The Bosman transfer of James Milner has been widely acknowledged as a shrewd piece of business by Liverpool. Two Premier League medals, 56 international call-ups, a wealth of experience, and an Englishman, all of this obtained for absolute peanuts. Yes, it’s a good deal. Milner is a valuable addition to the Liverpool squad, especially when you look at the dearth of experience created by departures of Gerrard and Carragher in recent years. He can act as an able mentor to a very young squad and more so to Henderson, to help him deal with the added responsibility of donning the armband this season. These were the unanimous underlying thoughts of pundits and fans alike when the deal was sealed.
However, reports suggested that Milner agreed to sign for Liverpool primarily because he was promised his preferred central midfield role and regular game time. He had grown increasingly frustrated with what he perceived as a peripheral role at City. The promises have been fulfilled but the returns have been scant. Milner has been relatively ineffective. He has failed to have any perceivable influence in the games played thus far. One would say that this is too soon to pass a verdict on him. Not really I suppose.
On the face of it, five games into the season does look like a nascent stage in a lengthy campaign. But when we take a look at the teams Liverpool have played already (Stoke, Arsenal, West Ham and Manchester United), we realize that they have already played teams with different flavors. Milner’s performance in all these games has been colorless and obscure. More often, his game has been very predictable. With the pairing of Henderson and Milner, it was always expected that the former would play in a more advanced role while the latter would sit back, shielding the backline and winning the dead balls. This is a role tailor-made for Lucas and not Milner. Lucas plays this role much better because he has been doing primarily just that for years now. We have no other player in the current squad who is better suited for sweeping the midfield and dismantling opponent’s attack than Lucas. Benching him just so that Milner gets his promised game time is a big mistake. Worse still, losing him because of this reason is a bigger mistake.
One can still argue that 5 games is too less a timespan for someone to blend in. But then again, we also need to understand that of all the new arrivals that came in this season, Milner is the most experienced. To be more precise, most Premier League experienced. He is obviously no alien to English football; he has played the entire pre-season campaign and is being played in his preferred position. So is it not reasonable to expect Milner to face the least problems in gelling into the setup? For me he should have hit the ground running from the word go, which sadly is not the case.
The problem lies in the fact that Milner is being given too much leeway in the current setup by Brendan Rogers. By promising guaranteed game time Rogers has virtually absolved Milner from fighting for his place, a component so instrumental in improving any player’s game. Don’t get me wrong. I am not accusing Milner of complacency or questioning his work-rate. My point is Milner’s game is too vanilla for the position. He does not have cerebral acumen of Xabi Alonso to control the midfield and dictate the play. Also he is no Steven Gerrard to spray those pin-point cross-courts or produce the spectacular out of nothing (honestly I see more promise in Henderson for this job); and as far as midfield defensive duties are concerned Lucas can do a much better job than him. For me James Milner is not a starter in midfield.
To be fair, Milner is not the only guilty party here. The high pressing, high tempo game Rogers likes to implement isn’t really helping Milner’s case. Possession has been forfeited cheaply far too many times by Liverpool. Milner comes from a setup which likes to dominate possession, patiently wading their way through opponent’s defence whilst maintaining a steady pace and frequent one-two exchanges. To make a transition into a starkly contrasting philosophy is a challenge in itself. And to make matters even more daunting, Milner wants to feature in this setup in a position he “prefers” to play in but hitherto has no substantial experience of playing in.
Rogers needs to realize that the players he has chosen to bring in this time around, the likes of Benteke and Milner, are less malleable. Their potential can be comprehensively harnessed in specific setups. He needs to tweak his tactics to suit their style of play rather than disturbing their hardwired game. This is especially necessary in Milner’s case since he is 29, supposedly the prime years of his playing days. Rogers need to capitalize on his identified strengths rather than giving into “promises”.
What Rogers can probably do is use Milner as a rolling sub in games where we are 2-0 up with 30 minutes left and need to close out the game. He can provide that extra padding to our ever so shaky backline and also inject fresh legs especially at the time when players start to tire. Alternatively, he can be utilized on the flanks to exploit the aerial strength of Christain Benteke. This will not be an uncharted territory for Milner since he was used extensively in this role in his previous clubs.
Ironically, a top-4 finish is the highest priority for the board whilst a bare minimum requirement to appease the supporters. Patience has been wearing thin on Merseyside with season after season of false dawns and heartbreaks. In such a situation there is absolutely no margin for error. Rogers needs to get it right and get it right soon. With fixtures such as Tottenham, Everton, Southampton and Chelsea fast approaching, he will need to quickly find a setup which will optimize the talent of this current lot. If this team has to have any chance of being in the race for top-4 come the business end of this season, any unnecessary slippage at the beginning has to be avoided at any cost. Am I right, Jurgen?
