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Manager may feel Man City defender could do better in World Cup opener [Opinion]

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John Stones started at centre-back for England in Monday’s 6-2 win over Iran but may feel there’s room for improvement after the Three Lions’ opening World Cup group game. His passing was fantastic, but Iran got some change from him in the second half.

The 28-year-old was alongside Harry Maguire and kept Iran at bay in the first half, but Stones was guilty of some poor decision-making after the break and gave away a penalty late on which took some gloss off the scoreline.

Stones won just 1/3 ground duels (33%), failed to win an aerial duel, lost possession twice and gave away two fouls against an Iran side that posed little threat throughout, so Gareth Southgate will expect more from the centre-back against USA on Friday.

The England manager will be delighted with Stones’ distribution, however, as he had 199 touches, attempted 117 passes and completed 99.2% of them. The 28-year-old also had 13 of 14 long balls reach a teammate and had one successful dribble, so there wasn’t a problem with Stones when he was on his feet.

Stones gave away a penalty late on for shirt-pulling in the area and will be disappointed he was caught when so many others get away with it, but Southgate will hope he’s learned from his mistake. USA will be a tougher test.

In other news, Phil Foden could be benched for 2nd WC game after Buyako Saka impresses

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He joined from Newcastle in 2000 and left to join FC Sochaux in 2003

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.