City boss Pep is not blameless in downfall of Stones
only be recalled for that moment. According to the BBC player rater, a popular online wheeze where viewers can mark the players, Stones was the worst player on the park at Wembley. City or Villa.
He really was not – nowhere near – but there was no denying his mistake led to City having a more uncomfortable afternoon than they looked like having at one point.
The ricks have also come in the national jersey and while he has featured once since the summer, his error in the Nations League defeat to Holland felt as though it snapped Gareth Southgate’s faith.
But even in that moment, Jordan Pickford looked like he had spared Stones after the centre-half had lost possession, only for Kyle Walker to turn the loose ball into his own net when trying to make a goal-saving tackle.
Those sort of things happen to Stones. Which is why Pep Guardiola might not start him against Manchester United this afternoon. That would be a blow to Stones but the greater pain would be if he failed to establish himself as the world-class defender most of us thought he would become. If he does not, it will be down to himself. But Guardiola will not be blameless. They say the hallmark of Pep’s brilliance is the way he improves players. He has not improved Stones. In the early days, I recall a game at Leicester City when Guardiola went with a three-at-theback formation but Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna got forward so much, Stones was pretty much on his own. Jamie Vardy scored a hat-trick, Stones messed up and Manchester
City were beaten 4-2 in a match in which they had nearly 80 per cent of possession. You are encouraged to play out from the back if you are a Pep centre-half – but you are not afforded huge protection.
Normally, you do not need it, because your team has the ball most of the time. But, when under pressure, even cover from the full-backs is rare.
There are no full-out excuses for individual errors but there can be contributory factors.
Aymeric Laporte (left) does not seem to be so affected by such ‘contributory factors’ but he is less of a risk-taker than Stones and, well, simply a better player right now. Stones should be at that level. When he hooked up with Guardiola in the summer of 2016, they seemed a perfect player-coach match. It does not look that way now. Stones, at the age of 25, still has the ability, the strength, the talent, to be the outstanding English defender of his generation.
But if he fails to be that defender, he will not be the only one with regrets.
THE United States Women’s National Team is a formidable outfit. As well as being world champions, they are unbeaten in their last 46 home games, winning 41 of them. So it was no massive shock England came unstuck in their opening match of the Shebelieves Cup in Orlando. But a 2-0 defeat flattered Phil Neville’s (right) side. Quite frankly, they were pretty awful.
Very well-funded, certainly in comparison with other nations, a record of six defeats in their last nine games simply is not good enough for England.
But if this was the men’s team, the boss wouldn’t be under scrutiny. He’d have been gone by now.