team's) usual style of play, against Bayern in the Allianz Arena, you could see signs that Navas can run very fast and create chances on the counter attack with Negredo playing up front. Milner is no slouch, but Navas is physically lighter and can accelerate and reach quicker sprinting speeds with the ball at his feet. Even subtle differences in pace can often make a difference in losing the ball and actually getting past an opposition defender.
Overall, Navas brings a lot more options to the table offensively, however we lose that defensive stability that Milner possesses when he tirelessly runs and helps out the defense. Nonetheless, there is less of a need for our full backs to push far forward with Navas able to assume greater offensive responsibility and our defenders will be less likely to be caught out on the counter attack ourselves. Anything could happen this season, but I expect that Navas will be a large improvement for the team playing key passes and helping the team attack better. I predict he will be very successful in his first season and in my opinion is among the smartest signings we've made for a while.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCUjqHPw0O0[/youtube]
^This video belongs to BluemoonHD03 ·