City’s loss is Liverpool’s gain but…

…where does James Milner ‘lose & gain’ in his decision to join Liverpool when his Manchester City contract expires at the end of June?

His decisions / choices

Of course he’s his own man and the decision to swap the blue of Manchester for the red of Merseyside was his to make. But this is my Blog and so this is how I see where James’ decision-choices have left the England midfielder.

WAGE: Apparently James has gone from a Manchester City offer of £165,000 per week to an actual wage of £125,000 at Liverpool. We’ve been told time and time again that money wasn’t the issue for James and I, for one, firmly believe that. However, facts are facts in this case and although I don’t see the Milner family having-to-now shop at budget stores an’ the like; he is now on a lower income and so…

 

GAME TIME: With the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Paul Pogba and, for-me-right-winger Raheem Sterling being linked with summer moves to the Etihad; and with Stevie Gerrard having left our shores for a new start in America; there’s no doubting that James will get far more assurance of ‘minutes on the pitch’ at Anfield…as well as in his apparently-preferred ‘central midfield’ position too. This, again we are told and I believe, was his main reason for wanting the move (without having to move house either). And, so…

 

INTERNATIONAL EFFECT: Following on from the last decision effect, this will clearly benefit him with regards to his England career. And for a player with a great level of fitness and in-game ‘engine’; as long as he’s needed skill & positional-wise by the England Manager then his move to Liverpool will no doubt benefit him internationally. Good move on that score and so…

 

POTENTIAL TROPHY COUNT: Now of course this one really IS open to long-term debate. But I feel pretty safe with my argument that we are far more likely to have provided James with more winners medals over the next few season than Liverpool are likely to. At best – and I do MEAN at best – over the next four seasons I just can’t see James adding to what he achieved at Manchester City more than, perhaps, a League Cup winners medal; maaaaybe, an F.A. Cup winners memento and if he’s REALLY lucky a Europa final or even winners medal. I can see him possibly getting one or two of those should he see out four seasons with the Merseysiders. Could I then be so bold as to suggest that in that time we will have won the Premier League title again at least once, possibly twice (or more?); another League Cup or, more likely, F.A. Cup and that we’ll at least get to the final of the Champions League in those same four years…and may even WIN Europe’s most-sort-after club trophy? I don’t think that’s wholly unrealistic of me; perhaps it’s even a very conservative estimate and so, for James, that’s a solid…

IN SUMMARY: Has James made a bad move? Does he get an overall ‘PING!’ or a ‘ER-ERRR!’? Well actually…I think neither really.

Unlike a lot of footballers these days James seems to have a very sensible head on his shoulders and without knowing for certain – and without having read any possible interview quotations that might have been published while I’ve been on holiday – I think it’s simply a case that he did indeed want more ‘game time’, which he’s pretty much assured. I also think that he’ll be hoping in some small way at least not to BE the new Gerrard but to at least give it a flippin’ good go of filling Stevie’s boots as much as he possibly can; making him loved by the Kop if not necessarily ADORED. He’s certainly got ‘the drive’ to achieve that goal.

‘Winning trophies / medals’ may well be what true professionals like James say they want most out of their career and so if we are to believe that sentiment; on that score he has most likely lost that potential in many ways by moving along the M62.

But James also seems to both ‘like’ and ‘rise to’ challenges and having ‘been there and done it’ for the most part with Manchester City; perhaps a new challenge is what he also yearns for. That’s something he’s ‘ticked’ then.

I certainly wish him well – not his new team at the detriment to us of course – and while one hand might be scratching my head in some puzzlement at his decision to move from M11 to L4 the other one is most definitely waving a FOND farewell.

 

Thanks for everything James. If your incoming replacements have half the heart & spirit you have shown at Manchester City then we’ll be left in good hands after your somewhat sad departure.

Expectation v Results

Now we know the outcome of the F.A. Cup, I just thought I’d give my own opinion – albeit a still slightly delayed one - on how I felt all 20 Premier League teams faired against the anticipations of their fans and owners.

Massively overachieved!

Swansea City:

Not only did they lose one of their most potent goal-scorers (to us) half-way-through the season; not only did they finish just 4-points off a Europa placing…but they did so by playing attractive, attacking and threatening football. Kudos to Garry Monk and his players. If they continue that AND add quality to their squad next season then they should be there or there abouts at least next season.

