John Stones - 2016/17 performances

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I said many times that I was 'wary' of us signing Stones because we would be signing potential rather than the finished article & that his passing is nowhere near as good as people make out.

i stand by that, but I think the criticism he is getting is largely unfair. It's not easy being a defender in Pep's teams & imo, barring a few ill judged moments, he's making a fucking good go of it.

I thought he would need babysitting by Vincent Kompany for at least 6-8 months. Most of the time he been next to people like Kolarov & Otamendi, who have no pace & don't read anything.

I recon those who wanted him were right, he's going to be a superb player for City & he's doing as well now, as most players would, in a new team under a new manager learning a new system, with no pre season.

Out of the current usual back 4, he's the only one I'd keep.
 
Feel sorry for Stones. He's getting a tough time of late from the media mainly due to the large fee we obviously paid for his services but also because people expected to him to hit the ground running. Myself included. Give the boy time! such a cliche nowadays but its obvious he is going to be a great player for the club. Otamendi is getting better but still not there and its a known fact we cannot rely on Vinny anymore. Stones will step up under Guardiola I am sure of that.

Found this video debating Stones's progression at City (second topic). One of the panelists suggests Pep can get the same out of Stones as a ball playing CB as he did with Pique at Barce. I agree, it's entirely possible, IF given time.

 
Neville Kneville said:
I said many times that I was 'wary' of us signing Stones because we would be signing potential rather than the finished article & that his passing is nowhere near as good as people make out.

i stand by that, but I think the criticism he is getting is largely unfair. It's not easy being a defender in Pep's teams & imo, barring a few ill judged moments, he's making a fucking good go of it.

I thought he would need babysitting by Vincent Kompany for at least 6-8 months. Most of the time he been next to people like Kolarov & Otamendi, who have no pace & don't read anything.

I recon those who wanted him were right, he's going to be a superb player for City & he's doing as well now, as most players would, in a new team under a new manager learning a new system, with no pre season.

Out of the current usual back 4, he's the only one I'd keep.
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Agree with that 100%. It's tough when Peps changing systems and personel all the time. The defence tbf hasn't been to bad apart from champs league where we played with 10 v barca and played a weakend defence v celtic. 2 goals scored in 5 games is the bigger problem, our attack is overhyped and clearly not delivering.
I understand about resting players but while its not working isnt it more important to find a setteled back 4 ???
 
Apart from that silly back pass which he needs to cut out of his game I thought he was solid as a rock defensively against Barca. Especially first half making some vital blocks.
 
Brilliant from him. Wasnt convinced by any means when we were likely to sign him.

But looking like a very good long term buy.
 
Considering he's a young lad who's very much a work in progress, he did pretty well against the best attacking trio in world football. Mad to think he has potentially several more levels to find in his game.
 
For a guy playing the best front 3 in the world football in only his 4th Champions League game, he handled it brilliantly. Unlucky with that clearance but other than that rock solid and pretty much read every run that Suarez made.
 
Thought he played very well, apart from that daft f*ck up near our penalty box where he tried to be too clever and play his way out of a tight situation and lost the ball to Barcelona's midfield player, (especially because he had the option of passing to his left at the time I think), that was a potentially dangerous situation for the team, which was easily avoidable.

I think this is where Pep needs to coach Stones a bit more, to not be so cocky and think he can play his way out of all situations, sometimes a simple pass to a team mate will do.
 
I'm not usually one to heap the praise on Stones as i believe he still has alot of work to do. But he was solid today and has been steadily improving over the last few weeks...Backwards passing aside aha.
 
Stones easily beat my expectations when we bought him. Still does on nights like this. How on earth he managed to find Suarez with a neat pass shows you he even has the typical City gem in him already.
 
That pass... :D I was dying inside when they took their shot and it was seemingly going in. All of our brilliant work throughout the game almost went to the shit, but it's important that his confidence remains on top in any conditions. Impressed by him and how he handled both this game and the one at the Camp Nou.
 
Good player, will become a lot better as time goes on, remember his age, just 22 but already has nearly 100 premier league games under his belt and full England international. If Smalling didn't play for the shite JS would have had plenty more caps.
 
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