CITY How Stones became a member of Guardiola’s brains trust
“IF they are intelligent and clever, they can catch up. You can always involve them in their development as a football player.”
Pep Guardiola did not spend last season pandering to John Stones after City spent £47.5m to bring him to the Etihad.
Stones was dropped on a number of occasions and told publicly that he needed to cut out the mistakes that he was attracting so much criticism for.
Taking him out of the spotlight was only ever a temporary measure, however, because of the player’s brain.
As the above quote from the manager, from March of this year, made clear, it wasn’t a question of whether Stones had the capacity to improve but when.
Guardiola loved the footballing ability he saw from his centre-back but it became apparent last season that he couldn’t trust him to play three games a week without mistakes. Be it physical, mental or with a little help from team-mates, there were slips and each one was highlighted because of Stones’ prominence as an England player with a big price tag.
Even at the start of this campaign, Guardiola has reservations. He deemed Vincent Kompany ‘much better’ at duels and when City switched to four at the back at Bournemouth, it was the 23-yearold that was left out.
If Raheem Sterling’s winner on that day could end up pivotal for the Blues, the international break that followed may end up being a landmark moment for Stones.
Kompany was held as a necessary partner for the younger player to work alongside and learn from in order to improve. But when he was injured playing for Belgium, Stones took the opportunity to make himself irreplacable.
He has started all 10 of the games since, playing through 7 in 22 days in September and then three in the last week after the latest international break.
His passing, as expected, has been superb: 662 passes in the Premier League – only seven players have completed more – with 97 per cent of them finding their man. There has been no sign of the man who ‘last year every game had one or two mistakes with the ball and was always distracted.’ Better still though, he has clearly worked on the weaker aspects of his game. Guardiola spoke glowingly after the Burnley game about how Stones now wins his duels and has improved with long balls, something he arguably would not have achieved at this point had Kompany remained fit.
Ederson, Nicolas Otamendi, Kyle Walker and others all deserve credit for the watertight defence City have put together but it is Stones and the extra levels to his game that has been at the heart of it.
Guardiola has always admired his centre-back’s confidence and willingness to be that vital cog in his team; now Stones’s defending has caught up with that desire, he will take some stopping.