Stoke City:

Some might question why I’m giving a team (even Stoke) a ‘Massively overachieved’ rating for finishing 9^th / mid-table…but they only finished 2 points behind the afore mentioned ‘Swans’! Perhaps they didn’t play quite the attractive-style of football the Welsh side often produced last season but ask any regular watcher of Mark Hughes’ Potters side and they’ll tell you that it was far more attractive than-that of seasons gone by; particular towards the final third of the season. They’re apparently ‘turning heads’ in the transfer market for next season too with regards to possibly bigger-than-expected names coming in and I think a lot of that has to do with their improvement in style and finishing place…not to mention a fine end-of-season 6-1 home drubbing of Liverpool.

Crystal Palace:

Struggled for the most part under Caretaker Manager Keith Millen; had a wobble again in-losing 4 of their last 6 games but they were both solid and dangerous for large parts of the second half of the season under former Newcastle Manager Alan Pardew. And for a team that spends very little on new players they often worry the hell out of a lot of top sides, particularly on their own patch with an often vocal ‘12^th man’ in the stands. A finishing position of 10^th – just 6 points behind Stoke – and safe for a good time before the end of the season has to be applauded.

Slightly overachieved.

I can’t seemed to put anyone into this category…

Did about what was expected.

Chelsea:

High quality squad that was strengthened even further in the summer; they were always going to be challenging for the league. And so they did; they won it and just as we did the previous season they added the League Cup to their 2014 / 15 cabinet. As about expected really.

Arsenal:

Last season they finishing 4^th and won the F.A. Cup; this season they finished 3^rd and retained the F.A. Cup. Some money spent in the summer to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ and they did just that.

Manyoo:

Having spent a FANTASY FOOTBALL AMOUNT of money in the summer; a 4^th-place finish (just) and with no trophy nearly sent them into the “Slightly underachieved” section. But I have to bare in mind that they have gone through their second managerial transition in 2 seasons since Sir Bacon Face left and that they are in a state of ‘rebuild’. The egomaniac from Holland wanted a top-4 finish for his new team and that’s exactly what he got.

Southampton:

Some may be very surprised that I have put the South-coast team into this category but at the start of the season I had very little doubt that DESPITE the many departures of very good players in the summer; the new manager and incoming players would be enough to counteract those loses. I had them as an above mid-table team pushing for a Europa place and that’s exactly where they found themselves. I should have put a bet on…

West Bromwich Albion:

Some quality players in a team that was never going to ‘rip up trees’; probably breathed a sigh of relief when they secured Premier League status in late April / early May. Eventually finished 9-points clear of ‘the drop’.

Leicester City:

I understand that people got very exited and heaped praise-a-plenty on Leicester for their last 9 games that went: W W W W L W W D W. They did look doomed in March and 22 points from a possible 27 was a TREMENDOUS feat that saved their Premier League bacon. BUT…at the start of the season was it totally unexpected that they might well be a newly-promoted side that would-indeed just about survive? Didn’t a lot of non-Leicester people give them a chance in August? I think they did. And that’s exactly what happened…they just about survived by 6 points and so get into the ‘as expected’ category for me.

Hull City:

Always a relegation candidate and didn’t disappoint this time…albeit going to the last game of the season before the final nail was driven in.

Burnley:

Most fans’ second favourite team last season in many ways; plucky ol’ Burnley at times played with a quite-frightening, counter-attacking quality full of energetic ‘never say die’ attitude throughout. But it’s quality that more often than not counts in the end and the side from Lancashire simply didn’t spend enough in the summer where it counted. Perhaps they didn’t have the luck either at times but it was no surprise to see them sink back down at their first attempt back in the top flight.

Slightly underachieved.

Manchester City:

Harsh critics and suspicious minds might baulk at the idea of not putting our very own football club into my lowest category of ‘Massive underachievers’…and some would most likely call me bias for not doing so. BUT…I say to you, members of the jury, that finishing Premier League ‘runners up’ and just 8 points behind a team rightly applauded for their achievements - but who also had no spending restrictions imposed on them - is not ALL bad. Woeful in both domestic cups but an unfair (again!) draw in the Champions League balance that high-finishing place in the league. For me, at least, we quite-rightly sit in the slight underachievers column after an underwhelming season for the most part; despite being the league’s top scorers and finishing with a very strong 6 wins from 6.

