Gary Neville says John Stones was better than Trent Alexander-Arnold last year.
The pundit opted for Stones in his EA FC 24 Team of The Year but as a right-back instead of Alexander-Arnold on Sky Sports (via YouTube).
Recently, Jamie Carragher compared John Stones to the English right-back due to how distinctive both are for players in their roles.
Gary Neville says John Stones was better than Trent Alexander-Arnold
During the 2022/2023 season, the £47.5 million (BBC Sport) man played an integral role for City, both in his natural position as a centre-back as well as at right-back.
Notably, in the Champions League final against Inter Milan in June, Pep Guardiola dropped Kyle Walker in place of his countryman as his choice of right-back and the latter put in an otherworldly display.
Now, Gary Neville has broken down how both John Stones and Trent Alexander-Arnold performed last year and explained his decision.
“Trent [Alexander-Arnold], to be honest with you has had a great start to the season but I thought Liverpool conceded quite a lot of goals at the end of last season. I think they conceded 43 in the 39 games”, Neville said about Alexander-Arnold on Sky Sports.
Instead of picking Trent Alexander-Arnold, as Jamie Carragher did in his side, Gary Neville explained why he opted for John Stones instead.
“I’ve gone for with a player who is a flexible defender, John Stones, who was moving into midfield, he was pushing back into centre-back, he played right-back a few times, he won the treble, City only conceded 17 goals in the 27 games that he played.”
“He has had a fundamental, a fundamental part in this year’s football with Manchester City and what they’ve done. So, for me, I just thought, well, I can’t really go for Trent [Alexander-Arnold] because of what Liverpool have done in the last 12 months.”
“No, look, I could have gone for him at centre-back but I actually wanted to get all the three of them [John Stones, Ruben Dias and Kim Min-jae] in because I thought he was a worthy player to be in the back four, so I’ve gone for Stones. I’m not perfect about it myself, to be honest with you.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen John Stones a lot more [than Kim Min-jae] but what I’m saying to you [Jamie Carragher] is we’re trying to get to an agreement on stuff. And it was easy for me to agree with you on two centre-backs and then argue with you on the right-back where you weren’t even sure. We both think [Kyle] Walker should be right-back.”
Gary Neville believes Trent Alexander-Arnold was underperforming at the start of 2023, which cannot be said for John Stones.
“My part of Trent is that I absolutely agree the last four, five months, he’s been really good and actually, he’s a lot more, I think his defending, he looks like he’s enjoying it at this moment in time. The first four months of the year, I mean, it was almost like last chance saloon that he was put into that role because he was actually at the time, even Carra was talking about it, does he get left out of the Liverpool team and that’s where we were in April last year.”
“I’m not talking about [a] slow start. Trent was actually at the point of, to be fair being taken out of the team where it was last chance saloon.”
“You [Jamie Carragher] were talking about him being taken out of the team at right-back completely in April last year and I can’t forget that. I can’t get the quotes out but you were definitely talking about him being taken out of the team at right-back in April last year. Then they pushed him into midfield where he did okay there.”
“To be honest, how Trent’s played in the last three or four months has been outstanding, I’ve enjoyed watching him.”
John Stones outperformed the Liverpool right-back last year
While John Stones is not a natural right-back, if given the choice based on last year’s form, Gary Neville was justified in picking him over Trent Alexander-Arnold, in our view.
The Liverpool vice-captain was struggling in terms of his performances, especially defensively, with several wingers exploiting his defensive flaws.
John Stones, on the contrary, was a rock at the back for Manchester City as they went on to make history by winning the treble.
It is only this season that Trent Alexander-Arnold has returned to his brilliant best.
John Stones has admittedly been in and out of the picture for City due to his bad luck with injuries.
However, Stones especially came into his own in the early months of last year, putting in stunning displays in his hybrid role against the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Inter Milan.
Whether it be in the Premier League, the Champions League or the FA Cup, the former Everton centre-back was one of the first names on the team sheet for Pep Guardiola’s side and he repaid his manager’s faith in him.
Perhaps next year, there will be more of a debate between which out of the two defenders came out on top if they are compared with each other again.
But as far as last year goes, it is hard not to side with Gary Neville’s pick.
