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John Stones

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The problem I see with Stones being converted into a midfielder is he is being talked about as potentially our best ball playing defender since Rio Ferdinand/Bobby Moore and is being head hunted by Chelsea, man utd, City and possibly Barca......as a CB. He is valued at around £40m as a CB so I think it would be a brave manager to try and convert him and Stones himself could kick up a fuss over it. I am in agreement that I think he would make a great CM but just can't see it happening.
 
ToffeeTim said:
Not writing him off at all mate. In fact think he could be an utterly superb midfielder. He drove us forward second half like dare I say Gerrard did for the RS at times.

He's a sensational footballer. Just not a centre half for me. Dier is exceptional but our Stones could be better in that role. His passing is top drawer.
Click to expand...

....sorry Matey, I was off at a tangent and talking about Baines.
 
Eggs said:
....sorry Matey, I was off at a tangent and talking about Baines.
Click to expand...

Haha no worries mate. On Baines.... I must say I'm a little concerned at his performances and the disappearance of his energy levels. But new manager could of course rectify all this so I won't be writing our Bainesy off yet either!
 
Could be a world class defensive midfielder one day. One-on-one ability, positioning and heading are not there for him to play as centre half. I hope our new gaffer will change his position.
 

I've been a harsh criticism of him and rightly so, even today a slow and ponderous Fellini buzzed off him for the 1st goal.

Last 30 minutes though, that was more like it. Urgency, desire to want the ball and want to do something with it instead of tittish passes putting players into trouble and a couple of great blocks as well.

Too little too late, like the rest of them but still nice to see because it's been far too long he's put in anything I would class as an acceptable performance.
 
I agree that a defensive midfielder role doesn't look a bad shout. A position like the old Lothar Mattheus 'libero' or sweeper role even. Mattheus would often be found higher up the pitch like Stones today and picked out passes and he even chipped in with a few goals also.

When Stones is spraying balls out from the back four, he often gets caught out on the distance and as a result, we are then under pressure immediately. You can see the confidence drain from the lad, he gets nervous and the arms start to flap and wave at people.

However when he moved forward his confidence did appear to grow and his passing actually improved today from a midfield position. I recall him doing this more often last season when he was much more confident.

At the moment Stones makes a far better defensive midfielder than McCarthy (not saying much I know!), and today his passing in midfield was better than Barkley's!

But all this 'forward-planning' will be jibber-jabber anyway if Stones goes in the summer.
 

I've said it all season he is the box to box midfielder we are missing. He hasn't got the tactical awareness to be a centre half but he is more than capable of breaking play up in the midfield and playing football. Same physique as yaya toure!
 
Let us not forget that before this season John Stones had amongst the best tackling, heading and blocking stats of a player his age in Europe. He hasn't suddenly become unsuited to centre back because of a bad couple of months in a struggling team.

I do think he would make an excellent deep lying play maker too.

Interestingly enough out next manager agrees with a lot of you
"He was versatile. I think he could even play as a central midfield player, which might be something England should consider at some point". - See more at: http://www.tribalfootball.com/artic...his-everton-deal-4120924#sthash.OI7xsZbt.dpuf
 
One of our best performers today! In the second half he was pushing on with Gibson sitting in. He certainly didn't look out of place bombing forward.
 
Would much, much rather see Lukaku go before Stones or Barkley. John is boss, we need a boss new manager who will persuade him to stay. Think Rom is a lost cause now but John should definitely stay.
 

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