John Stones

[The Richard Wright Fan Club]

Denayer is a superb footballer, but he's yet to prove he's a superb defender; playing centre half for Celtic in a league where Gary Hooper looks like Aguero is no indication of defensive prowess. He got the SPL young player of the year award, but so did Football League flops David Goodwillie and Leigh Griffiths. His positioning and decision making at times in preseason were suspect, and he either needs a loan spell with regular football for a midtable PL club, or to alternate at right back with Zabaleta while he gets a feel for the English game. He can't be compared to Stones until he's turned in as many top-class performances at a proper standard of football as the Everton kid has in the previous 2 seasons.

Kompany will never rediscover the form of 2010-13, but it is possible for him to level out at 'very good' if he gets the right partner; Demichelis and Mangala go AWOL far too often to provide the Lescott-esque foil for that he requires to excel.

Mangala played well last night, but will inevitably find himself exposed by players who do more than simply go toe-to-toe with him; his positional sense (or lack of) is similar to that of David Luiz and will cost us vital points over the season. Will be useful against certain teams, but as we look to finally make the transition into a serious CL challenger, we need a more measured approach to defending.

Demichelis is a veteran who should be used selectively, and has allegedly asked to leave anyway; the fact his 'decent' performances last season saw him lauded as our best defender should ring alarm bells and provoke the club to strengthen accordingly.

Godin would have been perfect, but ultimately he lives in a beautiful city where they speak his native language, playing for a club that has won a league title as recently as we did, and progresses further in Europe annually. We have to accept his decision to politely decline our approach, but kudos to Txiki and Pelle for trying.

Otamendi looks good; the closest thing to Cannavaro I've seen, but he has a bad habit of diving in two-footed and doesn't appear to read the game exceptionally well, something any potential recruit essentially should.

I've got a bit of aggro on here for my long-standing admiration of John Stones, but it's an opinion shared by Jose Mourinho, the best manager in the league and somebody who has personally won more top-level titles than most football clubs, including our own, so I'm in good company.

He performed better than any of our defenders last season, and was immense against us and CFC last season; had Ferguson still been on charge of the rags he'd have kidnapped him by now.

Stones' style would compliment Kompany's perfectly; if Denayer proves to be defensively good enough, we'd have two of the best young defenders in Europe and a potentially elite partnership for the next decade.

The rumours that we hoped he'd stay at Everton until next summer, and that Chelsea's pursuit might force our hand sooner (something similar happened with Liverpool and the Rags for Jones) are believable. If we are forced to move now, offering Denayer on loan to Everton as part of the deal would be beneficial to everyone.

If being part of a team that ships 6 goals in one game is immense then I'd rather pass on him.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Harry Redknapp has just been on talkshite acting as a Chelsea press officer telling everyone that if a player wants to go you should let him. He's a busy ****, it's fuck all to do with him. Is there anything he won't comment on?

Rosie`s bank accounts

 

[.A.]

For the sake of being pedantic, the same logic could be applied to Kompany's once-seemingly elite defensive capability, and that perhaps it was Mancini's system that made him appear better than he actually is.

Cahill shone at Bolton to the extent where Capello recommended him to Milan. He's not world class, but is a very good defender who would have been a fantastic signing for us; since Chelsea picked him up for relative peanuts, we've spent around £50m on Demichelis, Mangala and Nastasic without really finding a solid replacement/upgrade for Lescott.

Terry has excelled under numerous managers for over a decade at the very top level, and his personal accolades include being selected for the 2006 World Cup 11, UEFA team of the year 2005,07,08 and 09, the FIFPro world 11 every year from 2005-2009, and the UEFA best defender 3 times, twice of which weren't under Mourinho's tactics. The fact Kompany has looked so average in Europe just underlines that he's a class below Terry, and that's being kind. Narrowly missing out on his signing in 2009 was a shame because six years later and he's still the best in the league; it would have been £50m well spent.

The Everton team Stones has excelled in is hardly renowned for it's Catenaccio; they play with two attacking fullbacks, a fairly high line and embrace a pass it out from the back philosophy similar to ours. He'd fit in here seamlessly.