Tottenham Hotspur:

Will the real Spurs please stand up…or at least get going! From the outside this is a team jam-packed with supposedly talented players in all departments but who, for the most part, just don’t…turn…up! Supposedly a talented manager too but who also doesn’t seem to get the most out of his collection of players. Where WOULD they have been without an outstanding season from Harry Kane?! Mid-table at best, I would suggest, and most definitely in the next category below.

Everton:

Bit of a surprise these; I expected much better. Almost put them in the next category down but for a team that I expected to be in a Europa League finishing place I suppose 13 points below that line isn’t TOO far off when you consider that they were worrying floundering near the bottom of the division for most of the first half of the season. Not a club to spend LOADS in the transfer window but certainly a team packed with talented players who should have done far better.

West Ham United:

Similar to Everton in many ways – should be putting up a better fight for a 5^th to 7^th-place finish. Perhaps not quite the quality The Toffees possess but certainly ‘should do better’ and they will hope to do so with a new manager and in their last season at Upton Park.

Sunderland:

For a big’ish club with a big support it’s slightly surprising that these are often on the lips of so many when asked at the start of the season ‘who might go down’. But that’s where they have been for a while now; fighting for their Premier League lives. Perhaps, then, they should be in the ‘…about what was expected’ category but these should be getting their act together by now and they brought in enough reasonable quality last summer to have done better.

Aston Villa:

If they hadn’t had reached the F.A. Cup final – ultimately losing 4-0 to Arsenal – then these would have been ‘nailed on’ as ‘Massive underachievers’. Similar to Sunderland in that they are a big’ish club with a big fan base; they have a sprinkling of good players throughout the team and so a 17^th-place finish just 3 points above ‘the drop’ is just not acceptable for the Villa Park faithful. Took a moral-boosting change of manager to survive…

Massively underachieved.

Liverpool:

So some of their signings perhaps didn’t work out; some of them may have gotten injured and some of their established starts may well have been on the treatment table for large parts of the season also. Still no excuse. To go from almost Champions last season to a woeful 6^th place and a whopping 25 points behind the eventual winners this time is, well…pretty woeful. They now have another one of their star forwards wanting to leave too and Brendan Rodgers will be breathing a sigh of relief to have kept his job at a club with such high expectations.

Newcastle:

Similar to both Sunderland and Aston Villa…but even MORE so! They have players who should have performed FAR better and they have a regular, very high crowd at home behind them. Changed their manager half-way-through and it got even worse for the North East men - they were dropping like a stone and how they survived is a miracle. These have been a joke of a club in the last few years…

QPR:

Speaking of jokes…here’s another one! A massive amount of money spent on MASSIVELY underperforming players. The project take-over from a few seasons ago has failed to spark into life and QPR have, once again, failed to retain their Premier League status. Woeful.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read. Off on holiday now (with no laptop) and so it’ll be W/C 15^th June onwards before another piece.

No time to comment on the departed Boyata or departing Milner; no time to talk about our possibly scuppered plans to sign De Bruyne or Sterling and CERTAINLY no time to comment on the FIFA fiasco; where more and more “revelations” seem to be coming out by the hour!

Manchester City: End-of-season report.

So the curtain comes down on the 2014 / 15 season and already the lads are in North America to play two games against Toronto & Houston Dynamo, before taking in a fan-side-view of league-struggling New York City FC.

 

Yeah just what the lads needed after a 58-game season (including pre-season).

 

At least they’ve excused the Copa America bound, Argentinean pair Pablo Zabaleta and Sergio Aguero after their (also) very long World Cup campaign in the summer of 2014.

Best, worst and ‘other season bits’…

Player of the season: David Silva

Quite simply, “Where would we be without him?” I can tell you that we wouldn’t be Premier League ‘runners up’ and without being absolutely certain how his goals & assists specifically won us actual points in games this season; I recon he was instrumental in us getting a fair few wins and that without them we could easily have finished outside of the top 4.

