John Stones knew what he was doing. Danny Drinkwater had nodded the ball back to the edge of the England penalty area and, with Vincent Janssen closing in, the centre-half gathered on the half-turn. With that familiar unconcerned swagger, he waited to nick the ball clear of the onrushing striker before composing a more scenic route upfield. Then came the problem.

As he mustered the touch designed to ease him free, his standing leg gave way on the greasy surface and his opponent pounced, a passage suddenly cleared to goal. Stones had his head in his hands as Fraser Forster palmed away the forward’s weak attempt, but England never regained their shape or composure. Within seconds, Danny Rose had handled to concede the penalty from which the Dutch equalised and a disgusted Roy Hodgson was chuntering animatedly in the dugout.

The repercussions of that error were actually exceptional. This was only Stones’s eighth cap, and only the third time he has represented his country at centre-back, but England had never previously conceded in his fledgling 454-minute international career. Young players should be encouraged to be bold and will inevitably make mistakes, and there were flashes here of the playmaking ability which had Hodgson considering him for midfield in the autumn, not least in the buildup to the hosts’ opening goal. Yet those qualities felt undermined by such an untimely error. This was in effect an audition, a chance to witness Stones in partnership with Chris Smalling. In the end, the slip did not actually come as much of a surprise.

There had been other moments in England’s 2-1 defeat to Holland which prompted angst amongst team-mates, coaching staff and home support. Rewind to the fourth minute and Stones, on the corner of the England penalty area, had taken a touch, looked up and realised Janssen was virtually on top of him. Rather than thumping the ball agriculturally into touch, he chose to ease it back across the box towards Smalling, who was being harassed by Georginio Wijnaldum. The resultant mess, with panicked attempts to hack clear from Forster and Drinkwater, culminated in a Dutch free-kick in a dangerous area. That may have been born of nerves but a better side, perhaps one who had qualified for Euro 2016, might have capitalised on that first glimpse of frailty.

There was a similar flashpoint just after the half-hour mark when Stones stopped the ball dead inside the area and considered a more ambitious pass. Janssen and Memphis Depay duly swarmed all over him, and Holland had been gifted a throw-in level with the edge of the area. These were the errors which have undermined his progress at Everton over recent weeks, when a player’s forte had threatened to become his achilles heel. He has erred towards over-elaboration. Decision-making which once felt bold and enlightened has suddenly been rendered risky, even downright unwise.

Roberto Martínez, a manager partial to a ball-playing backline, has attempted to remove him from the spotlight. The 21-year-old has started only one Premier League game in more than nine weeks, and was sacrificed in that defeat against West Ham with Everton reduced to 10. Of the trio of centre-backs in the lineup that day, Stones was the one hauled off at the break. Hodgson has retained faith, for all that Gary Cahill and Smalling have become his first-choice pairing, even if the support has come with the caveat that the errors must go. “But that does not mean all of a sudden you have to change your game completely and start booting the ball up the field every time,” said the national manager. “It just means you have to improve.”

There is quality in Stones’s delivery, vision and incision in more advanced areas, which demands he never resorts to anything so crude. It was his diagonal slide-rule pass, perfectly weighted, which liberated a scurrying James Milner away down the left as England roused themselves to conjure an exquisite team goal just before the interval. The rat-a-tat of passes, with a Daniel Sturridge dummy thrown in, sliced the Dutch apart, but it was the centre-half who had spotted the break in the first place. He produced something similar in a tighter area for Theo Walcott as England chased the game late on. Therein lies the promise. The problem is that, at present, the mistakes are just as eye-catching.

International football, like that in the Premier League, is a brutal arena in which to conduct an education but Stones will have to learn if he is to realise his vast promise. England need the penny to drop given the weakness which flares too often at the heart of their defence, whether in riotous victory in Berlin or meek and annoying surrender at home to the Dutch. Smalling has been a consistent performer in an unpredictable Manchester United side, but Cahill has endured a patchy campaign at Chelsea. Phil Jagielka has played more regularly at Everton than Stones of late, but Everton have never conceded more in a Premier League season than the 28 home goals they have already surrendered at Goodison Park.

Stones really should be the answer and, long-term, surely in partnership with Smalling. This was their first outing together at this level and, in time, that duo may thrive. Yet, in an attack-minded team, the younger man needs to be more defensively assured than this.