John Stones believes that Lee Carsley is bringing a Pep Guardiola style of play to England. Carsley is in the interim manager of the team following the exit of Gareth Southgate.
“In ways, yes, definitely,” Stones said of similarities between Carsley and Guardiola. “Everyone has got their own unique style and I think there are similarities throughout every manager in what they want. There are a lot of similarities between Lee and Pep in how they see the game and how they want us to play and I think we saw that last month when we played the two games. It’s been great for me with the likenesses of how we play.”
Carsley is a candidate to get the job on a permanent basis. Carsley is hoping to find a way to get Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer on the field at the same time considering they all prefer to play centrally.
“I’ve definitely got a plan in place,” he said. “The beauty of this job is you get a lot of time to think. In between driving from game to game you are constantly thinking about combinations, relationships.
“Those three players are brilliant players but we have a squad of really, really exciting, talented players. You have to have that feeling that you’ve earned your place rather than try and shoehorn players into positions.”