Stones shouldn't play for England until the World Cup | Called up again (pg13)

MCFC1993 said:
These are England's upcoming games:

6th Sept - Andorra (H)
9th Sept - Serbia (A)
9th Oct - Wales (H) - Friendly
14th Oct- Latvia (A)
13th Nov - Serbia (H)
16th Nov - Albania (A)
2 Friendlies in March 2026
2 Friendlies in June 2026

View attachment 166463

England beat Serbia and they're all but through.

So 8 game before the season ends and 2 straight after. I would say only 1 of those Serbia games is necessary and that's assuming Serbia are perfect from now (they wont be).
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Tuchel can pick him for the squad, doesn't mean he needs to pick him for a game.
 
cleavers said:
Tuchel can pick him for the squad, doesn't mean he needs to pick him for a game.
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Fine with that, if he wants him familiarised with the team etc... go ahead, makes more sense with him ready to start for the World Cup.

The 1st Serbia game is the only one that makes sense, the rest will be walkovers or dead rubbers.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Fine with that, if he wants him familiarised with the team etc... go ahead, makes more sense with him ready to start for the World Cup.

The 1st Serbia game is the only one that makes sense, the rest will be walkovers or dead rubbers.
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That is on Tuchel though, not City fans, John Stones can influence that obviously, by how he feels about his own body.
 
Cityfan said:
He might not have started as a City fan but he gives every impression of being very attached to the club.
He refused an offer to join Arteta at Arsenal when he appeared to have limited opportunities here.

Equally he's probably very proud to represent his country and World Cups come near to the high points of any players career particularly if they do well in them.

He's clearly very well paid whatever happens and I'd be surprised if pride in achievement for both club and country don't completely supercede marginal changes in wealth for him.
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He’s not a city fan.
 
Eccles Blue said:
That’s funny, I could have sworn he was on the team sheet yesterday and 10 people voted for him as MOTM! ;-).
I hear what you are saying and I do understand but it’s a dilemma for him, the club and England management I guess.
After all it’s prestige for the club to have International players. Ah well luckily I don’t have to make the decision. I can just watch from the sidelines. ;-) :-)
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Tell me he’s played more than 25 per season over the last 3 years I think the answer is he hasn’t
I obviously realised he played yesterday but you also realised that as well
 
John has said he wants to stay and finish here. Fine. Retire from international football and in doing so, give yourself the best chance of staying fit and have consistent fitness and treatment routines.
 
Sheikh rattle and roll said:
Tell me he’s played more than 25 per season over the last 3 years I think the answer is he hasn’t
I obviously realised he played yesterday but you also realised that as well
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I don’t do statistics. I just watch when he plays or doesn’t play. You said he never plays.
And yes I did realise that he played especially as I voted for him as MOTM. ;-)
John Stones does his best. Like us all he lives his life the best he can. He’s just under more scrutiny than we are. :-)
 
This international lark is getting absurd. Maybe a dozen games a season against rubbish teams sprinkled with local taxi drivers or against better teams who saunter through jokes games making countless substitutions. Is there an international side that would finish in the top 6 in the PL ? Probably not.

It’s all very nice that John and many of his team mates like to play for their country, meet up with old friends and have a fun,non demanding week but they should realise which side their bread’s buttered on and City shouldn’t be shy to remind them of this.
 
I wouldn't get your hopes up.

Stones is one of the first names on the team sheet for England and the fact he was called up in June despite being injured tells you all you need to know.

Tuchel will want to play his best XI now with the world cup round the corner, and Stones will be in it.
 
Gorbachev said:
Stones is one of the first names on the team sheet for England and the fact he was called up in June despite being injured tells you all you need to know.
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He wasn’t called up in June. He was not in the squad and did not play.

He just joined them for a few days.
 
You would hope that Tuchel will be thinking "who could partner Guehi if Stones is injured for the World Cup?" particularly now that Colwill is out for the season.

Wishful thinking of course, but he won't have the blind loyalty that Southgate had
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
John Stones, 2024; ‘My family are all City fans now – kids, relatives, you name it – and City are a huge part of their lives as well as mine, so I feel privileged to be part of the fabric of this fantastic football club’.

He might have grown up as a Barnsley fan, but he’s definitely a Blue now.
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Aye. Isak was a Newcastle fan and soon he’ll be a dipper fan, man and boy.
 
jamesha said:
Great post. I think he should only play one game a week maximum. We really should be able to beat lower half teams without him. We could do with getting another defender to replicate his pushing into midfield. Akanji tried last year but not with the same quality. I wonder whether Gvardiol could do that job now we have a proper left back.
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Gvardiol has played in midfield many times. He could deffo do that step up job for us. Good shout.
 
Pedestrian said:
He’s not a city fan.
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I’ve a funny feeling he was a Liverpool fan as a kid ie Barnsley plus a prem club. Pros tend to be fairly neutral in their playing career unless they play for their boyhood club. Of course they play for the shirt and often get attached to their club.
 
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KS55 said:
I’ve a funny feeling he was a Liverpool fan as a kid ie Barnsley plus a prem club. Pros tend to be fairly neutral in their playing career unless they play for their boyhood club. Of course they play for the shirt and often get attached to their club.
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His hero was David Beckham when he was a kid. Probably a Rag… but he’s not any more…

‘He gets the Blues excited, he fucking hates United’.
 
Sheikh rattle and roll said:
Tell me he’s played more than 25 per season over the last 3 years I think the answer is he hasn’t
I obviously realised he played yesterday but you also realised that as well
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If you’re talking about league games, he’s only once played more than 25 and that was in 2016/17, when he played 27.
However, if you’re talking about all competitions, he’s only twice not played 25 in a season, which were 2019/20 (24 games) and last season (20 games).

That suggests that he’s rarely been any different since he joined and the idea his injury record is a recent thing just isn’t right.

I do know, I’d much rather see him playing than not.
 
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