John Stones - 2016/17 performances

[super_city_si]

tonight Stones went out to cover Sagna's position, searched for midfield help that wasn't arriving, chased the next pass, blocked a cross, then watched as Sagna defended space and watched the ball fizz back into the CB's area for a goal.

I'm convinced that fixing our FBs will have a dramatic impact upon our results. Sagna doesn't do many of the calamitous mistakes that we all notice and remember but when you focus on him he's really quite poor.

And for my praise of Stones there (and I would praise his taking responsibility in the 2nd half), he's still giving way too much ground when players run at him. As I said in the game thread, he doesn't have to do an Otamendi and rush the attacker but he can't allow the attacker the amount of space he does which lets him just chew up 20 or 30 yards at full pace. He should be able to get tighter and force the attackers wider which will give his teammates a chance to get back and help.

That's a fair summary. Stones is what 21? Compare him at his level of development to Sane and Sterling. Neither are the finished product but have shown that they definitely have the ability to progress to the very top. Decision making and consistency will hopefully be taught/learned and with that they will be superb.

I see Stones at a similar level in his development except he plays CB which is far more punishing for any mistake. Stones has shown he can be very good like last night, but as you rightly point out he has flaws which we can see and hopefully management has him working on them. Strength will come with age and i would love Vinny to take him to the side and teach him how to defend 1 on 1, for as you rightly point out, he doesn't close the gap or marshall the forward effectively. Something Vinny was a master at.

I can see a very good player in Stones, just hope he can fulfill his potential and do it with us. Such a shame that he hasn't had game time with Kompany.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Stones was moftm against Monaco , although we conceded three goals the lack of an additional defensive midfielder against the best attacking team in europe and away from home was the main reason for our terrible first half performance , Stones manfully stuck to his job and prevented an absolute total collapse in the 1st half . When KDB decided to contribute in the 2nd half and help Dinho defensivley we looked a different team.

 

[bhayes]

He is such a quality player. his only issue is concentration which is causing him to make mistakes, but once he improves he will be world class

 

[Pep's Army]

Needs a Kompany-like figure to help him when things get messy

 

[AshLunn92]

Needs a Kompany-like figure to help him when things get messy

It didn't help Nastasic much...

 

[nellyonthewing]

Being the best defender against Monaco is like being the leper with the most fingers,at the end of the day you're still a leper.
Apologies for any offence to any Bluemoon lepers.

 

[Neville Kneville]

so aguero missing plenty of chances, other defenders being non existent, the team playing poorly had nothing to do with it, it was all stones fault ?

No, those are also direct reasons why we are out of he Champions League, possibly including the ref in the first leg not giving the pen. Otamendi's falling asleep & crap challenge for their pen.

But make no mistake, if Stones had been even bang average doing his job v Falcao we would now be through. The fact is, he was shite & it cost us.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

But make no mistake, if Stones had been even bang average doing his job v Falcao we would now be through.

What was the aggregate score over the two legs and what was the score when Falcao scored that goal? What was the score when Stones later finished from a corner? How many goals ahead of Monaco were we by the end of the match? What was the score of the return leg?

To say we would be through if Stones prevented that goal is bullshit. We won that game with Stones directly making up for that error and giving us the lead. The tie was lost in the first 45 minutes of the away leg, it was not lost during a match that we won.

 

[Neville Kneville]

That's a fair summary. Stones is what 21? Compare him at his level of development to Sane and Sterling. Neither are the finished product but have shown that they definitely have the ability to progress to the very top. Decision making and consistency will hopefully be taught/learned and with that they will be superb.

I see Stones at a similar level in his development except he plays CB which is far more punishing for any mistake. Stones has shown he can be very good like last night, but as you rightly point out he has flaws which we can see and hopefully management has him working on them. Strength will come with age and i would love Vinny to take him to the side and teach him how to defend 1 on 1, for as you rightly point out, he doesn't close the gap or marshall the forward effectively. Something Vinny was a master at.

I can see a very good player in Stones, just hope he can fulfill his potential and do it with us. Such a shame that he hasn't had game time with Kompany.

He's actually 23 in May but gets treated as if he's 21 because he often plays as if he's 20 . Sane just turned 21 in Jan.

I also see a good player in Stones.

But he isn't one now & half a game of being the best of a bunch of absolute shitbag defenders & midfielders v Monaco, doesn't mean he's turned any corners.

He has to actually start performing like the player he is supposed to be. Today would be a good time to start.

 

[Neville Kneville]

What was the aggregate score over the two legs and what was the score when Falcao scored that goal? What was the score when Stones later finished from a corner? How many goals ahead of Monaco were we by the end of the match? What was the score of the return leg?

To say we would be through if Stones prevented that goal is bullshit. We won that game with Stones directly making up for that error and giving us the lead. The tie was lost in the first 45 minutes of the away leg, it was not lost during a match that we won.

We lost due to the away goals.

The worst goals in the tie, were their keeper's error v Aguero & Stones' pathetic, schoolboy, effort v Falcao. If he'd defended that as he will have been taught, when he was ten, we would still be in it. But he had to be clever & we are out. Actually scoring one of the ten easy chances he's had from a corner, is not a get out for not doing his job.