City fans writing John Stones off too early?

skyblues said:
For reasons I cannot understand, people suddenly have such optimistic views on John Stones and now seem to want him to stay at all cost. He’s been part of our team for 4 years and was crucial two years ago, but he hasn’t performed on the highest level since the end of the 17/18 campaign. Laporte and Kompany was the key reason we won 14 straight league games last year when we beat Liverpool to the title.

The problem with Stones is he looks scared when defending. He’s a passive defender backing into goal rather than engaging and it seems he’s just waiting for someone else to do his job for him. On several occasions I’ve seen a frustrated De Bruyne run down to tackle the opposition off the ball because the defender is just standing there doing nothing.

We need defenders who can step in and be proactive, defenders who look to intercept or show some physicality on the ground. That’s the reason we bought Aké because that’s exactly how he plays. Stones is an excellent passer of the ball but he is lacking a lot of attributes required for a good central defender and my patience with him ran out a long time ago. I’m actually quite stunned people continue to overlook his mediocrity and simply wanna wait until he rediscover himself.

Guardiola picks a 35-year old central defensive midfielder and a 19-year old and inexperienced CB ahead of John Stones in huge games. That should tell you everything you need to know about his (lack of) quality.

Finally: I’m not ungrateful, I know what he brought to the team in terms of records and trophies, and I have nothing against him. He seems like a good guy but we’ll never reach our highest level as a team with him in the heart of our defence. Period.
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Agree with you fella . If we keep John stones And rotate him aswell as mendy then we won’t be winning the title it’s as simple as that . All these players that have underperformed this season are not good enough for a top tier football club
 
Paul1970 said:
Agree with you fella . If we keep John stones And rotate him aswell as mendy then we won’t be winning the title it’s as simple as that . All these players that have underperformed this season are not good enough for a top tier football club
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Can we at least keep Bernardo. I love watching him.
 
Eccles Blue said:
I’ve not got a ‘love in’ with John Boy, I never lost faith in him. Yes he’s lost some confidence but he will come good again.
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Agree with this, he was great with Laporte. Injuries have taken their toll. He needs time.
However I completely trust Peps judgement.
Pep seems to believe in him.
 
chedinho said:
Can we at least keep Bernardo. I love watching him.
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Bernardo will come back better this season and even though Barca are looking at him they cannot afford anything near what we want for him and that’s if we wanted to sell .
 
Real shame about stones he was pep’s perfect defender being so comfortable with the ball, his head seems fucked along with his confidence & fitness, his time with city is at an end in my opinion, hope his next move works out for him, he could still be a quality defender
 
Think I was one of the last to write him off,during the restart. If only I hung in and believed just a little longer I could have been on my high horse telling everyone I told you so.
Lets hope he carries on proving so many of us wrong.
 
blueparrot said:
I won’t in fact I might take some credit. I’m usually on the wrong side of arguments, he was probably waiting for me to give up on him before he turned it round to prove me wrong,,again. ;)
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will hold my hands up too on giving up on Stones towards the end of last season.

Couldn’t see him back in a City shirt & most importantly excelling in one.

Have said it a couple of times but the very few times I have seen him play this season he has looked like a Rolls Royce defender almost like he’s had a brain transplant- long may it continue although I suspect the introduction of Dias in the squad has helped him from a confidence point of view.
 
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