Inside the Stones dilemma, the problem when he plays left and the fix

It’s coming up for 365 days since John Stones stood with us and admitted for the first time that the prospect of retirement had been on his mind. The relentless injuries took their toll. One after the other. Mentally draining.

Manchester City’s medical staff had talked him through the persistent problems, suggesting altering habits away from training. But really, even the sharpest specialists in the land could not fathom why he continued to pick up what were described as ‘rare’ fitness issues.

Calling it quits was something Stones gave thought to in 2025, when he ended the season having missed a mindboggling 33 matches with four separate ailments. In the room as he bared his soul, he told us this with feeling. Giving up or fighting is how he termed the decision and everybody in that small group knew what he meant.

That was in Atlanta, during the Club World Cup, and a year to the day, Stones will be arriving 1,000 miles north east in Boston for the Ghana match. Still England’s classiest defender and still the centre-half with unparalleled experience that Thomas Tuchel recognises is vital if this is all to end slightly better than City’s limp assault on the world last summer.

Remarkably, he made even fewer appearances in his final season at City than the one before – even though there was only one major injury setback, a two-month thigh problem. Stones has become more cautious with his recoveries and that is likely what saw Pep Guardiola place trust in others instead. The 32-year-old has ruefully revealed that Guardiola just didn’t fancy him any longer.

One of those others is Marc Guehi, who started the vast majority of matches since a £20million switch from Crystal Palace in January. There have been difficult moments, notably in the Bernabeu and a mistake at Everton during the run-in, but Guardiola had confidence in his new signing.

John Stones played on the left side of central defence for England against Croatia - his usual position is on the right 

Stones kept Marc Guehi out of the side - whereas at Manchester City, Guehi's arrival has led to the end of Stones' Etihad career

While Tuchel and Guardiola are friendly, clearly there was a difference of opinion on these two centre-halves. Guehi picked for City and benched for England, Stones picked for England and released by City. It’s something of an oddity, a quirk.

And the midweek victory over Croatia only brought pre-existing questions to the surface, with England shaky at the back in a strange first half before stabilising later on. Stones rarely plays on the left of the two but did so in Dallas, alongside Ezri Konsa. While not exactly a square peg, it does require a different body shape and for somebody so lacking in match action – four starts at club level since late November – a significantly tougher ask than starting on the right.

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It means altered passing lines and jockeying positioning, the latter evident for Martin Baturina’s goal on Wednesday, Stones twisting and never comfortable. ‘He can step into midfield, he’s confident in build-up,’ Tuchel said, although he cannot do it as seamlessly from the left. 

The German may wonder if Konsa should have swapped places – even if he has stuck to the right in the four games they’ve been paired together. It’s all a bit different away in Latvia for a jog around Riga than in the heat of a World Cup game, though.

There are unquestionably now calls to be made ahead of Ghana and beyond. Guehi is a natural on the left, plays there often, and when this tournament cranks up, you need good players feeling comfortable. It offers more of a balance and we probably don’t need three guesses on what left-sided Harry Maguire has made of the selection from his Netflix sofa in New York.

Tuchel has not enjoyed the luxury of a settled back two since taking the reins, picking eight different partnerships – three of them including Dan Burn and two of them in which neither player was picked in the original 26-man travelling party. Stones and Konsa have their four games together now, Stones and Guehi two and Konsa and Guehi three.

THOMAS TUCHEL'S EIGHT CENTRAL DEFENSIVE PARTNERSHIPS 

CENTRAL DEFENDERS		Times they have started match together
John Stones and Ezri Konsa		Four starts
Konsa and Marc Guehi		Three starts
Stones and Guehi		Two starts
Konsa and Dan Burn		Two starts
Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill		One start
Burn and Guehi		One start
Stones and Burn		One start
Fikayo Tomori and Harry Maguire		One start

Reasons for this span both form and fitness, the nature of the beast at international level. There is a cigarette paper between them all in terms of ability and a change will doubtless be noodling around Tuchel’s head. It remains highly unlikely that the first team picked is the team that ends a tournament.

What has become clear over the course of this season, when Stones has managed to correct his fitness problems, is that Tuchel places great weight on the Yorkshireman’s qualities and how they can affect others around him – especially Elliot Anderson, who dropped in to make a back five when England pressed higher up the pitch against Croatia. 

Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa started against Croatia but could make way if Stones and Guehi are paired together 

‘He can step into midfield, he’s confident in build-up,’ Tuchel said of Stones, although he cannot do it as seamlessly from the left

Stones is the man who fought when City wanted to sell him in 2020, resurrecting his career, and few people realise the extent to which he put his body on the line in a Treble campaign three years later. Stones was barely fit for months but played almost every game.

Tuchel likes that history. ‘A proven winner, he knows what it takes to win,’ he has said.

So far, Tuchel has steered clear of the Stones-Guehi axis that was so successful at the last major tournament, the bedrock of a run to the final that England’s attacking play didn’t necessarily deserve. 

Those foundations must surely count for something.