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John Stones

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Remember the lad is a converted full back, starting his journey at centre Half. His heading will have to improve and it will, point taken about Gestede,the guy's a beast in the air.Why villa Have not gone route one using him instead of gabby the alien is beyond me.
 
cjuk87 said:
Couldn't agree more. The venom from some fans last night because we conceded was ridiculous. Read through twitter during and after a match. I don't know whats happened to our fanbase but it's really stopped me enjoying a lot of the game now. Last night we should've been celebrating a win, lots wanted to moan and kick off instead. Pathetic behaviour. No wonder Goodison is one of the worst in the prem for atmosphere
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The most bizarre thing about the moaners is that they think by commentating throughout the game and constantly getting on the players backs it makes them seem more knowledgeable. Some of our fans these days turn up with the sole intention of getting on the players back.

Obviously Villa are a poor side but that doesn't mean you will automatically be granted a win there. The players still had to go out and do a professional job which they did. As bad as Villa are they are still capable of taking points off other Premier League sides when you'd least expect it. That's why Man City drew 0-0 there.
 
Polish_Blue_Army said:
He has been. Doesn't deserve being in the first team right now. Has to wait or get sold to barca or chelsea to get some game time
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Hi mate

mkrudden said:
How many players have to have dodgy seasons for us to realise that it's completely natural.

Lukaku?
Deulofeu?
Barkley?

Now it's Stones and people are still writing them off, just like Lukaku with his touch, just like Deu first time round and his final delivery, just like last season when Barkley had been found out.

Astonishingly naive and without perspective from within a fanbase that considers itself to be very knowledgeable.

L
O
L
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Cheers mate
 

Think fans are just reflecting a kneejerk media to some extent. In their desperation to sell him and keep him in the news they've almost certainly exposed a young defender to ridiculous scrutiny at a time he needed to be developing. There were signs early on this season that he was determined to fit the plaudits being randomly chucked at him rather than get on with his job which is why it's been the right decision to take him out of the limelight. He'll be back.
 
Stones is a class defender but he needs to learn to play the percentages and be a defender before a footballer first. Mori has shown this over the last couple of games, there are times when you just clear your lines and let the players regroup. It happended last night when he tried to let the ball run for goal kick but was out muscled and put us under pressure.

The chances are its an age thing, just hope he improves on that aspect
 

EFC78 said:
The most bizarre thing about the moaners is that they think by commentating throughout the game and constantly getting on the players backs it makes them seem more knowledgeable. Some of our fans these days turn up with the sole intention of getting on the players back.

Obviously Villa are a poor side but that doesn't mean you will automatically be granted a win there. The players still had to go out and do a professional job which they did. As bad as Villa are they are still capable of taking points off other Premier League sides when you'd least expect it. That's why Man City drew 0-0 there.
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Our fans seem to have some impression that we should beat everyone comfortably. Every week there's been a slip up in the prem. If it was easy to predict i'd be a millionaire now, instead weekly my acca is ruined.

Unfortunately, and i put a lot of this on the younger generation of fans. They seem to think because we have a few great players/future prospects, we should be tearing it up like they can do on fifa and fm.

I'm 29, i've mainly watched us scrape out of relegation. Yet week in, week out i'd support Everton. The younger fans i speak to on twitter etc seem to expect us to dominate.

Yes it's a poor season considering our squad. But modern football really grates on me. Weekly fans opinions drastically change

Sell Stones, Stones is the best.
RM to go, no he must stay etc etc etc

Look at Arsenal fans with Wenger. Frustrating how football has become. We're all concerned about the finances, stats and other crap instead of just cheering the team on and celebrating a win.

Honestly if i'd checked here/twitter without watching the game last night i would've sworn we lost. Not won 3-1.
 
cjuk87 said:
Our fans seem to have some impression that we should beat everyone comfortably. Every week there's been a slip up in the prem. If it was easy to predict i'd be a millionaire now, instead weekly my acca is ruined.

Unfortunately, and i put a lot of this on the younger generation of fans. They seem to think because we have a few great players/future prospects, we should be tearing it up like they can do on fifa and fm.

I'm 29, i've mainly watched us scrape out of relegation. Yet week in, week out i'd support Everton. The younger fans i speak to on twitter etc seem to expect us to dominate.

Yes it's a poor season considering our squad. But modern football really grates on me. Weekly fans opinions drastically change

Sell Stones, Stones is the best.
RM to go, no he must stay etc etc etc

Look at Arsenal fans with Wenger. Frustrating how football has become. We're all concerned about the finances, stats and other crap instead of just cheering the team on and celebrating a win.

Honestly if i'd checked here/twitter without watching the game last night i would've sworn we lost. Not won 3-1.
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Can't agree on that, even though I do agree with everything else. I think it is more of a current era thing because of the desperation for success, and the increase in opinions on social media etc and exposure to everything these days.

There are plenty of our old supporters who are crying when we're not 4-0 up after 15 minutes as well.
 
cjuk87 said:
Our fans seem to have some impression that we should beat everyone comfortably. Every week there's been a slip up in the prem. If it was easy to predict i'd be a millionaire now, instead weekly my acca is ruined.

Unfortunately, and i put a lot of this on the younger generation of fans. They seem to think because we have a few great players/future prospects, we should be tearing it up like they can do on fifa and fm.

I'm 29, i've mainly watched us scrape out of relegation. Yet week in, week out i'd support Everton. The younger fans i speak to on twitter etc seem to expect us to dominate.

Yes it's a poor season considering our squad. But modern football really grates on me. Weekly fans opinions drastically change

Sell Stones, Stones is the best.
RM to go, no he must stay etc etc etc

Look at Arsenal fans with Wenger. Frustrating how football has become. We're all concerned about the finances, stats and other crap instead of just cheering the team on and celebrating a win.

Honestly if i'd checked here/twitter without watching the game last night i would've sworn we lost. Not won 3-1.
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Excellently put.

There's nothing wrong with wanting the best for the team and in terms of finances and stuff I think transparency - to a degree - is a good thing.

However, like you said, this vision of us 'underachieving' seems to make out that our squad should be winning the title, and that has only come because of the changing expectations of fans throughout the season.

As I said, had somebody told you we would finish top 7 at the start of the season, i'm sure pretty much everybody would have been happy, as long as you factored in two good cup runs (which is what people always ask for at the start of the campaign - and so far we've had a good run and what could be another very good one).

League form - at home - has been frustrating because we have created enough chances to hammer teams. The players not taking those chances surely can't be down to just the manager?

There's no middle ground a lot of the time now with fans, especially the younger (my) generation. I occasionally play on FIFA and the like but it is what it is. Just because I play with four strikers or whatever doesn't mean I expect RM to do that in a real game.

The Prem is the toughest league in the world because - mainly due to the huge amounts of money now involved - any team can beat anybody else and it's not a two horse or even one horse race. That's down to the intensity in the game and it's what makes it so entertaining.

We all want to do better, but it's also blatantly obvious that the performances have improved ten fold since last season and since the turn of the year RM has clearly tried to address our defensive issues. The stats back that up also.

I think a lot of the initial concerns came as well because fans believe that our best players will have to leave.

That just isn't really the case anymore in all truth, even more so now because of the investment.

Players want to play in the Prem.

A - wages are higher
B - the crowds are generally bigger and their global exposure is massive
C - they become a recognised figure in pretty much every country
D - it is deemed to be the very top level which increases their chances of international caps and then, potentially, a move to Real, Barca etc.

It's a huge draw, and the good thing about our youngsters is they all want to play regularly, which means we have a hell of a better chance of keeping them.
 

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