World Cup 2018: Curiously underrated, John Stones embodies the essence of this England team

In his blend of attack and defence, passing and dribbling, technical ability and dirty work, Stones is in many ways the sort of all-court player Gareth Southgate adores

Who is the most influential footballer in the England team? That’s an easy one, you say. In terms of impact, it’s surely Harry Kane: two-goal hero against Tunisia on Monday night, and on recent evidence possibly the only reliable goalscorer in the squad. In terms of leadership, then it’s probably Jordan Henderson, emotional bulwark of the side: counsellor, motivator, and mean purveyor of a clipped through ball.

But in terms of 90-minute footballing output – the nuts and bolts and melodies and harmonies of how an elite team functions – then there’s a strong case to be made for someone else entirely. Namely, the assured, dynamic and still curiously underrated John Stones.

Quietly, almost effortlessly, Stones put in a masterful display against Tunisia on Monday night. There were his three attempts on goal, one effectively the assist for Harry Kane’s opener. He won 75 per cent of his headers. He made four tackles and interceptions. Most impressively of all, he completed more passes than any other player on the pitch, and with a spectacular consistency: a 99 per cent completion rate, the highest of any outfield player so far at this World Cup. Nor were they all elementary passes out of defence, either: he made all four of his long balls, and completed only one fewer pass in the final third than Raheem Sterling.

Stones, it should be reiterated, is a centre-half. And herein lies his immeasurable value to England: as much as he offers going forward, it is in the day job that he has truly excelled. Playing at the heart of Gareth Southgate’s three-man defence, Stones has been perhaps the major factor in England’s recent defensive solidity: proactively snuffing out danger, dependable in the air, distributing it intelligently to defuse pressure.

When Alex Iwobi scored for Nigeria at Wembley earlier this month, it ended a run of almost 10 hours during which England had not conceded when Stones was on the pitch. And it is surely no coincidence that all three goals England gave away in qualifying came when Stones was absent.

More fundamentally, though, Stones seems to embody the ethos of this forward-looking, forward-thinking, forward-pressing England side better than anyone else. In his blend of attack and defence, passing and dribbling, technical ability and dirty work, freedom on the ball and awareness of tactical structure, set-piece threat and open-play lubrication, Stones is in many ways the sort of all-court player Southgate adores.

As England try to break down Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday, a team who will sit back and soak up pressure, you can guarantee that it is to the advancing Stones, time and again, whom they will turn. “From that central position, I have so many options,” he says. “I have the ball trying to set up things, and on the other side I have a big role organising and making sure we don’t get counter-attacked.”

England’s frustrating but ultimately fruitful second half in Volgograd suggests that they will once again look to strike that balance against Panama, not over-committing numbers in attack, but allowing the likes of Stones and Harry Maguire a certain licence to advance and build moves from the back.

Under Southgate, Stones has become a sort of totem, one of the indelible names on the team-sheet, a player he is prepared to give the freedom to make his own decisions on the pitch. “The gaffer kept telling us not to do anything different,” he remembers of the second half against Tunisia. “We didn’t create as many chances, but in the same respect we ground them down and moved the ball from side to side. Being on the other end of that is not a nice thing to be a part of.”

Stones is more than just a defensive force in this England team (AFP/Getty Images)

Perhaps the reason Stones remains an underrated spoke in the wheel is because his function with England is curiously out of step with his role in Manchester City’s title-winning side, where niggling injuries and a consequent loss of rhythm meant he has only once completed 90 minutes in the Premier League since January, in the final game of the season, with the title already won.

In a sense, however, it has kept him fresh for his summer assignment, kept him hungry, given him a sense of mission that some of his City team-mates, having already scaled one peak, may not be able to match.

“I never took my spot for granted in the England team,” he admits. “Never will. I think if you’ve got that mentality of fighting for your place and fighting to improve, then you know you’ve done everything you can. Gareth’s shown a lot of faith in me. I can’t express enough how thankful I am for that.”

The language of “fighting” betrays the clear influence of Pep Guardiola, under whom Stones’s game, as well as his body, has significantly developed. Playing under a manager with a clear footballing vision has also helped to crystallise his own ideas about how football should be played. “As a team, we’d never change our mentality in any situation, or play a different style,” he says. “We wanted to stay true to ourselves.”

This is exactly the mentality Southgate is trying to instil with England. Trust in the process, trust in each other, an insoluble identity. Look. Maybe it all goes belly-up against Panama and Belgium. Maybe they’re all be home in disgrace within a fortnight. But unlike their predecessors, you sense that they will remain faithful right to the last. Whether on the pitch or off, in victory or defeat, neither Stones nor England look capable of taking a backward step.