City fans writing John Stones off too early?

OrigamiNinja said:
Tonight is a terrible game to be able to judge him on. City hammering Newcastle at home has become quite the norm. If that happens again and Stones has very little to do, other than playing 5 yard passes to the CDM, many will be on here telling all and sundry 'he's back'.

He has never had any issues in games like this. His issues firstly come with not being able to get out on the pitch with any regularity and secondly an inability to defend with any consistency when called upon.

Tonight won't tell us anything we don't already know about Stones. We need to see how he performs in big games say an FA Cup SF, or a CL game against Madrid. Unfortunately, I don't want him anywhere near the starting XI in those fixtures.

His time here is over. He must be replaced in the Summer.
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And this weekends Lotto numbers will be....
 
We have no better alternative, IMHO. I'd reserve the criticism for Cancelo, utter trash and 60m worth of trash at that. Astonishing bit of business. Stones isn't the longer term solution but he's our best option to partner the Rolls-Royce that is Laporte.
 
s1ty m said:
We have no better alternative, IMHO. I'd reserve the criticism for Cancelo, utter trash and 60m worth of trash at that. Astonishing bit of business. Stones isn't the longer term solution but he's our best option to partner the Rolls-Royce that is Laporte.
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There are alternatives. Koulibaily and Ake being a couple.

Good job we didn't pay 60m for Cancelo then isn't it ;)

Stones is going to need to out perform Garcia for the rest of the season to have any shot of being here next year. Even then he may get an offer and want to go anyway.
 
My main concern is that he continually backs off and allows players to either get a pass or shot off, or to get into our box. Only once did a Newcastle forward attack him tonight, yet he still backed off and allowed the Newcastle player into our box. Now I know you don't want your defenders blindly lunging in, but you can't keep backing off to the extent Stones does.

I had high hopes for Stones but he has not improved one bit in all the years he has been with us. He is injury prone and seems to have lost his nerve. There was a stage at the start of last season when he looked to have turned a corner and he was playing really well, alongside Aymeric. Then he got injured and he went to pot. At the business end of the season, he could not be relied upon. We needed Vincent, who was practically on his last legs, to bail us out.

I really don't want to give up on him as I have always thought he is a talented player. Yet, we seem to concede far more goals with him in the team, than with any other defender.
 
s1ty m said:
Played well tonight. Against a continuous onslaught from Newcastle, whom McPointy described as having had, and I quote, 'A wonderful season'. Yes, he gets paid to commentate on football.
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They have considering to be fair.
 
decmancity said:
There are alternatives. Koulibaily and Ake being a couple.

Good job we didn't pay 60m for Cancelo then isn't it ;)

Stones is going to need to out perform Garcia for the rest of the season to have any shot of being here next year. Even then he may get an offer and want to go anyway.
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From the current squad. Koulibaly would be a great addition. Ake...no thanks.
 
Had a decent to good game tonight. Won quite a few balls in the air and his distribution was OK. Looked a little out of place at times (looking for his space or a pass), but first game in quite a while, so fair play to him.

I don’t know if Pep sees him as one of 4 or not. If not, then we probably need two CBs, with Ake and KK looking like the best prospects for us. With Garcia and Laporte as the other two, and THB coming through, that seems like a solid 4-5 CBs, with youth and experience.

If (when) B’mouth go down, I’d look for a nice swap for Ake, even if we have to cover some wages, or pay a little to get rid of them.
 
Easily the best passer out of defence at the club. I know he wasn’t pressurised tonight but he always plays the ball well in front of the player for them to run onto and not having to check their run. Understands the game and I Still think he’s worth another season and clearly a better player than Garcia and Otamendi. I don’t see what Garcia’s strengths as a defender are and Otamendi makes way more errors that Stones.
 
s1ty m said:
We have no better alternative, IMHO. I'd reserve the criticism for Cancelo, utter trash and 60m worth of trash at that. Astonishing bit of business. Stones isn't the longer term solution but he's our best option to partner the Rolls-Royce that is Laporte.
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Not now Garcia is on the scene. Stones needs muscle, until then he's good on the ball but bad in a battle.
 
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