12 goals and 8 assists on the face of it might not seem OVERLY impressive when you look at cold, hard stats and perhaps also compare him to other similar playing-position footballers in the division. But it’s my opinion, of course, and you’d just have to trust someone who has been to every league game this season, most home cup games and rarely missed an away game on TV; where I’ve seen this Spanish magician ‘pulling the strings’ ever bit as good as he’s done for us since he arrived in June 2010.

It’s even more impressive – and was even more important for us that David had such an immense season – when you consider that most of his midfield teammates get, from me at least, very average looking 6.5 / 10 markings. Had the lad from Gran Canaria had an 'off season' (has he ever had one for us?) and we would, as I say, have most likely found ourselves battling with Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Southampton for a Europa spot.

Runner up: Sergio Aguero

What a season! And when you add that he’s won the Premier League Golden Boot and that he’s achieved this amidst a severe-looking injury that took him 5 or 6 weeks to recover from and then a further few weeks / games to ‘find his footing’ again; I can understand people scratching their heads as to why I haven’t chosen Sergio ahead of David.

Well I’ve already given my reasons for choosing the Spaniard and believe me there was barley a blade of grass between them! A lot of praise goes to City’s back-room staff too.

 

They’d already changed - or ‘made additions to’ - Sergio’s training regime after last season’s apparent thigh and / or calf injury-issues, whereby he would do an extra warm up & warm down session more-so than the other lads. And that appeared to work. The injury against Everton at the Etihad appeared to be an over-enthusiastic stretch by our Argentine battleship rather than anything underlying.

But in addition it had been very recently identified that an additional change in diet would benefit him greatly also…and how right both changes in routine seemed to have been!

Like David, where would we have been – especially looking at his so-called striking colleagues – without Sergio? Where would we have been without the TWO of ‘em?! I dread to think…

A very close 3^rd place: Joe Hart.

It’s tempting (although don’t tell him so-as-to rub salt into his subs-bench-wound) to give this 3^rd-place award to Willy Caballero (or perhaps even Manuel Pellegrini for identifying ‘the need’) because the arrival of the Argentine, ex-Malaga stopper has worked WONDERS for ‘our Joe’.

It’s strange that a fella with such Vincent Kompany-like passion & determination should need regular nudges on his broad shoulders…but he seems to.

Nevertheless he had a fairly decent start to the season and then got better, and better, and better and down-right brilliant towards the end of the season!

A Premier League Golden Glove award capped off a most memorable season for England’s Number 1…it’s just a shame no-one brought it out onto the pitch on Sunday for him to receive it! It was great also to hear Joe praise the likes of Willy and the goalkeeping coaching staff in Sunday's centre circle speech after the Southampton win.

Most improved: James Milner

Do you know what…from his second season onwards I would have given him this award at the end of each season (I don’t recall doing a post-season piece like this in the last couple of years) and I would, therefore, have thought it impossible to award it to him again.

But the fella just improves season on season and, I’m really gutted to say, Liverpool (or whoever…but probably Liverpool) are getting one hell of a changed man since his Aston Villa days.

Always a runner and a battler of course; James has added intelligence, a level of pace, good passing and also goals to his game. At 29 he’s ‘hitting his peak’…and I’m hitting the desk at the thought of him not playing for us next season. I have it on fairly good authority that he is going, by the way…

Worst player: Edin Dzeko.

It took no time at all to pick this disappointment – his inability to control a ball in the main is matched only by his utterly appalling attitude.

Defenders of the Bosnian might point to 50 goals in 130 appearances and several assists, I’m sure, and I am even willing to acknowledge that he has been a scorer of vital goals at vital times and in very vital games. No less did he ‘pull us level’ against QPR in ‘THAT’ game…

But his stats definitely flatter to deceive.

 

He has scored braces-a-plenty, perhaps the odd hat-trick and even got 4 of those 50 in one game away at Spurs one season. But he hits dry spells only comparable to those of deserts around the world and he makes those barren spells seem even worse by his woeful contribution otherwise.

Apart from, perhaps, another hapless striker in Mario Balotelli; he’s the only City player, in fact, that I’ve able to so-easily read his couldn’t-care-less body language before the referee has even blown to indicate the start of the game!

I’m sure that if he leaves for a team who likes to play with two flying wingers who can cross a ball that he’ll be banging goals in at a right ol’ rate…and I for one can’t wait for that theory to be tested.

