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Jamie Carragher Rips Into John Stones For 'Stupid' Mistakes Against Netherlands

Jamie Carragher Rips Into John Stones For 'Stupid' Mistakes Against Netherlands

Stones was quite possibly at fault for all three of the goals conceded in the UEFA Nations League semi-final...

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Jamie Carragher ripped into John Stones after the Manchester City defender made three costly errors in England's UEFA Nations League semi-final defeat at the hands of the Netherlands.

Stones was too slow to react to Matthijs de Ligt's run from a corner when the Ajax man mountain powered home an equaliser in the 73rd minute and then in extra time the former Everton man was guilty of overplaying for the Dutch side's next two goals.

First he was dispossessed on the edge of his own box by Memphis Depay, with the ball eventually making its way to substitute Quincy Promes, who mis-hit the ball but saw his effort come off the sliding Kyle Walker and bounce into the net.

Image: PA
Image: PA

Promes then added a third for Ronalld Koeman's side courtesy of another easily avoidable error involving Stones. His pass out from the back put Ross Barkley in trouble and the Chelsea midfielder's back-pass to Jordan Pickford went straight to Memphis, who squared for an easy tap in.

Much has been made as to whether England were wrong to play it out from the back but Carragher put it down to stupid" decisions from Stones.

Image: PA
Image: PA

"England never took risks tonight, the goals never came from risks," the former England and Liverpool man said on punditry for Sky Sports.

"They came from stupid decisions. Stones is facing his goalkeeper, he doesn't have to go long, just pass it to your goalkeeper. He has made a stupid mistake and a stupid decision there.

"As a centre-back you play what's on. When you're facing your goalkeeper and there's no pass on, you pass it back to the goalkeeper and make an angle yourself.

"It wasn't about playing from the back, it was about a stupid decision."

Stones found himself out the Manchester City side for the latter stages of the crucial title run-in last-season, with Pep Guardiola opting to bring Vincent Kompany in for experience at the back.

And Carragher believes the Barnsley youth product hasn't developed as well as he should have following his big-money move to the Etihad in 2016.

"I don't think John Stones has kicked on after making that move from Everton," Carragher added, per the Mirror.

"I still don't feel like he has the 100 per cent backing of Pep Guardiola."

Despite ultimately gifting the Dutch a place in Sunday's Portugal against, Gareth Southgate defended England's way of playing and vowed not to change.

Image: PA
Image: PA

"I think we need to play out better. The last [goal] is an element of fatigue. Ross [Barkley] had gone down with cramp just before and when you're fatigued, errors happen so I don't think it's a case of stopping what we're doing," Southgate told Sky Sports after the game.

"They are passes our players can play with absolutely no problem but it wasn't just the two goals, we made errors and gave opportunities away that should have been punished before that. The Dutch pressed very well with real intensity and we weren't quite as sharp with some of our decision-making.

"I think we've learned so much in terms of playing against a top quality team that posed us different problems than we've faced in the past. We got to grips with those issues, we had a threat throughout the game and the obvious thing is that we've conceded really poor goals."

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Topics: Football News, Football, UEFA Nations League, International Football, England, Netherlands, Jamie Carragher, John Stones