John Stones

[donny]

Stones was out of position several times, slow to pick up runners and very poor on the ball.
Overall, I think he had a bad game.

they were all rubbish it was champs v cannon fodder but we've got a jewel of a young player here alas not 4 much longer I hope he doesn't go but think he will have a better career than Rooney

 

[Super Kevin sheedy]

Take the money

 

[The Cowboy]

We wouldn't have had a chance to replace him until January. Considering how thin we are at central defender, I think there's a solid chance we'd be down in the fight with Norwich and Sunderland and Newcastle if we'd sold Stones. Don't forget how good he was over the first few months of the season.

Which suggests we should've taken the money. Would genuinely be surprised if we see bids above £30m this summer.

 

[Stan Lee Park]

they were all rubbish it was champs v cannon fodder but we've got a jewel of a young player here alas not 4 much longer I hope he doesn't go but think he will have a better career than Rooney

Agree with all this.
Just makes it more disappointing that he is not playing to his full potential in many games this season

 

[Blue_in_london]

First time I watched Stones play was in pre season couple years ago. Might have been against Tranmere or Celta Vigo (very similar!) He made a howler of a mistake. The kind he keeps making recently.

He needs a real quality coach to iron that out of him and fulfill his potential. But he needs a proper system to play in where players know exactly where they should be. Not this clown football.

He hasn't really developed as you would have hoped in the time.

 

[mlyons]

Which suggests we should've taken the money. Would genuinely be surprised if we see bids above £30m this summer.

That doesn't suggest it at all. I think there's a good chance we would be relegated this season if he hadn't been around in the first half of the season. £30 million wouldn't begin to make up for that.

 

[Kiwi]

Thomas shelby next manager?

Yers

 

[royvernon39]

He seems very bad at jumping to head the ball from a standing start.

I agree that he seems under-trained and that he has a number of serious weaknesses.

 

[Kiwi]

He seems very bad at jumping to head the ball from a standing start.

I agree that he seems under-trained and that he has a number of serious weaknesses.

I think he's very good on the ground, seems to be great at timing tackles and obviously with the ball at feet.
That being said I think heading is a weakness of his.

 

[jimmythenut]

Might get shot down for this comment but, I see a lot of Sergio Busquets in Stones. Let's face it, he's been caught out and left exposed this season at the back.

With Barry coming into his final season possibly? It would be nice to see a player comfortable on the ball in the middle who can be positive and get the ball forward.

 

[streeky]

Centre half's need time to develop, yes they can be coached but more than any other position on the pitch it has to come from making the mistakes and being put into certain situations so they learn from it. A decent coach and a couple more years and nobody will get near this lad.

 

[BlueToff]

First time I watched Stones play was in pre season couple years ago. Might have been against Tranmere or Celta Vigo (very similar!) He made a howler of a mistake. The kind he keeps making recently.

He needs a real quality coach to iron that out of him and fulfill his potential. But he needs a proper system to play in where players know exactly where they should be. Not this clown football.

He hasn't really developed as you would have hoped in the time.

He made a howler against Tranmere, but that was after he'd had his first half-season in the first team.

Last few game's he's been excellent. Against Leicester he was poor, as were the rest.

 

[BlueToff]

I think he's very good on the ground, seems to be great at timing tackles and obviously with the ball at feet.
That being said I think heading is a weakness of his.

Maybe not heading per-say, but definitely the timing of his jump and the marking.

Then again, I think it's hard to judge any defender in a Martinez side, especially when it's blatantly clear the team aren't playing for the manager anymore.

 

[Blue_in_london]

He made a howler against Tranmere, but that was after he'd had his first half-season in the first team.

Last few game's he's been excellent. Against Leicester he was poor, as were the rest.

Yep, I agree he's been better last few games. Not excellent, he's getting dragged out of position too much by players that really aren't good enough at defending like Oviedo and Besic.

But our 'brand' of football, is designed to trip him up time and again with our dallying, mucking around when being pressed and lack of positioning and awareness.

Until that changes he won't step up to next level. He'll be as good as he can be in this poor setup, with occasional howlers.

 

[Norwegian Cow]

First time I watched Stones play was in pre season couple years ago. Might have been against Tranmere or Celta Vigo (very similar!) He made a howler of a mistake. The kind he keeps making recently.

He needs a real quality coach to iron that out of him and fulfill his potential. But he needs a proper system to play in where players know exactly where they should be. Not this clown football.

He hasn't really developed as you would have hoped in the time.

when you have a manager who dont know squat about defending, it doesn't really help Stones either to get rid of his defensive mistakes.