ENGLAND ITALY ROMANCING THE STONES
England gaffer tells City outcast: Yo u ve got your ticket to Russia
GARETH SOUTHGATE has handed John Stones his boarding pass for Russia – and assured the £ 50million defender he’s still the main man for England. Stones has been struggling for regular game time under Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, triggering fears over his place in England’s starting line-up at the World Cup. The 25-year-old star has been bumped out of City’s team by the return to fitness of experie nced skipper Vincent Kompany who has formed a solid partnership with tough Argentine Nicolas Otamendi. Stones has not figured in any of City’s last three Premier League games against Stoke, Chelsea and Arsenal, nor did he play in the Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal at Wembley.
Outstanding
It has become a worry for the former Everton star but after a super- smooth performance for England in the 1-0 victory over Holland in Amsterdam, Southgate was left purring at his Rolls-Royce defender.
“John’s last three matches for us have been outstanding and he’s unfortunate to be out of the Manchester City team,” said Southgate.
“I think Pep believes in him tremendously but he has Vincent Kompany playing extremely well and Nicolas Otamendi. That why this week with us will help John to be match-sharp going back into some big games so that when he gets his opportunity he is ready to perform.
“I worked with him four years ago and very quickly you knew you were seeing a player that was not the normal English centre-back and he was one of the players who really enjoyed his football against Holland.”
Southgate was bowled over by England’s fluency in bringing the ball out of defence as he trialled a new defensive shape. Leicester’s Harry Maguire played on the left of a three with Stones in the centre and fellow City star Kyle Walker on the right with Tottenham duo Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose in wing-back roles.
The pace, composure and confidence that flowed from the back delighted the manager.
“I don’t think we were quite as fluent as that during my time with England at Euro 96 and the World Cup in France in 1998,” he said.
“I think we were more fluid against Holland because the players have different attributes to those we had then.
“The young defenders who are coming through have a different skillset with the clubs they are with encouraging them to play that way.
“It really allows us to adopt a different mentality. I was really pleased with the composure they showed.
“We picked specific players in the squad to do that, from Jordan Pickford in goal right the way through the team, they played with a real confidence and enjoyed the ball.”
Jesse Lingard’s match-winner against Ronald Koeman’s men came from Pickford taking the time to play instead of launching it aimlessly.
“I think the way we set up it allows you to play in a different way,” Southgate added. “There are moments where the goalkeeper or a defender can come and put the ball into the stand or play it forward hopefully.
“But if you can play with composure and play through and out of pressure it’s a sickener for the opposition in terms of their own pressure and eventually they stop running and you have more time in different areas of the field. The profile of goalkeeper and defence allowed us to do that.”
England go into Tuesday’s Wembley clash with Italy with five successive clean sheets in their locker – and Southgate reckons a sense of belief is gathering momentum amongst his squad.
Improving
He said: “We are trying to build belief in the team, to build a way of playing. People can see the type of player we are trying to select and the players themselves are gaining belief in that.
“So, we just have to keep working and improving and demanding high standards of the players at all times and being demanding of each other.
“Competition for places helps performances and we’ve got that pretty much in every position.”