Little over 12 months ago John Stones was rated as a £50million defender with Chelsea drooling over his signature. The Everton man broke on the scene after establishing himself as a ball playing central defender.
What was so special about it? England are not known to produce defenders who are comfortable on the ball. Last of its kind was Rio Ferdinand, who was really good at playing out of the back.
Stones established himself in the same class last season when he came up with string of exceptional performances which caught Chelsea and Manchester United’s attention.
He was expected to be the main man for Everton and for England this season, however, we have witnessed Stones be the victim of his own expertise.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez encouraged Stones to keep playing out of the back and act as the quarter-back for his team. In doing so, Stones has slowly lost his identity of being a proper central defender.
His season has been error-prone where he has been guilty of giving away the ball of numerous occasions. Most recent of those errors came in the Merseyside Derby where his attempted pass was intercepted by Lucas and 5 seconds later Daniel Sturridge made it 3-0 to Liverpool.
Having witnessed him make several errors of the same kind, perhaps it is now time for his coaches to get hold of him and bring his focus on his primary task, i.e – defending.
He has been spending far too much time on becoming England’s Franz Beckenbauer but sadly he is far from breaking in to his club’s starting XI let alone playing regularly for his national side.
Stones has many defenders from the Premier League to take inspirations and get his defensive career back on track. Players like Wes Morgan, Toby Alderweireld, Robert Huth and Chris Smalling have enjoyed successful season which has been largely down to their no-nonsense defending.
We do not see Morgan or Smalling look for their teammate while dealing with a ball inside the box. Their only intent is to clear the ball away from danger area and keep their team out of harm’s way.
If Stones wants to be successful in coming seasons, he will need to cut down on his urge to be the ball-playing central defender. For now he needs to prove himself as a defender first and then his passing ability would end up being an icing on the cake.
What was so special about it? England are not known to produce defenders who are comfortable on the ball. Last of its kind was Rio Ferdinand, who was really good at playing out of the back.
Stones established himself in the same class last season when he came up with string of exceptional performances which caught Chelsea and Manchester United’s attention.
He was expected to be the main man for Everton and for England this season, however, we have witnessed Stones be the victim of his own expertise.
Everton manager Roberto Martinez encouraged Stones to keep playing out of the back and act as the quarter-back for his team. In doing so, Stones has slowly lost his identity of being a proper central defender.
His season has been error-prone where he has been guilty of giving away the ball of numerous occasions. Most recent of those errors came in the Merseyside Derby where his attempted pass was intercepted by Lucas and 5 seconds later Daniel Sturridge made it 3-0 to Liverpool.
Having witnessed him make several errors of the same kind, perhaps it is now time for his coaches to get hold of him and bring his focus on his primary task, i.e – defending.
He has been spending far too much time on becoming England’s Franz Beckenbauer but sadly he is far from breaking in to his club’s starting XI let alone playing regularly for his national side.
Stones has many defenders from the Premier League to take inspirations and get his defensive career back on track. Players like Wes Morgan, Toby Alderweireld, Robert Huth and Chris Smalling have enjoyed successful season which has been largely down to their no-nonsense defending.
We do not see Morgan or Smalling look for their teammate while dealing with a ball inside the box. Their only intent is to clear the ball away from danger area and keep their team out of harm’s way.
If Stones wants to be successful in coming seasons, he will need to cut down on his urge to be the ball-playing central defender. For now he needs to prove himself as a defender first and then his passing ability would end up being an icing on the cake.
0 comments:
Post a Comment