England suffered a 3-1 loss to the Netherlands in the semi-final of the UEFA Nations League on Thursday night, and Manchester City centre-back John Stones has been getting a lot of stick from Three Lions fans for an error that cost the team.
Having played out 1-1 after regulation time, the game was forced into extra-time.
Dutch forward Memphis Depay caught Stones in possession as he attempted to play out from the back, and England were made to pay for the error.
The City star has committed seven errors leading to goal in his six seasons in the top-flight, with the last three coming in his first season at the Etihad Stadium.
Stones wasn’t a regular name in manager Pep Guardiola’s starting XIs last season, featuring in only 24 league games and playing six times in the Champions League.
With French centre-back Aymeric Laporte a fixture in the Spaniard’s line-up, the England international had to settle for a place on the bench for the majority of the big games and during the second-half of the campaign as Vincent Kompany was preferred.
Premier League legend Alan Shearer has slammed the 25-year-old for his mistake on Thursday night, and he believes it is one of the reasons he struggled for regular playing minutes at club level last term.
“It should be said that it wasn’t just John Stones against Holland. Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker made some horrible errors in possession and could have cost us goals. There were far too many mistakes from the backline combined and they were very, very poor,” the ex-Newcastle United striker told The Sun.
“Centre-back Stones was not being selected for the big games by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City during this season. Perhaps Pep doesn’t trust him the way he did Vincent Kompany and Aymeric Laporte — and even Nicolas Otamendi.
“At 25 he’s not a youngster any more and you cannot keep making the same mistakes. Stones made the obvious errors this week as they led to goals and he’ll get a lot of criticism for it but he has to accept that.”
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