John Stones

[Joey66]

three of the goals came down the left hand side Baines and Distan usually cover there!

 

[Zatara]

Hope he comes away from this as a better player.

Ideally the season would have benefitted him -- need him competing with Jags/Distin next season.

 

[Gwladys St. Glory]

Trial by fire...if he's good, which I think he is, he'll learn from it. Respect to him, he's only 19, FFS.

 

[davek]

At fault for 2 of the 4 goals today, IMO. Too raw, too early for him in pressure games. Needs to learn a hell of a lot and nowhere near where we thought he was.

 

[SchoolOfScience]

He'll be a top defender no doubt about it, It takes a lot of experience to play centre half.

There is barely any defenders in the world in there teens who are top class, the position calls for maturity and Stonesy will gain that over time

 

[Christiffa25]

I thought he did well considering his age, experience of big games and quality of opposition.

We missed jags massively, really need to spend money on another CB this summer.

If lukaku's cost is going to be huge and stop us bringing in more quality in defence and midfield I'd rather not bother with lukaku.

 

[paulbefc]

I think he'll be good, given some time to learn.

Whether he was "ready" for this level of football, as Martinez said back in August, is very debatable. There were goals scored today that simply wouldn't have been had Jags played.

If he's the right character and these types of games don't hurt him, like they do Barkley, he'll gain a lot of experience and nous this season.

 

[Yard Dog]

He's been in the defence for a few big losses now, hopefully he will grow and learn from this.

He's still the future.

 

[banno]

Positional sense and decision making will come with time. He has the makings of a great CB but not for another season or so. He is comfortable on the ball and could learn his trade against the park the bus teams but not ready for the top teams as of yet.

 

[dannyboy]

It's the hardest position to play as a youngster and you can only get better with experience.

In a lot of people's eyes the season is pretty much over now so I think there's an opportunity to give him lots of game time between now and May.

He'll make more mistakes along the way but he's more than worth persevering with.

 

[Deleted member 28206]

I know jags was injured and he is young blah blah.

He was dreadful today, hope he learns from it and he probably will.

 

[bicycleheader]

He wasnt that bad...its not easy being thrown in and having an out of form error-prone Distin as your "rock" beside you.

 

[Eggs]

......no hiding place in that position, looks more than decent to me.

 

[ijjysmith]

Wouldn't say he was dreadful @Bryan

Very indecisive at times but loads of promise.

Looks like he can ping a pass too.

 

[Deleted member 28206]

Yeah he does. He been outstanding for parts of this season, glad he played today, that's called a baptism of fire I reckon.

Hope he is punching some pillows right now.