Watching John Stones make defensive mistakes while playing for England in the Nations League finals in June, Port Vale striker Tom Pope took to Twitter to say he’d “love to play … every week” against the Manchester City center back.
“I’d get 40 a season!” wrote Pope, who described Stones as “soft” and “weak.”
Well, he got his chance when fourth-tier Port Vale was drawn to play City in the third round and both players were selected to start.
And Pope did go on to score, although he wasn’t being marked by Stones when heading in a shock equalizer at Etihad Stadium to cancel out Oleksandr Zinchenko’s deflected opener.