City fans writing John Stones off too early?

It's all about confidence and at PL level you need it in abundance. On his day John Stones is good enough and fit for purpose. However over the last 12 months or so his confidence has been sadly lacking. Personal problems seemed to have played a big part together with Peps reluctance to trust him on a regular basis. You can tell by his body language on the pitch whether its going to be a good day for him or not.
If he can bury these physiological problems then we keep him. If the management do not think this will happen any day soon then we sell him this window.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
This is the key point. He looked a great prospect but is worse now than he was four years ago. He had a great six months alongside Kompany and that's it. There is no time for sentiment. Pep has bent over backwards to help him. There are many better centre backs in the PL. For example Tarkowski at Burnley and Soyuncu who is superb in my view. Otamanedi was great for two seasons but is now well past it. We are world class in most positions but our centre backs (except Laporte) are sub-standard.
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Iirc, when Stones came he was prob the most advanced skill wise at applying Pep's system so looked good.
For me, he has not progressed with the rest of the team and now looks a fish out of water
 
mosssideblue said:
That would be for the wrong reason though imo. He is either good enough or not, whether another player leaves doesn't change that
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Is he good enough to occupy the position Garcia would have next season? I'm assuming Garcia was pinned down for 4th spot, in that case 100% he is good enough. Can he stay fit enough to occupy that and maybe fight the other 3 for a starting place? I dunno about that..!

The problem with Stones is he hasn't been able to cement that spot in the 4 years he's been here, whether that is due to injury or not, it's down to him to sort it. Kompany was injured a lot, but you could rely on him to be available immediately and offer something to the first team. I don't think we've been able to say the same about Stones for a while.
 
shevtheblue said:
Is he good enough to occupy the position Garcia would have next season? I'm assuming Garcia was pinned down for 4th spot, in that case 100% he is good enough. Can he stay fit enough to occupy that and maybe fight the other 3 for a starting place? I dunno about that..!

The problem with Stones is he hasn't been able to cement that spot in the 4 years he's been here, whether that is due to injury or not, it's down to him to sort it. Kompany was injured a lot, but you could rely on him to be available immediately and offer something to the first team. I don't think we've been able to say the same about Stones for a while.
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Of course he is good enough for 4th spot, but do you want a squad player and 4th choice CB to be on 150k a week? We are a very rich club but not idiots.
 
Keeper! said:
Of course he is good enough for 4th spot, but do you want a squad player and 4th choice CB to be on 150k a week? We are a very rich club but not idiots.
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I want a 4th choice CB who can push for a starting place. We're building a squad to challenge for every single trophy that's available to us, it's why we've had Bravo sat on the bench earning 80k a week. AFAIK Stones is on around 100k, probably the going rate for an England international nowadays. If we can have him in the current Otamendi position, where he's a good to have and could push for a starting spot if he got a run of games, i think that's fair value in the current market. I certainly wouldn't go into next season with Tosin & THB as our 4th choices as that puts us in the same place we have been this season with injuries.
 
People are being too harsh to him saying he's been a let down for all four years. Two of those years were the most dominant the club has been in its entire history and he played a solid part.

Don't get me wrong, I agree he has regressed quite sharply, has to take responsibility and should probably move on, but don't be over the top and rewrite history either.
 
How can people still be confident in Stones? You have all the evidence you need looking at the past four years. He was stable in 17/18 but Laporte and Kompany was the reason we eclipsed Liverpool winning 14 games straight last year. This is as good as it gets for him and not good enough to compete at the very highest level. Against the best attackers in the world he gets exposed.
Even at his best, he’s still not at Laportes level and his best is nowhere to be seen.

If this guy wasn’t English, everyone would want him gone yesterday.
 
Shaelumstash said:
I know, we only won 4 trophies last season and he played nearly double the games Kompany did. And only got 100 points the season before. What a massive let down.
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Based on minutes played he only featured 540 minutes more than Kompany in the league last season and 90 minutes fewer the season before.
Not enough time on the pitch for a 20 odd year old.
 
Exeter Blue I am here said:
He may stay if only because he’s English and because this is Fernandinho’s last hurrah. Were it not for that I’d definitely be looking to offload. Constantly injured, confidence is shot, and when he is fit there’s a ludicrous gaffe in him just waiting to get out (such as falling over at Wembley and handing Villa a lifeline). Defining moment of last season for him IMO was that last minute 1 on 1 with Wilfred Zaha at the Etihad, when you knew as soon as the Palace winger got the ball Stones would neither muscle him off it nor prevent him getting a shot/cross in. A shame because he’s not some cart horse incapable of improvement, but he’s been hopelessly unreliable since he got injured at Christmas in 2017 after a decent run in the team
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The palace goal was Ederson mistake by kicking the ball long.
His fault. But there was chances to stop the goal with stones being one of them.
Injuries are a nightmare for any player. They all suffer mentally. Some worse than others.
 
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