John Stones - 2016/17 performances

[Chi-town blues]

If stones played for dippers, media would've got his balls stuck inside their throats.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Stones getting pelters on talkshite ha ha

city will win nothing messing round at back hoof it forward

There is a fair few in the East Stand who come out with similar. In fact, I'm sure Hoddle sits a couple of rows back from me.....

 

[aguero93:20]

There is a fair few in the East Stand who come out with similar. In fact, I'm sure Hoddle sits a couple of rows back from me.....

He must have done something terrible in a previous life.

 

[City_Sean]

I've been delighted with Stones so far and I've no worries that he's going to become a top class CB with a little more time and guidance.

 

[IanBishopsHaircut]

There is a fair few in the East Stand who come out with similar. In fact, I'm sure Hoddle sits a couple of rows back from me.....

Really?!

I'm in the SS lower and heard nothing but praise for the lad

Can't even imagine him being given shit and don't understand why either

I think he has been brilliant for us so far and will only get better

 

[domalino]

Southgate seems to be paying no notice to pundits like Hoddle, and if he gets the job full time, Stones seems to have a a believer in the manager.

“I remember playing Germany in Euro 96, and everyone was talking about Matthias Sammer and saying ‘where’s our Sammer?’,” Southgate reflected. “It didn’t prove to be me, unfortunately! We had a dabble with Rio [Ferdinand]. Did we allow Rio to be quite as good as he might have been or did we inhibit his progress at times?” Eriksson inhibited him.

"John Stones is that type of defender. A No 6 instead of a No 5 to use the old-fashioned terms. In my mind you have to encourage those kinds of players to play. Otherwise we’ll keep watching the [Gerard] Piques [of Spain] and keep saying ‘why can’t we get those players in?’ If we don’t allow our players to express themselves [against Spain] then we’ll never progress to be a top team.”​

 

[OB1]

Southgate seems to be paying no notice to pundits like Hoddle, and if he gets the job full time, Stones seems to have a a believer in the manager.

“I remember playing Germany in Euro 96, and everyone was talking about Matthias Sammer and saying ‘where’s our Sammer?’,” Southgate reflected. “It didn’t prove to be me, unfortunately! We had a dabble with Rio [Ferdinand]. Did we allow Rio to be quite as good as he might have been or did we inhibit his progress at times?” Eriksson inhibited him.

"John Stones is that type of defender. A No 6 instead of a No 5 to use the old-fashioned terms. In my mind you have to encourage those kinds of players to play. Otherwise we’ll keep watching the [Gerard] Piques [of Spain] and keep saying ‘why can’t we get those players in?’ If we don’t allow our players to express themselves [against Spain] then we’ll never progress to be a top team.”​

I've never been an admirer in any way of Southgate but those are sensible words. He 's not my choice but I reckon that if he gets the England job, we might see him visit the CFA to watch City train.

 

[Pubteam Lomas]

Not good enough for England according to journalists and former managers.
However good enough for Pep Guardiola, who's won more in one season at the clubs he's managed, than Hoddle has at all his.
Get the feeling he's replaced Sterling as THE target!

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

I think we're too inclined to be (understandably)biased.

I get it. He looks simply tremendous on the ball, and is a big asset in that regard.

However I still think the guy can't actually "defend" worth a damn yet. Far too often he drops off when he should step up, or steps up when he should drop off. He also reads his partners movements wrong a lot of the time. It's cost us a lot of goals already.

Yes, he's going to be great, but he is nowhere near it yet. If you can separate the two abilities(defending and ball playing) you'd see two players at two very different levels.

What we have right now is the icing and no cake. I understand what Hoddle means about him, and Pep is never going to add the Puyol/Kompany part of defending to him. As ridiculous as it sounds, a perfect mix would have been Pep and Fat Sam at England. I think Southgate will continue to nurture the ball playing qualities he already possesses rather than focus on what he actually needs to learn about defending.

If he can get the defending part, he'll be some player.

 

[domalino]

I think we're too inclined to be (understandably)biased.

I get it. He looks simply tremendous on the ball, and is a big asset in that regard.

However I still think the guy can't actually "defend" worth a damn yet. Far too often he drops off when he should step up, or steps up when he should drop off. He also reads his partners movements wrong a lot of the time. It's cost us a lot of goals already.

Yes, he's going to be great, but he is nowhere near it yet. If you can separate the two abilities(defending and ball playing) you'd see two players at two very different levels.

What we have right now is the icing and no cake. I understand what Hoddle means about him, and Pep is never going to add the Puyol/Kompany part of defending to him. As ridiculous as it sounds, a perfect mix would have been Pep and Fat Sam at England. I think Southgate will continue to nurture the ball playing qualities he already possesses rather than focus on what he actually needs to learn about defending.

If he can get the defending part, he'll be some player.

I don't agree with that at all, I think he's largely been very good defensively for us off the ball, he's always the one in position to clear balls into the box, he's calm when people are running at him and he doesn't dive in.

As for not reading his partners, nobody could predict when Otamendi is going to act like a defender, or when he's going to lose his head and jump out of the line to dive into a tackle. He's one of the most unpredictable CB's we've had in ages.


And the idea that Pep isn't going to make him a good defender is again, nonsense. He improved Jerome Boateng and Pique beyond all recognition, not just on the ball but also as defenders. You don't beat the best teams in Europe regularly, and win 21 trophies with only 1 CB who can defend. The best forwards in the world will take the piss if you only have half a defence.

This is a manager who's conceded the fewest goals in every league season he's ever played in. He knows how to defend and he knows how to make a defender better - certainly more that Sam Allardyce does.