JOHN STONES ADMITS he is enduring a “difficult” time at Manchester City after slipping out of favour under Pep Guardiola.
The 23-year-old was a regular for the Premier League leaders over the first half of the season, with his form helping to silence those who have questioned him since a £47.5 million move to the Etihad Stadium.
He was, however, to suffer an untimely injury in November and has struggled to nail down a regular role since – with Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi impressing, while Aymeric Laporte was acquired during the January transfer window.
Stones has not started an English top-flight fixture since January 20, while his last two selections from the off in all competitions have come in rare defeats for City – against Wigan and Basel.
He told reporters on his current situation: “It’s difficult.
“Every player wants to play week-in, week-out. But I’ve had games here and there, I’ve been fighting and that’s all you can do. Train hard, keep working hard and when your chance comes you’ve got to take it and that’s what I’ve done. Stayed positive.
I’ve had the players’ backing and the manager’s [Guardiola’s] backing. It’s one of those things where the team’s winning games and playing well, and you can’t get back in just like that.
“I’ve got to keep working hard and that’s what I’ve been doing. Still learning while I’m on the sidelines, that’s a massive thing. You can’t switch off and when your chance comes you’re ready to take it.”
Pressed on whether this is the toughest period of his career to date, Stones added: “It’s tough, but I’ve got my first medal [in a Carabao Cup win over Arsenal] so I can’t complain.”
There is the promise of more medals to come as City close on the Premier League title and ready themselves for a Champions League quarter-final clash with Liverpool.
Stones also has a World Cup spot to aim at, with England boss Gareth Southgate having kept faith in him despite his recent lack of game time at club level.
He added ahead of a friendly outing against Italy, having helped to keep a clean sheet in a 1-0 win over the Netherlands: “I’ve got to do my job at City and, as I said, I’ve got to take my chance when it comes and Gareth is watching so much football.
“He’s picked me this time and I’ve just got to take my chance when I get out on the pitch. Hopefully again on Tuesday we can go again.”
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Compared to Jones,Lancaster is a breath of fresh air.
But as a supporter would you rather your opponents liked you and you lost or disliked you and you win.
Even as an Ireland supporter I feel somewhat more comfortable with an English setup I can despise again. Now all he has to do is get Ashton back into the team…
@john free: England actually had a very good win rate under Lancaster. Obviously not as good as under Jones, but it’s not the difference between win or lose. More the difference between win mist of the time and win all of the time.
I say sign the two lads up again. Seems to be working and most leister fans are happy at the halfway stages
He was unlucky to get sacked jones is living off the team he built
What about the Leinster fans though??
No matter what, I would love to have him still coaching in Ireland next season. Be that with Connacht or Leinster, he’s top quality and chances like this don’t come around to often.
Leinster need to bite the bullet & appoint Lancaster.
How about Lancaster stays on at Leinster as head coach and Cullen goes to Connaught to further his carrier think it would be a win win for all…
@Glenn Finlay: not hard to guess your a Leinster fan rather than Connacht.
Reports suggest that Doak is heading to Connacht.
Groan.
Whilst SL is obviously a decent bloke with a proven track record of developing talent, he was totally out of his depth coaching England. His selection policy was totally inconsistent and his grasp of tactics muddled. Anyone who consistently picked Brad Barritt at 12 or 13 and also left Itoje out of the RWC because he “wasn’t ready” – despite the rest of the world realising he was – clearly didn’t have a clue.
It’s instructive that, when mooted as becoming Harlequins director of rugby, the England players at ‘Quins vetoed the move.
To say EJ is “living off the team he built” is wrong. It’s more like Jones had exactly the same players to pick from that SL did but somehow managed to win the Grand Slam, beat the Aussies 4-0 and rack up an unbeaten year.
Lancaster may develop over time, with junior roles but any club installing him as the main man would be taking a big risk as he has no track record of successfully running a top side.
People seem to forget his English failure was down to his captain going for 5 points and a win rather than take a simply 3 and a draw in the World Cup pool of death. A draw in that game and england progress in their home tournament and who knows what might have happened.
Since he’s gone england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs
Exactly Chris. Lancaster had started off with kids and created a very good young team and developed some very good players. They’d also beaten the All Black’s a couple of times during his time but he will somehow be seen as a failure because his captain made the wrong decision.
@Chris Mcdonnell:
That failure againt Wales was down to poor coaching and preparation. If you have a bright captain (like Sam Warburton) then you let him decide to take the 3 or not because he understands the bigger picture and can think clearly under stress. If you have a dumb captain then you go over all the possible scenarios before the game so that he knows which option to take. Although Robshaw had already taken two highly publicised wrong options previously this failsafe obviously hadn’t been done.
This lack of coaching/preparation was evident when Billy Vunipola had scored the bonus point try in the group game against Fiji and when interviewed afterwards he didn’t realise that there was a bonus point for four tries!
Lancaster’s failure wasn’t simply not getting out of the RWC group. It was not moving the England team along one iota from where he’d started. After 4yrs he still had no idea of his ideal XV or how they were going to play.
” england has returned to a horrible team coached and captained by thugs”
That’s a bit harsh! No-one was complaing Japan were coached by thugs when they beat the Boks wre they? As an England fan I’m glad people don’t like us. They’re not supposed to.
@Paul K Murphy:
Indeed. Well said.
He does seem like a really genuine, nice bloke.
Hopefully he’ll do some good things in the future.
I think Lancaster is enjoying being away from the spotlight of the English media. His head coach role with Leinster also allows him a more hands on role that an English club director of rugby role may not.
Hopefully the enjoyment of his job will see Lancaster bring his family over and re-sign with Leinster.The IRFU cannot and wont compete financially with an English club if one comes in.
Leinster Impact , the pro 12 franchise.
I think Lancaster’s role is different to McQuilkin’s. McQuilkin was focused on defence predominantly and had more time to invest in tackle technique etc.
Lancaster seems to be doing a bit of everything-technical coaching, attack coaching, defence coaching etc-and haso less time to focus on defence as a result.
Replying to @Sup there.
His record and development of young players at Leeds Tykes (Yorkshire Carnegie) and England RFU Development role, would be good for either Connacht or Leinster. Remember every coaching job ends in failure at some point.
Dipping his toe before the money is back on the table.
Statistically The Leinster defense has gotten worse since he came in.
Attacking wise there seems to be more structure but is that his influence or girve?
His attack responsibilities are usually set piece plays, those have been very good. Bit much to expect him to do better than McQuilken in defence, but it’s not been too bad either, their defence still holds up well. I’m sure his influence in the academy and passing experience on to Cullen has helped things too.