Last weekend's round of international games brought two City players whose domestic chances, up to now, have been restricted to say the least, into the limelight. It is a curious aspect of City's sumptuous squad that both James Milner and Edin Dzeko are more likely to get a start for England and Bosnia these days than they are to begin a Premier League match. Last weekend, Milner and Dzeko took their international chances with both hands.

Milner has cut an increasingly despondent figure at the Etihad. Used sparingly by his manager, he is often the one to be hauled off when a change is needed, the anguished gestures and gritted teeth a sure sign of frustration from a player not built to entertain us with prima donna hissy fits. Recognised best for his unstinting work-rate and unselfish running, Milner - many claim - has been criminally underused by Mancini. When he does appear, it is to be played out of position. On the one obvious occasion when he was not shackled to the right wing, he enjoyed perhaps his best ever City game as the Blues romped home at Old Trafford last season. It is not necessarily the wide position that so often does for Milner when playing for City, however, more the remit to stay out there. Against United his effectiveness was heightened by a roving role, which saw him pop up on both wings to create the extra body to repeatedly and gloriously overload United's full-backs. Milner seemed in his element, exchanging give-and-gos with David Silva and bending in a great ball to find Balotelli for City's crucial second goal.

Central midfield was always his territory when playing for Aston Villa, but Milner has been moved out wide by City and England since then, perhaps as a result of those middle areas already being congested by stellar talent. "I still think central is my best position," he confided at the weekend but, as long as the quiet, unassuming Yorkshireman puts team ethics ahead of self, he may well remain more treasured by Roy Hodgson than Mancini.

Edin Dzeko is another story. The big man is a walking conundrum. His is one of the first names to be sung from the stands as the teams appear each week. You feel the waves of warmth for him when he arrives as a substitute, likewise the empathy for him as he struggles to find his touch, gentle passes cannoning back towards the halfway line off his towering shins. He often scores crucial goals, however - the aforementioned rout at Old Trafford a case in point. The big Bosnian entered the field with less than 20 minutes to go and provided us with what I would call a typical Edin Dzeko day at the office. His very first touch was to swipe a presentable chance past the post with a scuffed miss-kick. Two more goalscoring opportunities came and went and, as we entered time added on, you felt he had been responsible merely for 18 minutes of nuisance-making and a lot of holding of heads in hands for the supporters. He finished that game with two goals. Even in the microcosm of the last three minutes between the 90th and 93rd, he managed a shinned miscue from two yards out and a proper striker's finish into the far corner. He is an enigma wrapped up in a mystery.

At the weekend, he banged in a hat-trick for Bosnia. He is their focal point, he holds the ball up well, he is fast in the mind and on the floor and he scores regularly. In Liechtenstein, his goals included a decisive far post finish, a weak header that should have been cleared and a poacher's strike from close in. Still the classic curate's egg but, nevertheless, three international goals to add to the tally. But this prolific, sure-footed Dzeko, the same Dzeko who accelerated out of defence at Arsenal last season, skipped inside the full back before delivering a slide-rule through ball to the raiding Johnson and Aguero, thus creating one of the most memorable and incisive counter-attacks of last season, is not always there for us in sky blue. The decisive goals home and away v QPR last season, and his magnificent four goals at White Hart Lane, fight for recognition alongside the far post howlers and misdirected headers. For his country, the big man can do no wrong. For City, the jury remains stubbornly out.

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