Today was not a good day at the office for John Stones.
The Manchester City centre-back gifted Southampton’s Nathan Redmond a goal in the 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium, and saw an effort of his own chalked off by referee Mark Clattenburg.
In such a situation, the big-money signing might have hoped for an arm around the shoulder from manager Pep Guardiola.
At the very least, he might have hoped for some words of support from the former Bayern Munich boss. Pep isn’t the type to mince his words, though.
Guardiola on Stones and playing out from the back: "The way I want to play is not to pass to their striker." Ouch #mcfc
— Paul Brown (@pbsportswriter) October 23, 2016
In fairness to the City manager, we’d be hard pressed to find a manager who does want their defenders to pass to the opposition striker. It’s football 101.
Maybe he’s a believer in tough love. Maybe he just thinks a £47.5m signing should be able to deal with adversity in any circumstances. Maybe he’s just angry with Stones and unable to contain himself any more.
Thankfully for the England defender, Kelechi Iheanacho’s second-half equaliser ensured City returned to the top of the Premier League table, albeit on goal difference only.
Guardiola’s team are locked on 20 points along with Arsenal and Liverpool, with Tottenham on 19. Their next league game comes away to West Bromwich Albion next Saturday, but before that they have the small matter of a League Cup meeting with Manchester United in midweek. No biggie.
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