Phil Jagielka lauded Manchester City colossus John Stones for his magisterial display in his side’s 1-0 win against AFC Bournemouth.
Garth Crooks claimed that in the past, the 29-year-old was not as comfortable in the advanced areas of the pitch but against the Cherries, he felt he looked completely at home further forward.
Micah Richards also analysed how Bournemouth’s defenders and midfielders were in sixes and sevens due to the fluidity of the Englishman.
Phil Jagielka raves about Manchester City defender John Stones’ masterclass against Bournemouth
After the contest, Don Hutchison also remarked how the treble-winner is capable of playing anywhere and everywhere on the pitch.
Phil Jagielka went on to heap praise on John Stones’ showing for Manchester City as they defeated Bournemouth on Saturday.
“Pep [Guardiola] decides he wants to try new things and starts playing full-backs inside as centre-midfielders and you think you can’t get anything different, now you’ve got a centre-half who sometimes plays right-back in a build-up and now ending up as a centre-mid and then possibly making inverted runs and then playing striker.”
“It’s incredible! But really enjoyed it, really enjoy watching John [Stones]”, he said on The Football Fill-In show on Ben Foster’s YouTube channel.
Phil Jagielka also noted how John Stones was playing as a left-sided centre-back for Manchester City against Bournemouth rather than in his usual right-sided centre-half position.
“What I found funny again is normally, when I’ve seen John play that role, he sort of plays right side of either the two or either right-back and pops in. At Bournemouth, he played left side, which was new.”
“So, I presume, it was the players, [Nathan] Ake and [Manuel] Akanji were going to play either side of [Ruben] Dias. They’d planned it, basically that was the back three and then obviously, John was given a free role and he took it to the extremes.”
“I looked at his touch map and he’s whipping balls inside the six-yard box! It was really enjoyable to watch though.”
John Stones proved why employing a man-to-man press with him in the side is a recipe for disaster
Much like Phil Jagielka, perhaps many observers were stunned to witness the all-conquering masterclass from Manchester City centre-back John Stones against Bournemouth.
However, one major takeaway was that Andoni Iraola’s decision to employ a man-to-man press against City was a recipe for disaster, mainly due to the decorated defender’s presence.
Having faced many such systems last season and only improving in his signature hybrid role, Stones seems to have the perfect understanding of dismantling the opposition structure by drawing the press and freeing up space for his teammates, as he did against the Cherries.
As his City teammates follow suit, John Stones is provided acres of space to exploit, which he primarily is able to do due to his enviable technical ability and astute decision-making in possession.
With that in mind, Andoni Iraola’s decision is one that should teach other managers not to employ such a setup when facing a Sky Blues side in which the five-time Premier League winner is starting from the off.
