Written By: Matthew Conciatori
Edited By: Irtaza Khan
With Manchester City defenders John Stones and Ruben Dias being paired for 15 starts this year in the English Premier League, they have undoubtedly been one of the best defensive pairs this season all across football.
Since joining the club back in 2016, Stones has found the perfect teammate to complete the back end for Manchester City’s center-back duo, Ruben Dias. The duo has formed such a solid partnership at the back, which has provided the bedrock for club manager, Pep Guardiola, to have his side regain their attacking vigour moving forward late into the season.
Just after the winter break was over, Dias was full of praise about the English center-back and his partner in crime, “The connection with John has been just brilliant. Trust is given. Trust is earned. So when you start to build that defensive point of view, if we’re not conceding, we’re closer to winning, and then everyone starts to believe in it.”
Manchester City’s defence took a toll as the Blue legend, Vincent Kompany, left the club at the end of the 2019 season due to his increasing age and his recent play being outdone by teammates. That lead Pep Guardiola to search for a new center-back that was young and carried promise. Eventually, they got to Ruben Dias for a transfer fee of $79.2 million with an additional $4.2 million in performance-based add ons. Benfica then got defender, Nicolas Otamendi, in return as well from Manchester City for a transfer fee of $17.5 million.
After Dias transferred from Benfica in the summer, it was uncertain on who would be the starting center-backs for the backline in Manchester. With John Stones and Aymeric Laporte already at the club, who are surely great defenders, the club went a different path. They chose both the young Dutch defender from Bournemouth, Nathan Aké, who has unfortunately struggled this season with injuries alongside Laporte. It became a mess for Manchester as they would just spend millions on defenders for them to ride the bench.
In the month of January, Manchester city started to find their rhythm in the pairing of Dias and Stones. Out of the four main center-backs they have on roster, they have proved their worthiness of being put in the starting eleven.
In the last game against West Ham, it resulted in a 2-1 win for Manchester City with both goals coming from the defending duo. They now have a combined five goals for the club this season. They continue to impress soccer fans around the Premier League as they have been compared to other great center-back duos such as Nemanja Vidić and Rio Ferdinand who both played for rival club, Manchester United. It for sure is a huge comparison to make as both Vidic and Ferdinand are one of the best center-back duos in all of soccer history, though Stones & Dias have surely resembled the two greats in their games this season.
The sample size for Stones and Dias in comparison to Vidic & Ferdinand may be very small, although it could be possible to replicate these two legends in the future. City fans surely have a future to look forward to with Stones and Dias in the backline. The most insane stat about Stones and Dias has to be that they have only conceded just three goals, while they have actually scored more goals together (five).
On TalkSPORT, former professional soccer player, Tony Cascarino, had this to say about the dynamic duo in Manchester, “We could go back and go individually, what Virgil Van Dijk did for Liverpool, what Vincent Kompany, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Tony Adams and many more over the years did. I can’t remember a partnership of two playing that well. Stones and Dias have been extraordinary in this run of 20 and before.”
Looking at what Manchester City has accomplished with Ruben Dias in the Premier League so far this season: 93.2% pass success percentage, 84.4 average passes/game and 12 clean sheets. Ruben Dias, arguably, has been one of Manchester City’s best signings in the last 10 years.
With the win over West Ham on Saturday, City move 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League table. City are the strong favourites to win the league title and Dias says that their “worst enemy” between now and the end of the campaign, is themselves.
“Now, we are looking forward to the next one and nothing else. The worst enemy we can have is ourselves, we have just got to keep the right mentality and keep going.”
Without a doubt, Dias and Stones deserve the recognition to Manchester City’s success this season. In the Champions League too, Manchester City has performed well as they have a 2-0 aggregate lead in the first leg of two against Borussia Mönchengladbach. With 12 games left in the season and 12 points clear of first place, City are certainly close to finishing the season early with games left.
For Stones and Dias, they will continue to show their excellence and talent against opposing attackers in games coming. Teams will start to notice City’s success due to the backline.
Matthew Conciatori
2nd Year Honours Political Science
References
- Byrom, David. “Ruben Dias Lifts Lid on John Stones Partnership after Impressive Man City Form.” Manchester Evening News, 23 Jan. 2021, www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ruben-dias-john-stones-partnership-19687296.
- “Stunning Claim about Dias and Stones as Ridiculous Stats about City Pair Emerge.” TalkSPORT, TalkSPORT, 1 Mar. 2021, talksport.com/football/842394/john-stones-ruben-dias-premier-league-best-centre-back-pairing-man-city-stats/.
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