MX23RW : Wednesday, November 20 03:26:27| >> :600:125832:125832:
[monks data]
England national football team
International Friendlies
Sep 3, 2014 at 8pm UK
 
Norway national football team

1-0

Rooney (68' pen.)
FT(HT: 0-0)

Roberto Martinez impressed by John Stones's England performance

Everton manager Roberto Martinez admits that he was impressed by defender John Stones's performance during his first start for England.

Roberto Martinez has said that John Stones looked "very confident" during his first start for England earlier this week.

The Everton defender, who had previously featured for the national side as a substitute, played 81 minutes in the 1-0 win over Norway at Wembley on Wednesday evening.

The Toffees manager told the club's website: "I thought John looked very confident. He looked like someone who had been in that position many, many times before. I thought he was very aware defensively and he helped to keep a very important clean sheet for the national team.

"But then, going forward, he was always composed, always showed a real understanding of how to keep possession, and I thought it was a very assured and mature performance in a difficult game, because obviously you're playing under scrutiny.

"It didn't surprise me though. We've seen that so many times since pre-season a year ago when he stepped in and showed real composure with that famous penalty against Juventus."

Stones narrowly missed out on a place in the World Cup squad, being named as a standby player.

ID:175118: cacheID:175118:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2153:No Data Analysis info
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Everton's John Stones in action against Aston Villa during their Premier League match on February 1, 2014
Read Next:
Stones to be handed first England start
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!