Most important game of the season: The defeat to Manyoo on 12.04.2015

After the charity-collecting – and then just annoying – craze of the “ice-bucket challenge” had died down; we City fans had been yearning for more than just a splash of cold water on the players in order for them to 'wake up' in our fast-failing season.

Having been (understandably considering the quality of the opposition) knocked out of the Champions League and then so dreadfully dumped out of both the League & FA Cups; we were then in serious danger of sliding down the table at an increasing & alarming rate of knots!

In our lead-up to this then-daunting prospect of a visit to Cold Trafford, our league form read:

L W L L W L

Then came another bloody-awful “L” in that game in the Trafford / Manchester derby; a game that saw a lively opening 15 minutes – and a City opener – fade away in the all-too-familiar, lethargic & bewildering performance that we’d seen FAR too often this season.

But then this, it appeared, sprung us into life!

The quite understandable “if onlys” started, as we went through a 6-game winning run; 4 at home, 2 away; scoring 18 and conceding only 4!

I can’t see another, such important, season-turning game than the one at Scaffold Trafford…and we then had the added bonus of both the team from Trafford and Arsenal fading towards the end of the season. So it has to be...“Thank you Manyoo” for that 4-2 defeat in many ways!

Player's season ratings:

Willy Caballero:        6 / 10

Joe Hart:                    8.5 / 10

Gael Clichy:               7 / 10
Martin Demichelis:   7 / 10
Aleksandar Kolarov: 6 / 10
Vincent Kompany:   7 / 10
Eliaquim Mangala:    6 / 10
Bacary Sagna:           6.5 / 10
Pablo Zabaleta:         7.5 / 10

Fernandinho:             6.5 / 10

Fernando:                  6 / 10
Frank Lampard:        7 / 10
James Milner:           8.5 / 10
Samir Nasri:              6 / 10
Jesus Navas:            6.5 / 10
David Silva:               9.5 / 10
Yaya Toure:               6.5 / 10

Sergio Aguero:         9 / 10

Wilfried Bony:           6.5 / 10
Edin Dzeko:               3 / 10
Stevan Jovetic:         5 / 10
Jose Angel Pozo:      6 / 10

Far too many, very average 6.5s in the midfield there…

The Manager performance review:

• Weakened the side too much for the League Cup / didn’t appear to get his side as 'fired up’ as he should have done.

• So frustrating that I have to say “likewise” for the F.A. Cup too!

• Despite very tough opposition; Pellegrini showed YET AGAIN extreme naivety time and time again in Champions League games; where 4-4-2 (and playing Dzeko) was largely our undoing… AGAIN!

• Despite this being his second season in the Premier League; he showed a similar ‘lack of caution’ in certain games that cried out for a more thoughtful 4-2-3-1 / 4-5-1 / 4-1-4-1 formation. Where had our ‘Engineer’ gone? If there is going to be something that will be his undoing (and sacking in the summer) then this apparent lack of adaptability both in Europe and, now, domestic life also could be it. However…

• …and I’ve seen very little in the way of praise for him here and since [his various faux pas]; he has more recently – even when he had the woeful Dzeko and recovered Bony available – gone for a variation of 4-5-1 and, I hope he notes himself, to great affect in the final 6 games of the season!

But there’s been little to heap praise on our boss this-season-round; unlike his first, tremendous season.

And if he DOES have a say in the incoming personnel - and I’d like to think that the manager of a team has done some scouting himself to a point and that he flippin’-well DOES get to choose who he manages and puts in his team – then this also doesn’t make for GREAT reading.

-        Willy Caballero has been a good motivational signing for Joe Hart; whilst only making 2 competitive appearances himself.

-        Whilst only making a disappointing (for him at least) 9 competitive appearances; Bacary Sagna has put in a season average 7/10 performance in his first (last?) season. Overall, though, you’d have to say this hasn’t exactly been a team-improving capture from Arsenal, despite him being ‘on a free’.

-        Martin Demichelis, quite simply put, has been Manuel Pellegrini’s bargain buy! A stuttering start to life at City to say the least; with Vinny’s ‘injury periods’ and Mangala’s ‘Start-stop-stop-stop-start-stop’ season, Martin has proven to be a vital cog at the back for us. Who’d have thought that?!

