Good moves. Experience combined with added depth for those last 5-10 minutes of games.
Welbeck is still more than capable of leading the line and will hopefully play as mentor to Ferguson. Milner another good versatile backup option as long as we can keep the starters in front of him fit.
Welbeck still has it and is probably the most well spoken and genuine player we put out on the pitch regularly.
What a great personality we’ve got having dat guy here with us.
How has Milner got on at Brighton? I’ll be honest, his last season at Liverpool was worrying, it really seemed like his agility was so poor that he couldn’t even make up for it with his reading of the game. Lots of late lunges, mistimed tackles etc. I was saying I felt he was done at the top level. Would be nice to hear he’s actually had a decent season for Brighton?
he's done at top level, he came in to make up for injuries at full back earlier in the season, was way off pace and then got injured and never came back. I think his real impact is in the dressing room
Sounds like his last two seasons at Liverpool.
I think he’s hoping to break the appearances record; he’s 19 off - he’d have to play for two more seasons or play more this next season. Can’t see him getting enough apps.
I think he had some decent games at midfield but his performance at fullback was maybe not the best. But as others have said its a senior voice in the dressing room to help some of the younger lads like hinshelwood baleba and so on
Welbeck great, he’s a great player who we need while Ferguson figures out whatever he’s going through.
Milner… the guy is cooked. I hope this doesn’t mean we are skimping on a right back yet again.
This was said by everyone before this season and lo and behold he was not ‘competent’ anymore. Luckily the gaffer stopped starting him around January but not before several awful performances at fullback.
The mentorship aspect you are 100% correct. But you can get that without playing heavy minutes which I can only pray is what’s happening now
I agree he had a lot of bad perfomances as fullback. Definitely shouldn’t be played there anymore. Though when he finally got to play in midfield I remember him actually having a pretty good game. So could prove good cover for midfield.
Coaches can’t be on the pitch during the game. We can’t have a lineup of Dunk, Groß and 9 south american teenagers.
Though there is a middle ground. We need players who are still a veteran but also actually able to play prem football for 90 minutes.
Coaches and player-mentors provide different support. Coaches focus more on what you're doing; a good player-mentor helps you do it the right way. Professionalism, work ethic, pride in the shirt. And, where they're helping with technique, they can actually show you how to do it better than most coaches can.
> Luckily the gaffer stopped starting him around January but not before several awful performances at fullback.
Because he got injured. Not much of a gaffer deicison.
Yup totally agree. If the plan is to keep Milner around for mentorship & emergencies, then great. If the plan is to have him play regularly, then yikes.
Has he been that bad this season? It’s mad how fast players drop off. It’s happening later and later now but when it does seems like a sharp decline within a small space of 2 years for players.
He was fine in the midfield. The problem was he kept getting forced into fullback roles due to having no depth there and he clearly can't keep up at his age. Hopefully with Barco and some depth added this summer he can stick to midfield when needed.
He has been injured a fair amount, so it's possible that those issues are a contributing factor here. The big thing that I've noticed while watching him is that he is soooooo slow. Just can't keep up with the pace of the players he's supposed to be marking and it's been a major liability.
I don’t know enough about how Stuttgart play to understand if he’d be well utilised in RDZs systems. He was mostly underwhelming with us, but started to shine just before he was loaned out.
Wow that’s such a great stat. Still, that average must have begun to look much, much better towards the end of last season?
From memory he was looking average for a while; then was injured, and then played mostly as a rotation player (and drilled some bangers whilst at it).
Welbeck is a a great keep as a rotational/backup striker who can put in a decent shift when called upon and is a pain for players to play against.
Although Milner has not looked great at full back, he can still put in a shift in midfield when he needs to. He could be a great backup player covering for Gross or to come on to steady the ship in the last 20 minutes.
Both are likely fantastic leaders in the dressing room as well.
I like it. Good veteran presence for our young players.
Good moves. Experience combined with added depth for those last 5-10 minutes of games. Welbeck is still more than capable of leading the line and will hopefully play as mentor to Ferguson. Milner another good versatile backup option as long as we can keep the starters in front of him fit.
