A lot has changed since John Stones last played 90 minutes in a game with a real meaning.
Wolves gone, October 20. Scorer of a controversial but ultimately honest winner of the stopping time, which led to Gary O'Neil complaining about 'unconscious bias' against the top four.
Stones delivered three times in the room of one month and were partially brought to the side in Molineux to help their process of structure in midfield. That had been a bit of Stodgy for a while and when stones sustained persistent injuries, it became much worse than that.
Three months later, Manchester City has just clamped back into the top four O'Neil to which is referred to after a barely credible form of form. And their defensive problems are such that Pep Guardiola has long banned the idea of a center from half to midfield. This is another city that Stones walks in on Wednesday evening for the Do-Or-Die Champions League collision with Club Brugge. Do not overdo it with the osmosis of midfield, take care of the base.
This is not the triple season that stones ended by Istanbul effectively in Walpen as a NO8 in a man-of-the-match display. Guardiola now wants the stones that read the game empire in their last line and the stones that can stay fit. With only four Premier League starts this season, it has been a very frustrating year. Two comebacks of foot injuries – one in November in Tottenham, the other in December in Aston Villa – took 45 minutes each.
City sources admit that Stones was brought back in both too early, grabbed the club through an injury crisis that they have still not shaken, and Guardiola has offered him more time before the last revision. So much time, in fact, that 20-year-old Abdukodir Khusanov was thrown for £ 33 million five days after signing Lens.
He initially fell before he recovered his breathing, but the horror first 10 minutes – in which he donated the goal of Noni Madueke Chelekea – unfortunately defined his debut.
The Uzbekistan -defender is not eligible for Bruges and, with Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake Out, there is no other option for it
Guardiola then to test the theory that Stones is now ready for action after a strong 36 minutes from the bank on Saturday.
“Listen, he has to play – unless he tells me he can't,” said Guardiola. 'John always had situations like this, except for the year of the Treble when he was incredibly reliable.
'It is the same with Nathan and that is why we went to the market. I would not like to go to the market during this period, but we have many examples of (players) who cannot go every three days. John can help us on Wednesday for our final.
'Hopefully he has recovered better this time. He played really well against Chelsea and has to make an effort on Wednesday. '
But despite his assets on the Ball Guardiola, his defenders wants to defend themselves for the time being.
“Our process is not good because Rodri is not there,” Guardiola added. 'Manu (Akanji) played really well there and John too, but Rodri sat next to them. Football depends on the connection of the players. It is not because you have played well there in the past.
'Before it was a process that was smart, easier. Now with John I struggle to see it, due to injuries, that he plays there. I prefer to see him again, because as a defender, especially reading situations, he is so good. '
The city is still looking for midfield reinforcement in this window and the comments of Guardiola endorse that, while more available defenders will illuminate the burden on Khusanov and the even younger Vitor Reis, 19, catching a £ 29 million from Palmeiras.
“Khusanov shouldn't have played, it should take time to do it,” said Guardiola. “It's not easy, Chelsea in the Premier League. He comes from another country, without training sessions about what we want to do. Imagine that we all live what happened to Khusanov? It would be: “Oh, God”. '
Khusanov can understand English but not speak it, where Guardiola praises his players because he protects him after the error for Madueke's goal.
“I didn't try to put him in situations in which it can be really difficult,” Akanji said. 'I just tried to lift him up and tell him that he shouldn't think too much, but to continue, perhaps to play the Safer Pass back to Ederson in his next action and to win his next game to his confidence back to get. '
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