Pellegrini's set-up isn't ideal, but it's Mangala and Demichelis' interpretation of it that causes problems; if your default position in the system is high, then your first instincts should be maintain and retreat, not go chasing the ball. Pique and Godin have flourished in Europe with a higher line, and both are modestly paced; they're just more measured in their approach to executing it.

 

[Neville Kneville]

For the sake of being pedantic, the same logic could be applied to Kompany's once-seemingly elite defensive capability, and that perhaps it was Mancini's system that made him appear better than he actually is.

Cahill shone at Bolton to the extent where Capello recommended him to Milan. He's not world class, but is a very good defender who would have been a fantastic signing for us; since Chelsea picked him up for relative peanuts, we've spent around £50m on Demichelis, Mangala and Nastasic without really finding a solid replacement/upgrade for Lescott.

Terry has excelled under numerous managers for over a decade at the very top level, and his personal accolades include being selected for the 2006 World Cup 11, UEFA team of the year 2005,07,08 and 09, the FIFPro world 11 every year from 2005-2009, and the UEFA best defender 3 times, twice of which weren't under Mourinho's tactics. The fact Kompany has looked so average in Europe just underlines that he's a class below Terry, and that's being kind. Narrowly missing out on his signing in 2009 was a shame because six years later and he's still the best in the league; it would have been £50m well spent.

The Everton team Stones has excelled in is hardly renowned for it's Catenaccio; they play with two attacking fullbacks, a fairly high line and embrace a pass it out from the back philosophy similar to ours. He'd fit in here seamlessly.

Pellegrini's set-up isn't ideal, but it's Mangala and Demichelis' interpretation of it that causes problems; if your default position in the system is high, then your first instincts should be maintain and retreat, not go chasing the ball. Pique and Godin have flourished in Europe with a higher line, and both are modestly paced; they're just more measured in their approach to executing it.

Stones hasn't excelled in Everton's team. He's put in some decent efforts on some occasions whilst they mostly got arse fucked & fell apart. There's a difference. Jagielka is actually better than him most of the time. He's a promising kid.

It's not the same as the double title winning, under two different systems, Vincent Kompany.

And he was fucking shite v Watford last weekend.

 

[adaminho]

urgghh another pointless thread on a position we DO NOT need to strengthen at the moment

 

[DerderderPabloZabaleta]

Pellegrini's set-up isn't ideal, but it's Mangala and Demichelis' interpretation of it that causes problems; if your default position in the system is high, then your first instincts should be maintain and retreat, not go chasing the ball. Pique and Godin have flourished in Europe with a higher line, and both are modestly paced; they're just more measured in their approach to executing it.

I don't think you can call Martins lack of pace or Mangalas reading of the game an interpretation of a system personally

 

[.A.]

Stones hasn't excelled in Everton's team. He's put in some decent efforts on some occasions whilst they mostly got arse fucked & fell apart. There's a difference. Jagielka is actually better than him most of the time. He's a promising kid.

It's not the same as the double title winning, under two different systems, Vincent Kompany.

And he was fucking shite v Watford last weekend.

Let's just hope we remembered to recover Aguero from his back pocket before he heads down to Chelsea.

How's your boy Denayer doing?

 

[citizens_1976]

Let's just hope we remembered to recover Aguero from his back pocket before he heads down to Chelsea.

How's your boy Denayer doing?

Your going on about Stones as if he is Paulo Maldini, he is yet to break into the England side and he is yet to have a consistent full season in the top flight. One good game against a world class player doesn't mean shit, might as well sign Reece Oxford if thats the case.

Denayer hasn't played prem football yet, but i am sure if he was at Everton, they would have given him more than enough game time by now. He has also represented Belgium too and does not look out of place.

Infact, why don't we pay 50m for Smalling seeing as he has had a good few games this season.

 

[Ray78]

A lot of expectation on the kid especially with Terry in full meltdown mode.

 

[cookster]

Let's just hope we remembered to recover Aguero from his back pocket before he heads down to Chelsea.

How's your boy Denayer doing?

Back pocket? Sure Howard made 3 good saves from him. That's great defending.