Milner/England

[Shaelumstash]

Anyone seen any opta stats showing how far Milner ran compared to the rest of the team?

I'm not having a pop at you directly, but I think this kind of question is one of the problems with modern day analysis of football players. People assume if he covered loads of ground he must have played well. That is bollocks i'm afraid.

Firstly, an intelligent player doesn't go tear arseing around the pitch chasing after the ball. The best way to analyse a player is to actually watch him play and look at what he did during the match.

There was one instance when Gerrard had the ball and was screaming at Milner to run beyond his full back so he could give it to him, Milner looked at him like a rabbit caught in the headlights, Gerrard pointed exactly where he wanted him to run, and Milner eventually made the run, far too late.

If you judge players solely on stats you might as well get Damien Comoli in and buy Henderson, Downing, Adam and Carroll.

I'm sure Aguero doesn't cover as much ground as Dickov, which one would you rather have in your team?

and by the same token picking out one instance where he made the wrong run doesn't mean he wasn't effective in his running for most of the match.

You're absolutely right, and the stats won't tell you how effective his running was either. That's my point, the best way of judging how well someone has played is to watch them and judge their impact on the game, not rely on statistics of how much ground they covered.

 

[Impeccable One]

Hate to credit Collymore, but he's a commentator who understands Milner's role and continually states there's no one better at it.

Others are just dumb and think Milner should be running at full backs like Walcott.

 

[City Raider]

lescott is cruising through games but terry is taking the plaudits

milner is making johnson look as secure at rb as he ever has but is getting dogs

young falls over every time the ball is near him, it never gets mentioned

barring 1 touch, welbeck has thrown in 3 of the least effective back to back games i can remember from an england forward in years, and that includes heskey

and scott parker....no, i'll be here all day

 

[Anonymous]

Milner definitely worked his socks off for England yesterday , but the trouble is his work rate is rarely matched by a decent supply of quality crosses ....... he often either overhits them when in promising positions , or is closed down before he can get them in .

 

[Burnage Burnsy]

Irani's gem this morning on Talkshite was to drop Milner and bring Phil Jones into midfield!!!

 

[Eds]

Fuck me I only asked about his stats!!! Milner's strength is his ability to get up and down and cover the defence when they go walkabout but also try and support the forward line i.e. when England broke from a Ukraine corner in the second half. His distribution has been poor but what you get from Milner is workrate and the fact that he tries to be in the right place at the right time. Not just walkabout aimlessly like others I could mention. There is a reason he is in the side and it isn't because England are looking to play cavalier football and win 4-0!

 

[union city blue]

Fuck me I only asked about his stats!!! Milner's strength is his ability to get up and down and cover the defence when they go walkabout but also try and support the forward line i.e. when England broke from a Ukraine corner in the second half. His distribution has been poor but what you get from Milner is workrate and the fact that he tries to be in the right place at the right time. Not just walkabout aimlessly like others I could mention. There is a reason he is in the side and it isn't because England are looking to play cavalier football and win 4-0!

To answer your original question, The Guardian reported that in the France game he ran 1.4km more than any other player and, in my opinion, that's largely due to him having to constantly track back to provide support to the abysmal right back behind him. After reading the Guardian stat I made a point of keeping an eye out for this (as much as you can watching on tv) and he was continually dashing back to provide cover for Johnson and chasing down opposition attackers. I do think he's a bit short at England (and current City) level but he does the job that he's asked to do within the team.

 

[KPXBLN]

Fuck me I only asked about his stats!!! Milner's strength is his ability to get up and down and cover the defence when they go walkabout but also try and support the forward line i.e. when England broke from a Ukraine corner in the second half. His distribution has been poor but what you get from Milner is workrate and the fact that he tries to be in the right place at the right time. Not just walkabout aimlessly like others I could mention. There is a reason he is in the side and it isn't because England are looking to play cavalier football and win 4-0!

To answer your original question, The Guardian reported that in the France game he ran 1.4km more than any other player and, in my opinion, that's largely due to him having to constantly track back to provide support to the abysmal right back behind him. After reading the Guardian stat I made a point of keeping an eye out for this (as much as you can watching on tv) and he was continually dashing back to provide cover for Johnson and chasing down opposition attackers. I do think he's a bit short at England (and current City) level but he does the job that he's asked to do within the team.

As far as I'm aware he consistently runs further than teammates, for England and City (when he plays). He's extremely fit.

Also these people slagging him off don't seem to remember that he's the only England player in 3 matches who managed to get behind and opposition defence (vs France)...Shame he missed the chance though.

 

[alky313]

Is anything but wasteful. A safe pick.

 

[McFcMiKe7]

It really is pissing me off the Milner hate. He is becoming the Euro 2012 version of World Cup 2010 Gareth Barry