John Stones - 2019/20 Performances

[OntarioBlue]

I think Vvd and Vinnie had more about them at this stage than Stones.He is quite error prone when not even under great pressure and I don't think it is football ability but something in his head
Personal life may be getting to him and stopping him concentrating on his game cos I'm sure theres a player in there somewhere

Stones is a brilliant footballer and notwithstanding some of the comments on here is a great centre back.

it appears to me that since he came back from his last injury he has lost his confidence. As I said yesterday on another topic form is temporary, class is permanent. Stones is a class player and will come good again.

Btw, he was great against Chelsea, my man of the match. That was only a week ago. Are people’s memories that short ?

 

[SebastianBlue]

I find a glass of rioja makes you think more reasonably:-)

Rioja tends to make most things more reasonable. ;-)

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Stones is a brilliant footballer and notwithstanding some of the comments on here is a great centre back.

it appears to me that since he came back from his last injury he has lost his confidence. As I said yesterday on another topic form is temporary, class is permanent. Stones is a class player and will come good again.

Btw, he was great against Chelsea, my man of the match. That was only a week ago. Are people’s memories that short ?

Good post.

And yes some people can only think about the most recent game, the most recent poor performance, or somehow forget all good points and only remember bad.

 

[cjn]

Good post.

And yes some people can only think about the most recent game, the most recent poor performance, or somehow forget all good points and only remember bad.

The crucial difference here is that the single most important attribute in a world class centerback is consistency. It's easy to mock VVD's "hasn't been dribbled past in 8 years stat" or whatever we're at now, but it illustrates the fact that he plays at a high level week in and week out. It's useless to have a centerback thats brilliant 80% of the time if he's a calamity the other 20%. And given his injuries, personal issues, and various other runs of poor form, Stones is much closer to the latter than the former.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

Maybe he'll never be the rock that Vinny was. But Laporte probably will be. In which case, we just need options to partner and cover him long term.

Buy a new centre back, promote one of garcia and THB, but there's no need to ship off Stones. Good player, home grown, experienced.

 

[WallyA]

He can never be sold. He is English and we paid a lot for him, unless we take a huge loss it’s more practical to bring another CB and make him 3rd choice.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

He can never be sold. He is English and we paid a lot for him, unless we take a huge loss it’s more practical to bring another CB and make him 3rd choice.

Which with a bit of luck we will do. He isn’t good enough to be starting week in week out. One of the CB’s need to be a leader and he most definitely doesn’t fall into that category. He played well against Chelsea but I watched him a couple of times being directed by Fern.

The defence is a mess and he is part of that mess.

 

[WallyA]

Which with a bit of luck we will do. He isn’t good enough to be starting week in week out. One of the CB’s need to be a leader and he most definitely doesn’t fall into that category. He played well against Chelsea but I watched him a couple of times being directed by Fern.

The defence is a mess and he is part of that mess.

I agree. But still will not be sold imo. His Englishness is too valuable unfortunately.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I agree. But still will not be sold imo. His Englishness is too valuable unfortunately.

Agree. I don’t mind him being part of a four man squad for CB and playing maybe 15-20
times a season but he isn’t good enough to be starting every week. Look at the example of him fucking about on the bench while Pep was going nuts at him. He comes across like someone who needs spoon feeding all of the time.

He has to play currently though because he is better than Otamendi and it’s one or the other.

 

[WallyA]

Agree. I don’t mind him being part of a four man squad for CB and playing maybe 15-20
times a season but he isn’t good enough to be starting every week. Look at the example of him fucking about on the bench while Pep was going nuts at him. He comes across like someone who needs spoon feeding all of the time.

He has to play currently though because he is better than Otamendi and it’s one or the other.

I have said this before, but I think Pep should try going 3 atb. Many CBs have looked way better in this system because they can be more involved in build up and slightly less responsibly for fuck ups because it’s not just 2 of them.

I think both otamendi and stones would benefit here. I’ve seen David Luis and a few other CB look way better in a set up like this. Free’s the fullbacks too.