Milner: Stones should take criticism as a positive

Last year Stones had an amazing season, which saw him as a transfer target of the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea. However during the second half of this season his form has deteriorated, and he has only started one Premier League game for Everton since the end of January. 

Roy Hodgson placed faith in the 21-year-old, starting him in England's recent friendly against the Netherlands, in which Stones was at fault in the build up to the Netherlands first goal.

James Milner has since defended his teammate, and claimed the defender should take the criticisms as a compliment, in the sense that people expect better from him. 

“If I was [John Stones] I would be taking that [criticism] as a compliment in a way. He has put himself on that pedestal and people are interested in him,” Milner said. 

“He is a top class player, you’ve seen tonight it was a great ball, the first goal started from him playing out from the back. You need players like that and everybody wants to see us playing out from the back.

“He is brilliant on the ball and very young as well so he will keep on getting better and keep learning. He is another lad who has got a great attitude as well.”