Roy Keane accuses John Stones of having the strength of a child as he lets rip at Manchester City star

ROY KEANE has accused John Stones of having the strength of a child in an attack of the ability of the Manchester City defender.

Keane tore into the England star after he was shrugged off the ball too easily in the build-up to Borussia Monchengladbach’s opening goal in Wednesday’s 1-1 Champions League draw.

The former Manchester United legend believes Stones, 22, needs to toughen up if he wants to develop as a world class talent.

Stones went down theatrically under the challenge of Lars Stindl who then raced free to set up Raffael for the goal.

And analysing the match for ITV, Keane didn’t hold back. He said: “He’s got to be stronger, he’s got to be tougher.

“It’s just too easy, he’s like a child getting knocked off the ball.

“He’s hoping one of his teammates can help him out here, but they punished and rightly so. Really poor defending, he’s got to be stronger.

“He’s a good player but he’s just got to be tougher and stronger.”

Fellow pundit Lee Dixon also singled out Stones for criticism, even though he believed Stindl had fouled the City defender.

Dixon said: “Stindl does gran the arm but at that point, where you are on the pitch, you can’t take a chance and go down.

“That pull on his arm wasn’t enough to send him to the ground.

“He’s taken a gamble thinking the ref will see it, but if you’re last man you can’t take a risk like that.

“You’ve got to fight him off, get the ball back to the keeper and the danger is gone.”