John Stones

[Moomin]

And superb during the first third/half of this season.

He's boss. So bizarre watching a steady string of people with short memories come in here and talk him down. Unless it's to ward off Pep and Mourinho in which case carry on.

First bit of bad form in two and a half years and people have turned on him. It was bound to happen, it happens to all the best players.

21 years of age, people need to relax. He will be back to his best next season.

 

[Groucho]

True, but so far Stones had one good season with us, the season every player played well and Moyes' defensive installments hadnt erroded yet. He had one good seasons, and two terribly shitty ones after, and is seemingly getting worse. I agree that Martinez is the reason why, but other young and promising players still had way better seasons than Stone, even though our team was crumbeling around them. Stones was a huge liability these past seasons, and even though big Ron might be able to correct his mistakes, I cannot shake the feeling John just wasnt made to be a CB. His vision and marking is on my mothers level, and he is even worse at winning headers. As a defencive midfielder he might become something special, but sadly, I dont think he will ever be the controlling/commanding CB we all want him to be. Without all the backwards goals Stones was directly responsible for last season, we would surely made the upper part of the table. I dont want us to sell Stones, but I would have felt a lot more safe last season with Van Dijk in our defence. He wins headers and know how to pass the ball without loosing it and creating pressure on his team. The footballing world might not rate his potential as high as Stones, but at this moment, most would agree he is a much better central defender than Stones is.

Please mind the language in future thanks mate.

 

[Nyhus]

Apologies.

 

[rochdaleblue]

True, but so far Stones had one good season with us, the season every player played well and Moyes' defensive installments hadnt erroded yet. He had one good seasons, and two terribly shitty ones after, and is seemingly getting worse. I agree that Martinez is the reason why, but other young and promising players still had way better seasons than Stone, even though our team was crumbeling around them. Stones was a huge liability these past seasons, and even though big Ron might be able to correct his mistakes, I cannot shake the feeling John just wasnt made to be a CB. His vision and marking is on my mothers level, and he is even worse at winning headers. As a defencive midfielder he might become something special, but sadly, I dont think he will ever be the controlling/commanding CB we all want him to be. Without all the backwards goals Stones was directly responsible for last season, we would surely made the upper part of the table. I dont want us to sell Stones, but I would have felt a lot more safe last season with Van Dijk in our defence. He wins headers and know how to pass the ball without loosing it and creating pressure on his team. The footballing world might not rate his potential as high as Stones, but at this moment, most would agree he is a much better central defender than Stones is.

At this moment... says it all. When stones comes back to Everton and is properly coached in the art of defending by a former world class centre half (Koeman) he will begin to realise his vast potential, that makes his admirers considering paying 40m for. Form is temporary and class is permanent, John stones under Koeman will return to the John stones we all know.

 

[blueblue]

All young players go through bad patches and Stones had a poor spell last season.
The team was generally not defending well, the goalkeeper was past his sell by date and it was generally hard for everybody playing.
Stones did not help himself but insisting on playing football when the better option was to clear the danger. The best defenders hoof the ball when the situation calls for it.

However, it cannot be forgotten that he did try to leave the club, he did put in a transfer request and it would be foolish to think that supporters would not look at any player in a less supportive way after that player tried to move away.

 

[Khalekan]

My opinion, based on the single minded pursuit of Koeman, is that the new regime will get just about anything it sets it mind too (within reason).

And if Ronald decides Stones is integral to his plans, Moshiri's men will sell the whole new vision to him and John will stay because he wants to be part of it and not because is held as an unwilling hostage to his own contract.

And as I think and hope Ronald sees John as a young CB in his own image, I suspect Stones will still be here next reaso.

Taking the point @The Esk made about needing a big earner off the books to meet FFP criteria, Lukaku will be the most likely to leave the club.

 

[The Esk]

Taking the point @The Esk made about needing a big earner off the books to meet FFP criteria, Lukaku will be the most likely to leave the club

It's not the earnings that are the issue mate, we have to generate non-broadcasting income to cover the increase in salaries from buying better players. In the absence of a large increase in commercial or sponsorship revenues, that can only be achieved by a trading profit from a player sale.

