• Euro 2012 qualifiers

Milner seeks central role in England setup

James Milner insists John Terry still has the trust of the players © Getty Images

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James Milner has confessed he would prefer to play a more central role for England, although he still does not feel ready to call himself an England regular.

Milner is expected to line up on the left side of a 4-4-2 in Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales, and the Manchester City man has played the majority of his 14 caps in that position.

The current domestic campaign has not seen the best of Milner, with City also opting to utilise him in a wide role. It is widely accepted that the player's best form came when employed in the centre of midfield for Aston Villa, and Milner admits that would be his ideal position for England.

"I'll play where I'm asked," Milner said in Wednesday's press conference. "My best position is in the centre, I showed that playing for Aston Villa. But wherever the manager chooses is where I'll play. We're fortunate to have a number of great players, there's always competition for places and you have to play well in training to get picked."

Plenty of focus will be on John Terry this weekend after the Chelsea man was handed the captain's armband on a permanent basis, but Milner insists the change has not been a problem for the squad, despite previous revelations over Terry's alleged off-field activities with the former girlfriend of England colleague Wayne Bridge.

"It's business as usual really, the manager's made his decision and everyone's happy for JT. We're fortunate to have a number of leaders in the squad. We all just want to pull together and win football matches, and improve as a team.

"JT's shown it week in week out, he puts his head in, he wins tackles and it's important to have that link between the players and the manager. You need that as a unit."

Fabio Capello has drawn mass criticism for his treatment of former skipper Rio Ferdinand, who seemingly became the last to know of the Italian's decision to strip him of the armband, but Milner insists the players trust Capello.

"Absolutely. The manager makes his decisions and we stand by them and hope to improve. JT is a leader, he may not have been captain over the last year, but the way he's been around the camp has never changed.

"The most important thing is to lead on and off the field, he is fantastic week in and week out. Whoever is captain, the most important thing is that we're all together and looking to win football matches."

Asked if defeat to Wales would represent a disgrace, Milner laughed: "It wouldn't be a disgrace! They've got good players and are a tough team, it will be a tough game. We're not thinking about that, we're thinking about playing to our capabilities so we win the game."

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