82 | Rico Lewis - 2024/25

[spacecadet]

Was there at the games when Richard Edghil got unbelievable hate! I don't get it from fans.

Lewis hasn't had 5% of the shit Richard Edghil got to be honest. Most of the flack is on websites I imagine Rico wouldn't look at. That said he needs to waken up to the basics.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

That said he needs to waken up to the basics.

Sounds like we need Delph back as a coach.

 

[spacecadet]

Sounds like we need Delph back as a coach.

Or Gidman?

 

[OrigamiNinja]

And in typical City mid90s style, because some have decided that he "isn't good enough", they get on his back from the moment he appears on the pitch, rather than supporting and making him more confident.


Funny you mention Cancelo. It was (imho) him thinking he was a creative playmaker which drove Pep mad and made him push Cancelo out and bring Lewis in.

Cancelo played some great passes, but also lost possession and we know what Pep thinks of that. Lewis came in and just gave the ball to the more talented players - like Phil and Kev and Bernardo etc. Pep wanted them to be the creative players, not his inverting fullback.

Problem now is that everyone wants a bit more from Lewis (including defensive ability etc), but his whole game is based around simple and having quality players to give the ball to. The less of them in the team, the more he struggles.

The Cancelo v Rico argument has changed over time and as you say, the overall quality of the team has played a huge part in this. At the time, I don’t think anyone thought Rico was a better footballer than Cancelo but we did see the benefits of having someone keeping it simple and we definitely saw the benefits of having someone in there that was more of a “team player”.

Now though, I feel the only advantage Rico has over Cancelo is based around attitude. While not always directly responsible for goals conceded, Rico has arguably become more of a defensive liability than Cancelo ever was and he doesn’t provide any of the offensive benefits that Cancelo did.

It’s not Ricos fault that he isn’t as good as Walker or Cancelo. It’s more of a damning indictment of how quickly the mighty have fallen.

 

[Blue-Ghana]

Felt sorry for the lad.

Kovs poor choice makes him one of the villains.

Lewis is neither fast nor physical, at least he should have shown some bravery. Kovacic's backpass was poor, but a better defender clears it or fouls Vinicius.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

I'd be curious how good all those mentioned above were when they were his age. None of them had played so many top level games as Rico. He made his debut at 17. David Silva was playing for Eibar in the spanish 2nd division , Kevin for Genk.
He's also been played out of position and in a dysfunctional team unlike the above

This of course doesn't mean he's going to be as good as them but it does mean we can cut him some slack.

It’s a fair point but we wouldn’t have taken a risk on a 17 year old David Silva. Same as we didn’t take the risk on the likes of Rogers, Lavia, Delap, Palmer and the rest, even though they were already at the club.

The club, rightly or wrongly, would rather let a promising kid go, see if they improve elsewhere and if need be, attempt to buy them back years later at an inflated cost.

Foden aside, Rico is very much an outlier to our standard processes. When you take this into account and factor in his consistently poor performance levels, Rico has arguably been cut more slack, than any other City player in the Pep era.

 

[sir baconface]

Reminds me of Jesus not being a striker argument.
Jesus was brought as cover or replacement for Aguero
He couldn’t hack it as striker

His fanboys said he is not a striker but a winger

Then he played wide for sometime couldn’t hack their either and was eventually sold


Another Situation : Zinchenko

Same argument not full back but a midfielder, people said he should be sold or we need a new Lb but after he was sold , many said we should have never sold Ziny or Zina as they called him

We scored good cash for those two. Maybe we can do the same with Rico.

I'd be curious how good all those mentioned above were when they were his age. None of them had played so many top level games as Rico. He made his debut at 17. David Silva was playing for Eibar in the spanish 2nd division , Kevin for Genk.
He's also been played out of position and in a dysfunctional team unlike the above

This of course doesn't mean he's going to be as good as them but it does mean we can cut him some slack.

The footballing dustbin is full of kids who shone then never progressed.

 

[Crooked_rain]

Lewis is neither fast nor physical, at least he should have shown some bravery. Kovacic's backpass was poor, but a better defender clears it or fouls Vinicius.

Exactly

It was a shite pass but a good defender still deals with that somehow. They'd react to it much quicker, whether it be go to meet the ball and end up in a 50-50 challenge, or at least be in a position to foul.

Rico somehow ended up jogging about 15 yards behind even though he started off close enough to get into a 50-50 to pick up the loose pass.


A player being young as an excuse only holds so much weight for me. He's still a professional player and being picked and paid handsomely because it's expected of him to do a good job. I'm struggling to see a top level quality player, I'm not sure what attributes he really has that'll carry him through to being a top player.

 

[Gigant]

For fack fack fack sake !!!! This guy gonna have even more minutes after Akanji's injury

Im dead inside.
EPL clubs and whole league's wingers will tear apart our defence even more.

 

[madloaf]

Exactly

It was a shite pass but a good defender still deals with that somehow. They'd react to it much quicker, whether it be go to meet the ball and end up in a 50-50 challenge, or at least be in a position to foul.

Rico somehow ended up jogging about 15 yards behind even though he started off close enough to get into a 50-50 to pick up the loose pass.


A player being young as an excuse only holds so much weight for me. He's still a professional player and being picked and paid handsomely because it's expected of him to do a good job. I'm struggling to see a top level quality player, I'm not sure what attributes he really has that'll carry him through to being a top player

It was a shite pass. A good defender sometimes deals with it and sometimes doesn't. I have to say, I see lots of good stuff in Rico even though lots on here don't, and i do think that people will forget some great tackles he made in that game for the couple of times he got burnt (he's not prime walker at right back, but few are), but I think his performance level has dropped alongside everyone else in the team. Its fine to single individuals out, a boring forum if we didn't, but lets be honest and rank the players who are having "A good overall season". I'll start:

Haaland.
Gvardiol (bar a christmas blip).


