-        Does Eliaquim Mangala have a twin brother and, amidst the delay in his arrival, did he send him over first to 'bridge the gap'? WHAT a debut display from the Frenchman (or his brother) against Chelsea! Easily the best debut I’ve ever seen from a Manchester City player at least. So what went wrong? Why all of the nervousness and uncertainty? Sure he benefitted slightly towards the end when ‘our skip’ was out injured (again) but even in a slight week-by-week improving performance trend there were still scary moments of dithering from the big man. Has a LOT to prove and improve on…

-        Similar to his ex-Porto mate, Fernando joined us fairly late and has had a few spells out injured. But it’s taken him a long time to put in anything LIKE a decent run of performances and even those above-average displays came against ‘oppo’ at home where you’d expect him to dominate. Again, no real impact on improving the team and the jury is still very much out on this one.

-        How many times – and for how long – can you blame the World Cup heartbreak (not tiredness, which is understandable) for such a stuttering season? Fernandinho, for me at least, “DOES stuttering”! I find him to be very inconsistent indeed…and I still shudder when I think just how much money we spent on him pre-FFP. Another unpredictable season from the quietly-spoken Brazilian.

-        What a totally unexpected Pellegrini signing Frank Lampard was! It seemed inspirational at first too…and certainly got up the noses of a few in the footballing world. Then it all seemed to fade somewhat and get snarled-up in controversy with NYCFC. But then the ex-West Ham, Chelsea & England man put in some fine performances again, especially as we hit that 6-game run at the end of the season. 38 appearances in all competitions; 8 goals and 4 assists is not a bad Manchester City return for the soon-to-be 37-year old.

-        Has there ever been such a wasted talent in the speed that our flying Spanish winger, Jesus Navas, possesses? If he could make better decisions and / or simply cross far better then we’d have a diamond on our books. As it is, I’m sure there are a hell of a lot of City fans who won’t be sorry to see him go in the summer (and get replaced by someone more effective – is that player Raheem Sterling?)

-        Stevan Jovetic had a very good pre-season and had Manchester City fans almost drooling that this might be ‘his season’, following an injury-plagued first for The Blues. We saw flashes in the first few weeks…then we saw injuries mixed with performances where he simply failed to take his chances. And then that was it.

-        It’s difficult to judge with any HIGH degree of accuracy the Pellegrini-signing of Wilfried Bony. A trip to the African Cup of Nations was soon followed by an injury and then a lot of time to get back ‘up to speed’, which saw the season rapidly running out for him. But I personally have seen enough of the big man in recent games to be very impressed; as FOR a big man he is fluid, pacy, has lovely passing skills & vision, along with a quick-footed touch. He has a mean-looking shot on him too and I’m sure we’ll start to see the net ripple for the Ivorian next season. But it's very noticeably also just what a 'team player' he is; passing and linking up very well indeed with his teammates. This one gets the ‘thumbs up’ from me, despite limited game time.

So there you have it...and sadly there’s an awful lot of red & grey markers in there and very few in the way of greens. If Khaldoon Al Mubarak has a similar scoring system (I suspect it to be a bit more sophisticated than that) then our Manuel is ‘for the chop’ this summer!

As a long-time Blue, however, and including both Mancini & Pellegrini; I’m definitely a ‘glass half full’ and still very pleased indeed with our last 5 seasons of…

-        F.A. Cup winners

-        Premier League Champions

-        Premier League ‘runners up’

-        Premier League Champions and League Cup Winners

-        Premier League ‘runners up’

Okay we’ve spent some serious money in that time but a LOT of that, remember, was playing ‘catch up’ to teams who had been spending those amounts for SEASONS…and who still are! Stick the completely unfair – as agreed by SO many not connected with Manchester City – F(not-so)FP into the equation and it’s even more impressive ‘in my humble’.

But whether or not that’ll be a factor our owners will include when deciding whether to ‘stick or twist’ with our manager remains to be seen. I personally think that with Pep deciding to see out his 1-remaining-year contract at Bayern, at least, that we’ll keep the Chilean for one more season…and I think that’ll be a good thing.

I can see us improving the squad-quality GREATLY in the summer and that our manager will engineer another successful season similar to his first in charge…and then we’ll be in the market for a replacement I’m sure.

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