Versatility can be both a curse and a blessing in football.
Indeed for James Milner, who was questioning his long-term Manchester City future last season, he has occupied every outfield position other than centre-back for the club.
And what's more, he can add James Milner: False 9 to his resumé.
Perhaps False 9 is not the right terminology given the role he played in the 3 - 0 win over Crystal Palace.
If we look at Lionel Messi, the player who defined that role, it was all about pulling into deep pockets of space to join in the play.
But the end goal for the Barcelona forward was to find himself on the end of attacking moves in order to build up a mountain of goals and assists.
Indeed, if we look at a game against Espanyol from his peak period in 2012, where he scored four times in a 4 - 0 win, Messi had over 70 touches of the ball (among the Top 5 for Barca players in that match).
Milner is not a natural forward and had about 20 fewer touches against Palace and if you look at the positions where he was receiving the ball from team-mates, it appeared to be in the channels rather than in central zones. In fact the third goal against the London side came when he pulled into an inside-left position on the break and laid on a perfectly weighted pass for Yaya Toure to finish with aplomb is one example.
But back to his positioning, his role was different to the False 9 interpretation of a Messi type, as it was all about creating space for team-mates. That pretty much means it wasn't a false 9 and more of a decoy striker.
Note, the number of attempts Samir Nasri (2 shots), Yaya Toure (5 attempts), Pablo Zabaleta and two-goal David Silva (4 shots) tried during the 90 minutes of play.
For example, where was Milner for this Zabaleta chance?
Occupying a centre-back without breaking towards goal is the answer, which allows Zabaleta to move beyond the Palace backline.
It was almost a similar move for David Silva's first goal where Milner is close to one of the centre-halves and therefore must remain marked, while his Spanish team-mate finds himself in a pocket of space behind Zabaleta's run and Milner's move towards the middle.
Even for Silva's second goal which came from a left wing cross, Milner was in an inside left position in the box, not waiting for the ball but leaving a space for a midfielder to spring into.
It is a very typical selfless role for Milner and it at least gives Manuel Pellegrini a temporary option while he awaits Sergio Aguero's recovery from injury.
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