John Stones

[Billy Dean]

Gonna be a top player. Difficult times at city at the moment but he'll sort himself out

 

[Milk]

Gonna be a top player. Difficult times at city at the moment but he'll sort himself out

Not going to be easy though with a £50m price tag attached to him which brings a whole lot of media scrutiny and a big magnifying glass to every mistake.

 

[Billy Dean]

Not going to be easy though with a £50m price tag attached to him which brings a whole lot of media scrutiny and a big magnifying glass to every mistake.

True, but I think he will. Once he's settled at city and once city are more settled as a team etc

 

[TheFinnFan]

Alan Shearer doesnt really rate him

 

[roydo]

True, but I think he will. Once he's settled at city and once city are more settled as a team etc

Reckon neither of those will happen.

Call me out/vault me, but City will have a new manager next season. Maybe before then.

 

[royalblue66]

Gonna be a top player. Difficult times at city at the moment but he'll sort himself out

Can always read his bank statements,that will help.

 

[Milk]

True, but I think he will. Once he's settled at city and once city are more settled as a team etc

He needs a dominant player along side him. A fit Kompany would have been ideal. To get the best out of him, Pep needs to buy much better quality than Otamendi

 

[TheFinnFan]

He is working under right manager if you think what his strengths are. Pep just needs to accommodate Terry kind of a player next to Stones. And that crap with Bravo aint gonna cut in PL x

Lets see if PEP CAN TRANSFORM HIMSELF A BIT

 

[Billy Dean]

Reckon neither of those will happen.

Call me out/vault me, but City will have a new manager next season. Maybe before then.

Maybe but I reckon city invested so much in convincing pep to go there that they'll back him a hell of a lot. Wouldn't be surprised to see a big clear out there soon

 

[tsubaki]

Alan Shearer doesnt really rate him

having seen what that Newcastle side he managed looked like its amazing he isnt chased off the tele by a mob of enraged peasants every time he ventures an opinion

 

[Tony Hibbert's 3rd leg]

Thing is. If he's played in defensive midfield he'll still be miles of being the best in the league.

A player of his potential shouldn't need 'better' players around him to do his own job properly. Have no idea whether he'll turn things around.

At the moment, missing him less than I thought I would.

 

[TrixyStevens]

I think if Kompany were in there he would be fine. He's not someone you'd look to in a dogfight though and he has a mistake in him at any opportunity.
I still think his best position would be as a holding midfielder. But he's not our player anymore so I couldn't give a toss.

 

[Efcjake]

He'd have never gotten a game at center back under Moyes because he is a massive liability. He cannot do the basics of the center back position. Townsend called Otamendi a center back in disguise but he's more of one than Stones.

His only solid defensive skill is a decent last ditch slide tackle and that's because he is crap at positioning and marking. He was never very good in the air, he doesn't communicate well with his partner, he can't clear a ball, he doesn't track runners well.

Sure he has excellent ball control but he can't play defense if he can't defend well. He will either be moved up the pitch or found out. I don't think he's going to learn.

 

[Efcjake]

So Neville was defending him.. and how his teammates let him down. Although I'm not terribly interested in his career now or his performances I thought I'd check out his contribution to the 4 goals in terms of what he did - or didn't do.

Goal 1: Meandering about in front of the back four - no attempt to do anything useful to stop the attack
Goal 2: Falls over - fails to recover - unable to stop Mirallas firing in a shot that goes beyond the keeper
Goal 3: Leaves a stricken Davies to follow the ball, leaving the recovered Davies one-on-one with the keeper
Goal 4: Clearance hits Coleman - arguably a bit unlucky

Culpable for the second and third goal, negligent for the opener and lax for the last one. I'd say that warranted a fair amount of criticism.

All of this is because he can't do the basics of defending properly.

He loses track of runners all the time. Makes poor decisions to step out of position and create space in the defensive line to put in the challenge at the wrong time. Can't clear a ball.

He'd have been laughed at in any other point in time of football history. You can't call him a good defender if he cannot defend.

 

[Seathestars]

He certainly splits opinion.

One thing he lacks is positional sense. That can't be taught. You either have a football brain or you don't.
He will always be poor I think.