 

[Khalekan]

It's not the earnings that are the issue mate, we have to generate non-broadcasting income to cover the increase in salaries from buying better players. In the absence of a large increase in commercial or sponsorship revenues, that can only be achieved by a trading profit from a player sale.

Ah, OK....

 

[Nyhus]

At this moment... says it all. When stones comes back to Everton and is properly coached in the art of defending by a former world class centre half (Koeman) he will begin to realise his vast potential, that makes his admirers considering paying 40m for. Form is temporary and class is permanent, John stones under Koeman will return to the John stones we all know.

I hope you are correct, even though I dont think RM can be blamed for all of Stones mistakes. His decision making is, at times, flawed at best, and if he is to be a part of us challenging top four, he will need to improve a lot. If he does, thats fantastic, but if he continues horrid backpasses and not being able to mark anyone ever, he will continue to be a liability, and we will continue to ship goals. Either way, we need another high end CB. If Jags gets injured again, and we're stuck with Mori and an out of form-Stones again.. Well, we've seen that before, and it wasnt pretty.

 

[Carl!]

He was superb the season before last.

Plus he is totally missing the fact he is 22. Expecting a kid to be full blown prem standard consistently,that kid is forgetting that he has had some of the world's top strikers in his pocket defensive wise (Aguero, Rooney for example) whilst having the ability to turn defence into attack. Yeah he's proper toilet.

 

[CynicalBlue]

It's not the earnings that are the issue mate, we have to generate non-broadcasting income to cover the increase in salaries from buying better players. In the absence of a large increase in commercial or sponsorship revenues, that can only be achieved by a trading profit from a player sale.

Instead of a player sale which would detract from the squad. How about players sales which would benefit the club, say the loss of Aiden, Conor, Oumar, Arouna and James.

 

[whiteshadow]

It's not the earnings that are the issue mate, we have to generate non-broadcasting income to cover the increase in salaries from buying better players. In the absence of a large increase in commercial or sponsorship revenues, that can only be achieved by a trading profit from a player sale.

Can't we just set up some dodgy sponsorship deal to bypass the issue. Isn't that what Man City did to get around it?

FFP is a bit of a joke really. They said it was put in to stop clubs from getting in to financial difficulties but in effect it was really brought in to keep the status quo and stop the big clubs being threatened by a team being taken over by a wealthy benefactor.

Everything over the last decade, with 3rd place teams in the Champs league getting put in to the Europa League later stages (which is disgusting and makes the Europa league a joke of a competition), the big teams threatening a breakaway league etc has been put in to protect the big teams commercial revenues and stop other clubs from trying to compete with them.

As we've seen with FIFA, the people running football only care about making tons of money, wether by fair means or not. Ensuring the teams that generate the biggest revenue streams are successful is how they guarantee making the most money which is why they scrapped the one match knockout system of the old Champions League (European Cup) and replaced it with group stages and two legged matches in the knockout stages.

 

[evertony]

We just need to keep John Stones. Simple as that. The lad has grown immensely over the last two seasons and under the tutelage of the Dutch Master he will dominate the PL and the national team for years to come. We need to ensure he's wearing the RBJ. What a huge statement it would be to keep Stones and make him the captain.

 

[Joey66]

It's not the earnings that are the issue mate, we have to generate non-broadcasting income to cover the increase in salaries from buying better players. In the absence of a large increase in commercial or sponsorship revenues, that can only be achieved by a trading profit from a player sale.

So is it Lukaku who is to be sacrificed then?
Highest earner, potentially biggest fee incoming to us?

 

[Jamo Martinez]

I hope you are correct, even though I dont think RM can be blamed for all of Stones mistakes. His decision making is, at times, flawed at best, and if he is to be a part of us challenging top four, he will need to improve a lot. If he does, thats fantastic, but if he continues horrid backpasses and not being able to mark anyone ever, he will continue to be a liability, and we will continue to ship goals. Either way, we need another high end CB. If Jags gets injured again, and we're stuck with Mori and an out of form-Stones again.. Well, we've seen that before, and it wasnt pretty.

Hello Mr selective memory.