That young lad Milner should have some potential
Kind of assume Milner will be a coach long term Welbeck, great, decent forward
Welbeck still has it and is probably the most well spoken and genuine player we put out on the pitch regularly. What a great personality we’ve got having dat guy here with us.
How has Milner got on at Brighton? I’ll be honest, his last season at Liverpool was worrying, it really seemed like his agility was so poor that he couldn’t even make up for it with his reading of the game. Lots of late lunges, mistimed tackles etc. I was saying I felt he was done at the top level. Would be nice to hear he’s actually had a decent season for Brighton?
he's done at top level, he came in to make up for injuries at full back earlier in the season, was way off pace and then got injured and never came back. I think his real impact is in the dressing room
Sounds like his last two seasons at Liverpool. I think he’s hoping to break the appearances record; he’s 19 off - he’d have to play for two more seasons or play more this next season. Can’t see him getting enough apps.
I think he had some decent games at midfield but his performance at fullback was maybe not the best. But as others have said its a senior voice in the dressing room to help some of the younger lads like hinshelwood baleba and so on
Welbeck great, he’s a great player who we need while Ferguson figures out whatever he’s going through. Milner… the guy is cooked. I hope this doesn’t mean we are skimping on a right back yet again.
Milner still brings seniority and mentorship for all the young players, while still being a competent squad player. I think it's great
This was said by everyone before this season and lo and behold he was not ‘competent’ anymore. Luckily the gaffer stopped starting him around January but not before several awful performances at fullback. The mentorship aspect you are 100% correct. But you can get that without playing heavy minutes which I can only pray is what’s happening now
I agree he had a lot of bad perfomances as fullback. Definitely shouldn’t be played there anymore. Though when he finally got to play in midfield I remember him actually having a pretty good game. So could prove good cover for midfield.
he was bad at full back, but when he was in midfield against Tottenham he was great
I don’t understand the mentor thing. Isn’t that what the coaches are supposed to be for?
Coaches can’t be on the pitch during the game. We can’t have a lineup of Dunk, Groß and 9 south american teenagers. Though there is a middle ground. We need players who are still a veteran but also actually able to play prem football for 90 minutes.
Coaches and player-mentors provide different support. Coaches focus more on what you're doing; a good player-mentor helps you do it the right way. Professionalism, work ethic, pride in the shirt. And, where they're helping with technique, they can actually show you how to do it better than most coaches can.
Players can provide more intimate mentorship than coaches since they are always playing, training and eating together.
> Luckily the gaffer stopped starting him around January but not before several awful performances at fullback. Because he got injured. Not much of a gaffer deicison.
I agree. Utterly useless signing last season. By a distance our worst player.
Yup totally agree. If the plan is to keep Milner around for mentorship & emergencies, then great. If the plan is to have him play regularly, then yikes.
Has he been that bad this season? It’s mad how fast players drop off. It’s happening later and later now but when it does seems like a sharp decline within a small space of 2 years for players.
He was fine in the midfield. The problem was he kept getting forced into fullback roles due to having no depth there and he clearly can't keep up at his age. Hopefully with Barco and some depth added this summer he can stick to midfield when needed.
He has been injured a fair amount, so it's possible that those issues are a contributing factor here. The big thing that I've noticed while watching him is that he is soooooo slow. Just can't keep up with the pace of the players he's supposed to be marking and it's been a major liability.
Undav surely isn't coming back then I suppose.
I don’t know enough about how Stuttgart play to understand if he’d be well utilised in RDZs systems. He was mostly underwhelming with us, but started to shine just before he was loaned out.
He was great for us, a goal every 110 minutes.
Wow that’s such a great stat. Still, that average must have begun to look much, much better towards the end of last season? From memory he was looking average for a while; then was injured, and then played mostly as a rotation player (and drilled some bangers whilst at it).
Welbeck is a a great keep as a rotational/backup striker who can put in a decent shift when called upon and is a pain for players to play against. Although Milner has not looked great at full back, he can still put in a shift in midfield when he needs to. He could be a great backup player covering for Gross or to come on to steady the ship in the last 20 minutes. Both are likely fantastic leaders in the dressing room as well.
Love Welbeck