5 | John Stones - 2024/25

[sarcastico]

Yes, for about a month and a half during the treble winning season, it was a tweak that rejuvenated us and got us over the line. But by the end of the treble season, it had already stopped working.

Neither Stones nor Akanji are great on the ball. Frankly, contrary to popular opinion Akanji is in fact better than Stones at cosplaying a midfielder. But neither is good enough.

Lewis is the only defender who is good enough to be a legit DM/CM. The others aren't.

I hope and expect it will be Gundogan and Kova with Lewis starting a lot more at RB but getting moved inside while Akanji plays slightly wider on the right.

Rodri's absence is a problem there are no great answers to... But some answers are better than others.
Centerback pushed inyo midfield is one of the weakest answers in my humble opinion. Whether it's John or Akanji.

Lewis can be a great CM but as a DM or loan DM, he is very lacking.

I suspect Pep is going to cook something up that we havn't seen yet.

 

[sh249]

It won us the treble, mate. You can see why people might be interested in trying it again.

I don't want to see Akanji anywhere other than RB/CB/LB because he doesn't move the ball quickly or intelligently enough to justify holding down a DM/CM role, but Stones has done and can do again.

The idea that it stopped working is a bit strange. I think it was mid-May that we humped Madrid. And the only meaningful results after that were a win against Chelsea, doing Utd in the final, then beating Inter.
Drew with Brighton after celebrating winning the league, but think Stones played at centre half with Rodri and wasn’t stepping into midfield at all. Then lost at Brentford - and Stones didn‘t play.

 

[kaz7]

Still don't quite understand how we completely binned off Stones at right-back after winning the treble. Feels like Pep promised the Earth to Walker when he convinced him to stay. Rico and Stones should rotate for first choice right-back going forward.

He wasnt binned off , he cant stay fit so pep cant rely on him