Milner: Winning trophies is a habit... we must keep that momentum up

JAMES MILNER heads to Wembley on Sunday insisting Manchester City’s troubled season could still be declared a success.

City have been criticised for their dismal Champions League campaign as well as their largely unconvincing title defence.
But they retain a chance of winning silverware for a third season in a row as they prepare for an FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.
And England midfielder Milner believes if they can lift the trophy next month and close the gap on runaway leaders Manchester United it would represent a solid campaign.
He said: “If we do that it’s not a bad season at all. Obviously we wanted to retain the title — it looks unlikely now.
“But winning trophies is a habit and we’ve managed to do that in the last couple of years. We need to keep doing that, keep that momentum.
“The FA Cup is a great trophy, you dream of winning it. If we can do it then it’s not bad.”
City look in their best shape since the turn of the year with three key players — Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero — now fit again for the first time in a while.
And Milner believes that bodes well as they look to finish what has been a testing season on a high note.
He added: “We came back from the international break and had two good performances and that’s a real boost going into a semi-final.
“Chelsea will be tough but they seem to be up and down — they have great spells and low spells.
“We know on their day they are a very strong team, but if we play like we did at United I’m sure we’ll get a win and go to another final.”
City now have a few days to rest up while their opponents face a tiring trip to Moscow for their Europa League quarter-final return against Rubin Kazan tomorrow night.
Milner, 27, said: “They go to Russia this week and hopefully they’ll still have that in their legs on Sunday.
“I’m sure they won’t use that as an excuse. They have experienced players who are used to travelling around, playing for their countries.
“But, yes, it’s an extra game in their legs that we won’t have.
“We put in a big effort at Manchester United but, hopefully, we can recover for the rest of the week and get ourselves to another final.”
One big bonus for City ahead of that game is the return to goal-scoring form of Aguero who climbed off the bench to grab a stunning winner at Old Trafford on Monday night.
Milner, who fired the opener, said: “He and Carlos Tevez are so sharp in and around the box. We train with them every day and I’ve spoken to Joleon Lescott about it a few times.
“He loves playing against them in training because he knows whoever he comes up against in the league it will be an easier day. Sergio just has such composure.”
While City will not give up, it seems certain they will have to hand back their title to United at some stage before the season ends on May 19.
But Milner hopes they have learned lessons from their time as champions which will help them bounce back again next term.
He added: “The league table doesn’t lie — we dropped points when we shouldn’t have done. There were games we were dominating and just didn’t get the decisive goal.
“We dropped points at poor times. It should be closer but that’s our own fault, along with United being clinical.
“They maybe got that bit of luck which you need to win a title — we know that more than anyone.
“We haven’t quite had that luck this season but we just hope it’ll even itself out. All we can do is concentrate on winning the rest of the games.”