Christian Benteke

[Lecter]

I have missed your relentless negativity Lec

I dont see how comparing Allen to Milner helps things? They seem like totally different players (Because they are) and Milner has never struck me as being lightweight in Midfield.

Have I actually compared Allen to Milner???

Frank is advocating a midfield of Milner, Henderson & Coutinho

You drop / lose Lucas / Gerrard and replace them with MILNER

You replace Allen with Coutinho

Are you any better defensively / physically???

I dont think so

[Lecter]

I have missed your relentless negativity Lec .

Its not relentless negativity

I just wouldnt contemplate playing a midfield like Frank suggested

Its suicidal imo

[Alex]

I was basing it off your comment about it not working with Allen last season. My bad.

I dont by that a midfield of Henderson, Milner and Coutinho couldn't hold their own against almost any team in the league.

Since when is Physicality our most valuable asset anyway? We have never really been about that. Henderson and Milner are hard working players who will run anyone down. Do they really need to be crunching into tackles as well?

[Lecter]

I was basing it off your comment about it not working with Allen last season. My bad.

I dont by that a midfield of Henderson, Milner and Coutinho couldn't hold their own against almost any team in the league.

Since when is Physicality our most valuable asset anyway? We have never really been about that. Henderson and Milner are hard working players who will run anyone down. Do they really need to be crunching into tackles as well?

Yuo have to have a physical presence, whether you want them to crunch into tackles or not

A midfield of Henderson, Milner & Coutinho is no more physical than the Lucas / Gerrard, Henderson, Allen midfield that was physically bullied on a consistant basis last year

[Rich]

Its not relentless negativity

I just wouldnt contemplate playing a midfield like Frank suggested

Its suicidal imo

Agreed

I'd much prefer keeping Henderson and Milner operating in familiar fashion where they attack and do the box-to-box stuff, leaving a more defensively minded midfielder to mop up any counters.

We continually ask our fullbacks to bomb on and then get left horribly exposed when we lose the ball!

[Daniel 7]

I think there'll be a lot of suicidal tendencies this season then, because I can see Henderson, Milner and Coutinho being the first choice midfield 3.

I don't think we'll ever see a defensive midfielder with Brendan, he's never signed one and doesn't look likely to either. I'm guessing he doesn't like the tactical limitation of having a player whose sole purpose is to break up play - those type of players aren't generally as technically gifted and aren't as able to switch to the front foot if a game changes or if an opposition don't line up as expected.

Henderson and Milner have never come across as weak to me either, bit of a strange assertion that one.

[Lecter]

Agreed

I'd much prefer keeping Henderson and Milner operating in familiar fashion where they attack and do the box-to-box stuff, leaving a more defensively minded midfielder to mop up any counters.

We continually ask our fullbacks to bomb on and then get left horribly exposed when we lose the ball!

I would also be concerned about positioning from second balls with that midfield

Its too fluid / interchangeable for me

[Buzzo]

My worry is the amount of faith we seem to suddenly have in Milner, to my recollection he was a decent to good, occasionally average midfield utility player. A good squaddie. We now need him to be a combination of Zidane and Makelele.

A few years ago we'd have viewed him as a decent option from the bench, we're now building the midfield around him.

Relentless negativity FTW

[Daniel 7]

Milner's going to be way better than a lot realise. He's a proper upgrade on what we've had in midfield for the last few years. For example, Lucas is patchy, Allen IS weak and useless, Gerrard was only a pale shadow of what he was.

Milner upgrades all of them, and can add experience and intelligence across every position in the middle of the park.

[Buzzo]

I guess we are about to find out. I suppose the big difference here is that the jump in profile where he is going to be one of the leading lights, not one of the support acts.

[Lecter]

My worry is the amount of faith we seem to suddenly have in Milner, to my recollection he was a decent to good, occasionally average midfield utility player. A good squaddie. We now need him to be a combination of Zidane and Makelele.

A few years ago we'd have viewed him as a decent option from the bench, we're now building the midfield around him.

Relentless negativity FTW

[Daniel 7]

Yeah but he could look around at who he is playing with and go in with the confidence of knowing how much better he is than Joe Allen.

I worked it out mathematically that he is already 212% better than Joe Allen has ever been.

[Lecter]

Milner's going to be way better than a lot realise. He's a proper upgrade on what we've had in midfield for the last few years. For example, Lucas is patchy, Allen IS weak and useless, Gerrard was only a pale shadow of what he was.

Milner upgrades all of them, and can add experience and intelligence across every position in the middle of the park.

I really dont think Milner is a better defensive midfielder than Lucas

The rest I would agree with but on that I think you are wrong

[Saveloy]

Yeah but he could look around at who he is playing with and go in with the confidence of knowing how much better he is than Joe Allen.

I worked it out mathematically that he is already 212% better than Joe Allen has ever been.

That seems low. You might want to check your workings

[Daniel 7]

But Brendan isn't going to start with DM's is he? He only started like that last season to dig himself out of a hole because he thought he was going to be sacked. He went for caution.

Can't see it happening this season, unless it all starts going wrong again.