Prodding, searching, triangulating. Manchester City were slowly softening up Villarreal, daring them to bite, boring them into a trance.
Fourteen monotonous sideway passes on the right flank had taken them absolutely nowhere: Stones-Savinho-Nico-Savinho-Stones-Savinho-Stones-Nunes-Stones-Savinho-Stones-Savinho-Stones-Nunes-Savinho. Yawn.
Then Villarreal blinked. Rico Lewis was at the byline squaring the ball back and Erling Haaland was smashing home at the near post. Pep Guardiola’s favourite channel run and cutback combination.
If it was a familiar route, so too was the main connection in the sequence leading to the goal: John Stones. He anchored the entire move but to truly capture how magnetic he was in the first half of Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory at the Estadio de la Ceramica, City’s entire 98-second spell of possession preceding Haaland’s strike must be appreciated.
City had a throw-in on the far side of the pitch. After playing keep ball, Stones sent a raking 60-yard diagonal from the left-back area to Savinho. The Brazilian rushed his pass inside to Haaland and it was momentarily cleared. Who was mopping up the Villarreal counter-attack, pinching the ball from Georges Mikautadze in the right-back position? The same ubiquitous figure and City’s human pendulum: Stones.
He stepped back into the centre and began conducting like a natural playmaker. Each distribution came with a message. A pass wide to Savinho and two hands up, instructing him to return it calmly. A drag of the foot over the ball, a pause and a finger-point telling Lewis to move back inside before squaring a pass to Matheus Nunes. Two steps back to create the angle for Savinho to receive directly and Lewis was set free, bursting into the space that Stones’ adjustment had created.
John Stones keeps the ball away from Villarreal’s Tajon Buchanan (David Ramos/Getty Images)
Stones threw his arms up in the air as City celebrated a superb team move. It was a goal that was only possible with him deployed as half-centre-back, half-centre-midfielder, a hybrid role that was the catalyst for City’s historic 2022-23 treble-winning season and produced one of the most outstanding individual performances witnessed in a Champions League final.
Guardiola may never have deviated were it not for the England international’s chronic time with injuries — just 13 starts in all competitions last season — that left him debating this summer whether he had the drive to keep going as his body repeatedly failed him.
His all-action display in Spain was an all-too-infrequent reminder that when he is fit, there is no other defender in world football who can do what he does, timing perfectly when to drop back and when to step into the play.
At the start of October, Guardiola started Stones at right-back against Monaco and allowed him to move into midfield at times, but his freedom was a lot more restricted than against Villarreal. Every single build-up phase saw full-backs Nunes and Josko Gvardiol narrow to form a back three with Ruben Dias, while Stones joined Nico Gonzalez to form a partnership in front.
“Really good. He plays his position so smartly and helps us,” said Guardiola, who last week said the club will have to delay a decision on whether the 31-year-old has his contract renewed beyond the summer until he proves his fitness.
“He was really good and I’m really pleased. He was important in that treble season.”
Without the injured Rodri, who was worshipped by the Villarreal support ahead of kick-off after being inducted into his former club’s Walk of Fame, City need to find a way of maintaining their control and fluency in his absence.
Nico has been entrusted with that responsibility and the Spaniard excelled again after a strong showing against Everton. He dictated play crisply, covered space and played with more clarity, but he was taken off in the 57th minute with a foot injury after a collision with Thomas Partey, who was involved in the incident that saw Rodri injure his ACL last September against Arsenal.
It leaves Guardiola with an important choice on Sunday at Villa Park if Nico does not make it. Throwing in Mateo Kovacic after only two substitute appearances since Achilles surgery in the off-season feels unwise. Moving Stones forward one to a more conventional holding midfield role would seem to be the obvious solution if required.
Stones interacts with Erling Haaland (Omar Arnau/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
His composure while being pressed and ability to switch play quickly to find the overload were key to City’s first-half dominance. It is what contributed to Marcelino comparing his side to a boxer waiting to get punched after City spurned two big chances in the opening three minutes.
With Lewis used on the right of midfield, stationing himself on the last line of defence between full-back and centre-back, City had so much tactical intelligence in the centre of the pitch that they were able to manipulate the Villarreal defence.
Guardiola was so pleased that both goals, similarly created via combinations down the right wing, came from patient build-up play.
“When we are there (in the final third), we need the patience to know exactly when the right moment is,” said Guardiola.
“I love when we are there and we come back again, go back again, come back again, and then, (in) the right moment, we break the lines. It was so clever.
“We always talk about the way you pass the ball. I always tell them: let us see the movement of the opponent first, then decide. The first half was really good. We brought the opponent there (deep in their own half), but in the second half? No. Stones, Nunes, (Gianluigi) Donnarumma, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Donnarumma. This is not a positional game. Football is about the opponent’s half. When we did that, it was really good.”
Nothing boils Guardiola’s blood more than a rushed pass. A needless turnover is a sin. A telling sign that his stated belief in City’s progress is genuine is that the exasperated windmill arms and head shakes of disgust are becoming rarer. His mood on the touchline is mirroring his team’s growing composure.
Stones helps restore the equilibrium that had tipped towards chaos 12 months ago. He is unlikely to be able to play the majority of games in this demanding role, but if he is available for Guardiola to pick and choose when he lets him off the leash, then Stones could be key in City’s chances of competing on all fronts.
