He's so far behind the other defenders in his age category it's ridiculous. He was poor last season, and I don't think there was any one area that particularly improved, which is again a worry. He's in massive danger of becoming a flop unless he gets his shit together.
The very same was said about Pique before he went to Barca and Pep started to coach him..
Let me just throw out there that, maybe, his footballing ability and relative defensive weakness (which is overstated, see below*) works better for City than for England.
It takes an inordinately stacked team like France to really highlight the middling competency of this England side, who struggled for possession and any semblance of control against a team setup to hit on the counter-attack. Dier was dire, Cahill over the hill, the Ox more like a bull in a China shop. The whole side were in disarray and yet there he is, the fall-guy, John Stones who is singled out for abuse by a media hungry to berate anyone connected with City.
Yet behind all that is the ignored reality that Stones carries an immense amount of his manager's confidence because he's exactly the kind of CB his system needs. England might need a lumbering hulk who can wall off the gaping holes frequently left by Messrs Dier and Cahill, but City need a footballer who is still capable of stepping up in those few (like perhaps 3) occasions that possession is lost and a defensive shift is required.
(*he won 4 aerial duals, more than any other player on the park. Similarly, he made more successful clearances (4) and interceptions (3) than anyone else, while maintaining a 92% pass accuracy, England's best by a measure)
Fucking depressing coming on here reading our own getting slagged off again.
Spent my whole life listening to rival fans slagging off City players, now it seems City fans slag off their own players more than rival fans do. I sometimes wish we were skint again.
What everyone needs to remember is, Stones in a team that give the ball away and are under constant pressure ie England probably isn't the right centre back he won't make last ditch tackles and clearances. But we aren't that team we will control the ball and possession, even more than last season, building from the back, Stones will become one of the best at that sort of centre back, I have every expectation he will be our centre back for years to come.
Oh of course, but I think it's foolish to sit here and say "Stones has been great so far" when the simple fact is he hasn't.
Yeah that really made Kit Symons into a better player.
I dont disagree he hasn't been setting the world a light but some have all ready condemned him to fail before he has even been given a chance.