Jason Cundy believes John Stones would be unable to play his signature hybrid role for a team like Sheffield United.
Phil Jagielka claimed that one of the reasons why the Englishman can execute the role to perfection is due to the presence of Rodri in the side.
While even other top teams have defenders inverting into midfield, Stones is perhaps provided with the most positional freedom to drift into various areas of the pitch out of any player who plays a similar role.
Jason Cundy says John Stones would not be able to play his hybrid role for Sheffield United
In Manchester City’s 6-2 destruction of Luton Town, the £47.5 million (Manchester Evening News) man was once again asked to play such a role by Pep Guardiola and he thrived.
But Jason Cundy believes if John Stones played for Sheffield United, he would find it impossible to pull off the role like he does at City.
“City’s probably the only team he could do that with because they keep the ball and he can almost roam into areas”, he said on talkSPORT.
“Can you imagine, imagine Luton trying to do that. No disrespect to Sheffield United. You put John Stones in Sheffield United’s team, right. He gets caught out of position because they ain’t got a centre-half.”
“What’s he doing? You go, ‘What’s John Stones doing up there?’
Fair point about the John Stones role
Jason Cundy may well have a point as Sheffield United lack the personnel for John Stones to be able to play his hybrid role to perfection.
Of course, that does not indicate that Stones is a limited player in any way, shape or form or that he cannot execute the role elsewhere.
However, for such a specialised role to be implemented, a team must have the correct profiles of players as well.
For instance, at Aston Villa, John Stones would be able to play his hybrid role and hurt teams as they also have the likes of competent defenders like Pau Torres and Diego Carlos at their disposal.
But at the same time, it must be said that while John Stones would likely be able to execute his role to full effect at any club he played, those around him would perhaps struggle to be on the same wavelength as him.
The same can be said about most players in a majority of roles at different sides and as a result, player profiling is one of the most essential facets of football.
