THE RIGHT WINGER SERIES PT7: MILNER

Leeds United have produced many great players. The list of past Leeds players is a long and interesting one. Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Woodgate, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Alan Smith and many more. We have already had a look at one of their past wingers. Aaron Lennon made is debut for Leeds at just 16 years old. Today we look at another player who made his Leeds debut at just 16 – James Milner.

James Milner wouldn’t be described as a ‘typical winger’. He certainly possesses the ability to beat defenders – more because of clever play than speed and trickery however.
Milner has made an amazing 46 England U21 appearances! So what does James add to the team?

Milner is a great all-round player who is comfortable on the right or left wing. He has decent pace, a good eye for a pass and is happy to get stuck in and make some tackles. He reminds me a little of Park Ji Sung or Dirk Kuyt. He isn’t a prolific scorer (9 goals in his 46 appearances) but his ability to launch himself up the pitch and deliver a clever through ball, creates opportunities for others to score.

In my opinion wingers are in the side to create goal scoring opportunities. They hang wide to create space, they cut in to make use of that space or they use the channel to draw defenders away so attackers can utilize the created space. Yes, the more they can score the better but their main purpose – for me – is to create goal scoring opportunities. Be it a clever pass, a pin-point cross, a shot that gets parried…

James Milner does that job. His ability to read the game makes him a very dangerous player to have on the field. He can slot happily into the middle of the field as well as right or left back. England have a pretty good starting 11 and I don’t think Milner is good enough to be pushing his way in there yet but his adaptability could be an invaluable asset to the squad. Milner has been used mainly on the left for England of late. He probably finds himself behind Beckham, Lennon and Walcott. With the right so full of options, Joe Cole returning to full fitness and Ashley Young finding good form his place on the plane is far from guaranteed.

Read ‘Part 1-6′ here: