John Stones - 2016/17 performances

[MeatHunterrr]

Think today confirmed Stones' biggest problem has been who is next to him. With Otamendi next to him he is constantly left isolated as Ota goes walkabouts or takes himself out of the game sliding in. But him and Kolarov have formed a solid partnership. Both played very well and did their defensive duties with ease.

Agree.

 

[Easy]

Excellent today and with Alex at his side, out best CB partnership by far.

+1

 

[City_Sean]

Looks very assured when playing alongside Kolarov. Still some way to go, but he's getting better.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

i think a no nonsense defender next to him would be great. Kompany is the one, but if not gibson, who we've been linked with from boro looks a very talented player.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Imo he's the least reliable on the ball, of our centre backs. He's been here a while now & is still dithering more than even Otamendi & Kolarov.

I don't think he has any special ability on the ball at all, it's just that he doesn't panic & therefore can get himself out of situations he gets himself into.

Unless he does make the transition into a great defender, we have hugely overpaid as far as the 'footballing' bit goes imo.

 

[Callum Ramsey]

Think today confirmed Stones' biggest problem has been who is next to him. With Otamendi next to him he is constantly left isolated as Ota goes walkabouts or takes himself out of the game sliding in. But him and Kolarov have formed a solid partnership. Both played very well and did their defensive duties with ease.

Does it though. He had a good game and I would agree it seems he performs better when paired with anyone but otamendi as they just don't seem to function and communicate well together as a partnership but stones' biggest problem is still himself. It's been that way when he was at everton and still the case here. I could equally argue otamendi's biggest problem this season has been when he has stones next to him and that has more validity to it than the other way round. I will add that Otamendi himself also has his problems but there seems to be this thing where stones gets excused and others get the blame when he doesn't perform that I don't understand. I posted these exact stats below a couple of pages back in this thread which some still seem to ignore when they try to blame otamendi to compensate for stones

There's been 8 games where otamendi has started without stones and in those games the teams' record reads 7 wins 1 draw (wins against bournemouth, palace, burnley x2, watford, arsenal, hull and the one draw being the 2-2 against spurs) team conceding 6 goals

Meanwhile in the 5 games stones has started without otamendi the teams record reads 2 wins(sunderland 2-1, swansea 2-1) 2 draws (southampton 1-1, middlesborough 1-1) 1 defeat (leiceter 4-2) team conceding 8 goals.

You can praise stones' performance without having to blame someone else when he doesn't as the evidence just doesn't back that up. He still has many flaws in his game and I'm hopeful pep is working hard with him to eradicate them. He might be young but he's still made over 130+ club appearances so he's definitely experienced enough for his age.

 

[BlueCityfan]

Imo he's the least reliable on the ball, of our centre backs. He's been here a while now & is still dithering more than even Otamendi & Kolarov.

I don't think he has any special ability on the ball at all, it's just that he doesn't panic & therefore can get himself out of situations he gets himself into.

Unless he does make the transition into a great defender, we have hugely overpaid as far as the 'footballing' bit goes imo.

He has good ball control. And is obviously comfortable with the ball at his feet (more so than Kolarov IMO). It's finding the pass between the lines he struggles with. And it's the difficult part.

When Kolarov comes forward with the ball. He usually finds the space to pass to a teammate. Stones does the same, he often backs down and passes it to Kolarov. Kolarov is simply a more intelligent footballer. Haven't seen Stones try many of those long-passes Kolarov does so well either.

If he doesn't improve that. We have overpaid badly.

 

[kaz7]

Pep on Stones: "He's [now] playing at a high, high level: w/ the long balls, not making mistakes on his own. He's becoming a better player."

 

[domalino]

Why wasn't Stones playing yesterday? Pep has said in the past that when we need to be faster in the build up, Stones and Kolarov are his first choice pair.


I think we missed him quite a lot.

 

[MarsLlama]

Very good today but I've been disappointed with his passing. It hasn't been bad but not all it's made up to be. Kolarov has been far better in that aspect, an attribute that was billed as his biggest strength. I'm not complaining because he's been pretty good all-round but I was expecting a few more difficult passes.