Man City defender John Stones: England boss Gareth Southgate taking time for individual chats

John Stones has had a chat with Gareth Southgate. Credit: PA

England centre-back John Stones has revealed Gareth Southgate has taken time have one-on-ones with his players.

Southgate, who replaced Sam Allardyce last week, will take charge of the games against Malta and Slovenia.

Stones has previously played under Southgate for the Under-21s and spoke of the influence the former Middlesbrough boss on the squad.

Stones, asked if Southgate had spent time with each player, told Sky Sports News: "He always does. At meal times, down time he's always making time to spend a few minutes, whatever amount of time it is, to see how you are, how you're doing with your club football and what he expects from you here."I think we all know what we expect from each other. It's good to have a one-on-one conversation with the manager and see what his thoughts are and where we are moving forward."

Allardyce replaced Roy Hodgson after England's dismal European Championship campaign in the summer so 22-year-old Stones is working with his third England manager in just over three months.

Asked how the players are coping, Stones said: "[We] just keep playing football, I suppose. It's all we can do.

"Getting called up for your country is the biggest honour you get as a player. You want to come here and work hard and get victories for us and for the nation.

"The managers that we've had have always made a big impact straight away, including Gareth over the past few days."

Southgate has Sammy Lee as his side. Credit: PA

Under Hodgson, Stones was a non-playing squad member at the Euros but, following his £47.5million summer move from Everton, Allardyce picked him for England's opening World Cup qualifier away to Slovakia.

Stones partnered Gary Cahill in central defence for the last-gasp 1-0 win and the City man hopes to continue to feature alongisde the experienced Chelsea defender.

Asked if he sees the partnership continuing, he replied: "I'd like to.

"Always playing with an experienced player is good, learning new things, with whoever I play with.

"Whether it's Jags [Phil Jagielka], Chris [Smalling], sometimes you're not going to play and watching from the sidelines, watching those guys, trying to improve off them I suppose. They've been here, got a lot of caps, played a lot of games for club as well.

"Whatever partnership plays for England is always a strong one because the training we do and how we work in training is always different combinations so we all know how each other play."