Crickets.

So lets maybe remember that:

1. Our unprecedented success has completely fuckered our players mentally and physically (so it seams).
2. Our coaching staff are not able to get the best out of them (understandable.).

For me he's a busy number 8 in a team that likes to pass quickly. So maybe you're all right and he's done here (while pep runs the team).

 

[pbueno16]

The Cancelo v Rico argument has changed over time and as you say, the overall quality of the team has played a huge part in this. At the time, I don’t think anyone thought Rico was a better footballer than Cancelo but we did see the benefits of having someone keeping it simple and we definitely saw the benefits of having someone in there that was more of a “team player”.

Now though, I feel the only advantage Rico has over Cancelo is based around attitude. While not always directly responsible for goals conceded, Rico has arguably become more of a defensive liability than Cancelo ever was and he doesn’t provide any of the offensive benefits that Cancelo did.

It’s not Ricos fault that he isn’t as good as Walker or Cancelo. It’s more of a damning indictment of how quickly the mighty have fallen.

They’re both luxury players we can only afford to play when the midfield and backline are functioning as they should in Pep’s system. The whole structure isn’t at the level it should be so if you’re asking Lewis or Cancelo to actually defend for the bulk of games and be ran out frequently, you’re going to have problems.

Sure Lewis isn’t a proper defender but he’s a defender that works in our system which we’ve managed to maintain for half a decade. We get Rodri back and more legs in midfield next season, we pick up where we were.

 

[Gigant]

 

[Craig]

Levels

 

[chesterbells]

Exactly

It was a shite pass but a good defender still deals with that somehow. They'd react to it much quicker, whether it be go to meet the ball and end up in a 50-50 challenge, or at least be in a position to foul.

Rico somehow ended up jogging about 15 yards behind even though he started off close enough to get into a 50-50 to pick up the loose pass.


A player being young as an excuse only holds so much weight for me. He's still a professional player and being picked and paid handsomely because it's expected of him to do a good job. I'm struggling to see a top level quality player, I'm not sure what attributes he really has that'll carry him through to being a top player.

Can’t see those attributes either.

 

[pbueno16]

Exactly

It was a shite pass but a good defender still deals with that somehow. They'd react to it much quicker, whether it be go to meet the ball and end up in a 50-50 challenge, or at least be in a position to foul.

Rico somehow ended up jogging about 15 yards behind even though he started off close enough to get into a 50-50 to pick up the loose pass.


A player being young as an excuse only holds so much weight for me. He's still a professional player and being picked and paid handsomely because it's expected of him to do a good job. I'm struggling to see a top level quality player, I'm not sure what attributes he really has that'll carry him through to being a top player.

He very much looks like a defender who’s been coached by Pep and who’s had Walker in front of him as an example.

Pep doesn’t quite coach defenders to get stuck in and put in a hard tackle. Pep defenders have very good anticipation and position themselves in a way that they don’t need to make those challenges. Then on the other hand, Lewis seems to have picked up Walker’s positioning habits, which weren’t the best, but weren’t often punished due to his pace. Lewis doesn’t have that pace to recover like Walker so he needs to adjust to his own speed which is quite average.

Offensively, he’s got it so just needs to be more rigid defensively. Got a new Philipp Lahm on our hands if he can take the next step.

 

[WesthoughtonJohn]

Was there at the games when Richard Edghil got unbelievable hate! I don't get it from fans.

Was there too - that afternoon was horrible. What always makes it worse looking back is Edghy was one of our own playing in a poor side, singling him our was dreadful

 

[WesthoughtonJohn]

Pep doesn’t quite coach defenders to get stuck in and put in a hard tackle

I seem to remember a quote from Pep along the lines of "you don't teach players to tackle as that means you've lost possession"

 

[Blue2202]

Ok pep

What a great response. Funny how you couldn’t actually come up with one positive though.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Was there at the games when Richard Edghil got unbelievable hate! I don't get it from fans.

Yep those were dark days indeed. After a quite brilliant start to his career from youth team graduation his
form went off a cliff. Like I say tho,I really like to hear the away fans chant "Rico"..and I have to say I love his swashbuckling style of play...of course there is no room for sentiment at this level of football,but I for one will forgive the lad for elementary mistakes against top class opposition.

As a side note,I thought Foden, who had been nearly crippled by the challenge which led to the penalty,should have been withdrawn almost immediately by Pep ,to be replaced by someone with the ability to dig in,and protect our vulnerable right side for the last few minutes of the vital game
But what do I know?

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Exactly

It was a shite pass but a good defender still deals with that somehow. They'd react to it much quicker, whether it be go to meet the ball and end up in a 50-50 challenge, or at least be in a position to foul.

Rico somehow ended up jogging about 15 yards behind even though he started off close enough to get into a 50-50 to pick up the loose pass.


A player being young as an excuse only holds so much weight for me. He's still a professional player and being picked and paid handsomely because it's expected of him to do a good job. I'm struggling to see a top level quality player, I'm not sure what attributes he really has that'll carry him through to being a top player.

Harsh. Rico Lewis was up against one of the most dangerous Forwards in world football...without the backing of a solid midfield in front of him.
He made a mistake.
Our youth team graduate made an error against a world class player,whilst playing in a position to help Manchester City out..,...
As I say ,harsh.

Get behind the lad.