John Stones - 2016/17 performances

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

only conceded once in two games after letting in 8 in our previous 3. Signs that we're tightening up?

7 of which were because of an insistence of a back 3.... Stones needs a mentor when on the pitch at present, Ota, kolorov aren't that!!!

 

[Neville Kneville]

What we are seeing, is the player we signed. He was bought on potential & shows plenty of it imo. He's doing ok. But he is absolutely not a top central defender at this stage. All the bollocks talked about systems, most of the problem has been players not doing their jobs properly & Stones is smack bang in the middle of that. To us, Kolarov is the demon but to Pep, clearly it's moreso Stones who has failed to do what Pep asked, so he's rested him a bit. He'll be back. But it's not a new thing re Stones.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/what-now-john-stones-everton-10976241

 

[MarsLlama]

7 of which were because of an insistence of a back 3.... Stones needs a mentor when on the pitch at present, Ota, kolorov aren't that!!!

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not blaming Stones for our poor defence. The point is that we don't need to rush Stones back in because our defence is clearly benefiting from playing together.

 

[supercity88]

The changes we've made are an easy excuse for poor defending. Whilst consistency helps with a system, if we want to be one of the best in the world we have to be consistent despite rotating the squad. Stones has made too many errors. He's young and developing so you can give him the time to do so, but there have been too many errors in general from our defence. We looked a lot better against Arsenal, albeit there was still switching off to allow their first goal.

Crucially, and what the media are missing, is that our defence is all about keeping the ball high up the pitch. We were so good defensively in the second half against Arsenal because our attacking players hunted the ball and our defenders mopped up their aimless clearances. That's how we need to defend. We've been slack on this recently, we didn't give them a sniff second half because our whole team defended from the front. When we do it consistently, Stones will slot in comfortably.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

The changes we've made are an easy excuse for poor defending. Whilst consistency helps with a system, if we want to be one of the best in the world we have to be consistent despite rotating the squad. Stones has made too many errors. He's young and developing so you can give him the time to do so, but there have been too many errors in general from our defence. We looked a lot better against Arsenal, albeit there was still switching off to allow their first goal.

Crucially, and what the media are missing, is that our defence is all about keeping the ball high up the pitch. We were so good defensively in the second half against Arsenal because our attacking players hunted the ball and our defenders mopped up their aimless clearances. That's how we need to defend. We've been slack on this recently, we didn't give them a sniff second half because our whole team defended from the front. When we do it consistently, Stones will slot in comfortably.

Stones was error prone when we bought him and spent half of last season on Everton's bench. Not a huge surprise that he isn't fully on it yet.

I agree with the defend higher up. We weren't fucking about as much either so maybe it has sunk in!

 

[sir baconface]

The changes we've made are an easy excuse for poor defending. Whilst consistency helps with a system, if we want to be one of the best in the world we have to be consistent despite rotating the squad. Stones has made too many errors. He's young and developing so you can give him the time to do so, but there have been too many errors in general from our defence. We looked a lot better against Arsenal, albeit there was still switching off to allow their first goal.

Crucially, and what the media are missing, is that our defence is all about keeping the ball high up the pitch. We were so good defensively in the second half against Arsenal because our attacking players hunted the ball and our defenders mopped up their aimless clearances. That's how we need to defend. We've been slack on this recently, we didn't give them a sniff second half because our whole team defended from the front. When we do it consistently, Stones will slot in comfortably.

Good post :-)

 

[Dax777]

I'd question that decision too, don't get me wrong. Not the quickest, dives in and although not bad in the air he's fairly small for a centre back. With Otamendi in situ already tho, and question marks over Kompanys long term fitness, I said back in the summer Stones was the wrong move and not what we needed at the time (especially at 50 mil).

Last 11 games. 7 with Stones won 1. 4 without won all 4. Now I'm not saying it's all his fault obviously, and I'm no kolarov lover, but there's no doubt we're better with kolarov/Otamendi at centre half right now, despite their deficiencies .....

Bullshit. You are trying really hard to conjure up facts to support an opinion you've always held. Noticed you were quiet when we won 7 of 8 with him starting.

Nothing to do with Stones specifically. More to do with a drop in intensity and some bad luck. Intensity occurs in the front 6, not the back 4. So bad diagnosis, bad conclusion.

 

[kaz7]

John Stones suffered an impact injury after a kick to his knee. His knee is swollen but there is no ligament damage. [@Sammy_Goal]

 

[MCFC_4Heatons]

I'm all for playing out from the back but sometimes he dwells on the ball, likes to wave his hands around like he saying no ones available .... Needs to learn and learn quickly in Pep's system it's about quick thinking and sometimes I think he just wants far too long on the ball before deciding what to do... No question he's good on the ball, especially for an English defender, juries out on his defending at the moment though ...

 

[MarsLlama]

I feel like it shouldn't be Otamendi's problem that Stones needs a mentor... Otamendi has enough to worry about really.