Any Sam Allardyce sceptics who question whether he will be a progressive England manager may wish to hear about his readiness to make John Stones the cornerstone of his rearguard.
The Manchester City defender has often drawn criticism for his inconsistent ability to defend and his desire for over-elaboration: two attributes from which the supposedly pragmatic Allardyce might recoil. The opposite is true, however. Speaking at St George’s Park on Monday, Allardyce was quick to correct a question that billed Stones as potential, instead stating that the 22-year-old has a great chance of being “the thing now”.
On Sunday the new head coach announces his first squad. City’s £47.5m summer signing will be included and, according to Allardyce, Stones can cement a starting place for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, which begins in Slovakia on 4 September. Asked if he is a player for the future, Allardyce said: “There’s that word then – we don’t want potential, do we? I want the thing and right now. Potential is something that’s going to be great in the future. I want it right now and he’s got a great chance of becoming it right now with working with Manchester City.”
Stones’s move from Everton made him the Premier League’s most expensive defender and Allardyce believes that under Pep Guardiola’s tutelage at City the former Barnsley player can be elevated to a new level, just as Gerard Piqué was when he was transferred from Manchester United to Barcelona in 2008.
“With all respect to Everton, working with Manchester City and the level he has to get to there [to be a success]: you don’t realise but Guardiola does focus quite a lot on defending. Not just winning the ball back,” Allardyce said in regard to Stones, who has started and impressed in all three of City’s matches this season.
“Piqué was a little similar at Man United until he went to Barcelona, then he became a good defender as well as a great attribute for Barcelona in possession. So he had both. That’s why he’s stayed there for so long.”
Allardyce is intent on using psychology with England at major championships, where they so often disappoint. This could provide Stones the mental strength required to deal with the fierce scrutiny that will come if he is to be the key factor the manager wishes.
Allardyce said: “When we’re playing at a big tournament there’s a game that we just can’t get through. When it doesn’t go the side’s way they can’t see themselves through that period and come out the other end by nicking a result or pinching a result they don’t deserve. That barrier gets bigger and bigger every time we fail at it.
“Psychologists do work. It’s proven that they do work but they didn’t in this environment. It’s all about the right one. Get the right one and you’re laughing.
“I do a lot myself with sports psychologists. But I challenge them and, if you challenge them and they give you the right answers, you think: ‘Wow, I quite like this lad, he can do good for you.’ Other people think a different way: ‘He’s going to help me, so I’ll sit and listen to him.’ I don’t do that. I challenge them.”
Allardyce is yet to appoint in this department but is already using Lane4, a team of medical psychiatrists that has worked with the Under-21s and is headed by the former Olympic champion swimmer Adrian Moorhouse. “I’ve sat in with them on a couple of occasions,” he said. “They might get to the players ultimately but as a staff, if we are made better in our delivery psychologically, that makes us better and it makes the players better.
“I really like their company in the short periods we’ve been together. They will come in on most meetings with us just to have a point of view and what their ideas might be.
“Because we’ve just got a short period of time it’s hard to fit everybody in. I don’t want players to be coming in and then by the end of the day going: ‘It’s another meeting about a meeting.’ We’ve got to be careful just in how much I deliver.”
Raheem Sterling, whose confidence can be fragile, is another young player who may benefit from the approach. He has started the campaign impressively for City, after Guardiola employed a touch of his own psychology by phoning the winger during the close season to tell of his admiration for him.
Allardyce said: “If Pep’s got him over that glitch, then he should be a much better player from now on than he was before he had that. There’s always that time where people say that you have the dip – it’s how well do you overcome it. When you do, you then end up being a much better player and generally your career lasts a lot longer.”
Stones, like Sterling, is having to convince the doubters and, as with his club, he may have the ideal international manager to enable it if he is to become England’s linchpin.
Allardyce promises a relentless drive for perfection. “It’s what I am. I wouldn’t have got here by doing it any other way,” he said. “The staff and the players are what are going to make me successful and my guidance and my ideas and my experience. So I demand from them to please make me successful.
“This is the pinnacle of my career and I don’t want to fail.”
How Stones and Pique compare
John Stones
Age 22 Turned pro December 2011
Clubs Barnsley, Everton, Manchester City
Appearances 126 (2 goals)
Club honours None
International caps 10 (England)
International honours None
Biography Born and raised in Barnsley, Stones made his debut for his hometown club in 2012, making 28 appearances before signing for Everton in January 2013 for £3m. The defender established himself as a regular almost immediately, renowned for his ability to play the ball out from the back. Following intense interest from Chelsea in 2015, Stones signed a six-year deal at Manchester City this summer for £47.5m.
Gerard Piqué
Age 29 Turned pro July 2004
Clubs Manchester United, Real Zaragoza (loan), Barcelona
Appearances 410 (37 goals)
Club honours Uefa Champions League (4), La Liga (6), Premier League, Fifa Club World Cup (3), Uefa Super Cup (3), Copa Del Ray (4), Supercopa De España (5), FA Community Shield
International caps 78 (Spain)
International honours 2010 World Cup, 2012 European Championship
Biography Signed from Barcelona’s youth set-up in 2004, Piqué moved to Manchester United but failed to establish himself at Old Trafford and was loaned to Zaragoza in 2007. Constantly behind Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in the pecking order, Piqué returned to Catalonia in 2008 for less than £5m. Since then the Spaniard has won almost all the game has to offer at both club and international level.
