STONES HIT IS MUSIC TO ROY’S EARS
Eagles boss a big fan of City star
ROY HODGSON is delighted to see John Stones once again living up to the potential that convinced the former England boss to make him an international.
Stones won his maiden cap for the Three Lions in a 3-0 friendly victory over Peru at Wembley in May 2014.
Hodgson, the England boss at the time, then gave him another taste of life in the senior set-up when he took him to the pre-brazil World Cup training camp in Miami.
The defender (with Hodgson below) was a rising star at Everton then and it was his form for club and country that earned him a £47.5million move to Manchester City.
But it has not been plain sailing for Stones at the Etihad, what with injuries and personal issues.
But now he is back in a rich vein of form and much of City’s recent success – unbeaten in 14 games in all competitions, with 11 victories – is built on the platform he and Ruben Dias are giving them in the heart of Pep Guardiola’s defence.
Hodgson, whose side visit City today, said: “I’m very pleased for John, I always believed in him.
“We took him in in 2014 – him and Jon Flanagan came with us as two extras, if you like, to our training camp in Miami, before he had even really established himself as a player at Everton.
“I’ve always seen in him the makings of a very good centre-back – he reads the game well, he’s a good athlete, good in the air.
And, of course, he always had composure and ability on the ball, which wasn’t always so prevalent 10 years ago as it is today.
“We expect it much more today than we did then.
“I always thought he would have a good career.
“In the last year or two, he’s suffered from injuries, and they held him back.
“Before that, because of his quality on the ball and because he’s courageous in daring to play out from the back, and sometimes a pass would be intercepted which would lead to a goal, that got him vilified on one or two occasions.
“I see Pep has stayed with him very much in that respect. He wants the quality John has on the ball and that confidence.
“He wants him able to step into midfield with the ball and find passes and I’m sure he forgives him if one or two go astray.”
A 7-2 thrashing by Liverpool aside, Palace have a good record against the Premier League’s top teams this season.
Hodgson added: “We have a good defensive organisation. We have always had that.
“When you have a game like the Liverpool one, it looks a little bit crazy to say that.
“But that was such a one-off game – we simply have to put that in the realm of freak results.
“Otherwise, we have a fairly solid approach to our defensive work.
“The players know their jobs on the field, they know what we expect of them and, as a result, if all goes well, it’s more than possible that we can keep a clean sheet even against the top teams.”