82 | Rico Lewis - 2024/25

[Tugay One Cup]

Nunes was getting shit all night despite putting in a performance better than Lewis ever has.

Incorrect. Rico was far better in the first few games of this season.

 

[oldius]

When we learn to accept that Rico Lewis, at 20, is a valuable member of the squad, we will be better as a fanbase. We don't need to condemn him in order to praise Nunes, and we don't need to condemn Nunes to say good things about Rico. To get in to our team is damn hard. To do it as a local teenager is even harder. The least we can do is to support a good young player. A team with 22 superstars is rarely a success: you need architects and hod-carriers to build wonderful things.

 

[Maly]

Well, his win ratio for us this season when he plays justifies my comment. As does his performances. I knew we would win today without him and lose with him on Sunday.. and he set the tone then. Don’t get me wrong we have a plethora of problems this season but his volume of game time is probably the biggest. So yeah, let’s say I don’t rate him.

You’re an absolute shithouse
Your ratio of good post to shit posts justify my comment ;)

 

[Bluewonder]

No one can ever tell me what he brings or does well aside from being a local lad and academy product.

Well, you’re another box ticked I suppose!

He's already fucking said - we can only have so many non-club trained foreign players, so Rico is a free squad player.

He's 20, versatile and he's going to get better. We need players like him for the easier league and CL games and the Cups. Christ.

 

[Dicko69]

No one can ever tell me what he brings or does well aside from being a local lad and academy product.

Well, you’re another box ticked I suppose!

He's a very intelligent player, always available to receive the ball, never hides. Has good control and generally picks the right pass. Helps us play around and out from the back drawing teams out.
Having said all that he struggles more against the better teams, often holding on to the ball too long. Gets away with it a lot by buying fouls by dropping to the floor when he feels contact on his back. He's a very good player but not elite. Great squad player.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

He's already fucking said - we can only have so many non-club trained foreign players, so Rico is a free squad player.

He's 20, versatile and he's going to get better. We need players like him for the easier league and CL games and the Cups. Christ.

I think Mr Beanhead will have sobered up by now and won’t be seen until Saturday to moan about some other player.

 

[chesterbells]

When we learn to accept that Rico Lewis, at 20, is a valuable member of the squad, we will be better as a fanbase. We don't need to condemn him in order to praise Nunes, and we don't need to condemn Nunes to say good things about Rico. To get in to our team is damn hard. To do it as a local teenager is even harder. The least we can do is to support a good young player. A team with 22 superstars is rarely a success: you need architects and hod-carriers to build wonderful things.

I don’t necessarily disagree with some of that, but you’ve referenced his age 3 times in that post. I’m just wondering when this obsession with some posters on here with making reference to his age is gonna peter out. It’s becoming almost Bellingham-like on here at times.

 

[oldius]

I don’t necessarily disagree with some of that, but you’ve referenced his age 3 times in that post. I’m just wondering when this obsession with some posters on here with making reference to his age is gonna peter out. It’s becoming almost Bellingham-like on here at times.

It might be because he is a young player.

 

[chesterbells]

It might be because he is a young player.

Mate seriously, are you gonna keep mentioning his age when he’s 21? How about when he turns 22? After that will be “the 23 year old Rico”? I think in your post you even mentioned him being a teenager, though apologies if I have that wrong.

It just seems to me that a lot of posters who seek to “defend” him from critical comments on here about his performances on the pitch, nearly always reference he’s “only 20” or that he’s a local/academy lad. I’m afraid I have little sentimentality when it comes to who gets selected for us. Actually, that’s not true, I have zero sentimentality.

I think it’s his performances on the pitch - good, bad or indifferent- that matter, and nothing else at all.

 

[HoneyMonster89]

Mate seriously, are you gonna keep mentioning his age when he’s 21? How about when he turns 22? After that will be “the 23 year old Rico”? I think in your post you even mentioned him being a teenager, though apologies if I have that wrong.

It just seems to me that a lot of posters who seek to “defend” him from critical comments on here about his performances on the pitch, nearly always reference he’s “only 20” or that he’s a local/academy lad. I’m afraid I have little sentimentality when it comes to who gets selected for us. Actually, that’s not true, I have zero sentimentality.

I think it’s his performances on the pitch - good, bad or indifferent- that matter, and nothing else at all.

I'd classify the first 100 games of a player's career as their apprenticeship. Rico is currently on 84 City appearances.

He might not become a superstar, but he should be a solid rotation option in a settled City team.

 

[Bluewonder]

Mate seriously, are you gonna keep mentioning his age when he’s 21? How about when he turns 22? After that will be “the 23 year old Rico”? I think in your post you even mentioned him being a teenager, though apologies if I have that wrong.

It just seems to me that a lot of posters who seek to “defend” him from critical comments on here about his performances on the pitch, nearly always reference he’s “only 20” or that he’s a local/academy lad. I’m afraid I have little sentimentality when it comes to who gets selected for us. Actually, that’s not true, I have zero sentimentality.

I think it’s his performances on the pitch - good, bad or indifferent- that matter, and nothing else at all.

The fact that he's 20 is obviously relevant to judging his performances.

 

[oldius]

Mate seriously, are you gonna keep mentioning his age when he’s 21? How about when he turns 22? After that will be “the 23 year old Rico”? I think in your post you even mentioned him being a teenager, though apologies if I have that wrong.

It just seems to me that a lot of posters who seek to “defend” him from critical comments on here about his performances on the pitch, nearly always reference he’s “only 20” or that he’s a local/academy lad. I’m afraid I have little sentimentality when it comes to who gets selected for us. Actually, that’s not true, I have zero sentimentality.

I think it’s his performances on the pitch - good, bad or indifferent- that matter, and nothing else at all.

The point is that young players are not the finished article, so judging them in the same way as you would judge a 30 year-old superstar is folly. Any player coming into the first team from the academy needs to have support and patience to allow them to develop. They need to have opportunity and gradually increasing minutes to hone their skills. The 'teenager' wasn't a mistake - have another read of my post - I was speaking of when he broke into the side.

As we have seen, and I had this argument on here many times, failing to integrate academy talent is an error. When I suggested that is what should happen, many people here were critical, pointing to the impact on results, and that it was not possible to win trophies that way. It was nonsense then, and nonsense now, but young players cannot be judged in the same way as experienced professionals. Rico Lewis is a serious talent. Khusanov, Reis, McAtee, Savinho, Doku, O'Reilly, and others, are at the beginning of their career, with some real development ahead of them. We have to allow that to happen, as we should with players like Mukasa, McAidoo, Gorman, Mfuni, and others whom we hope will get an opportunity. There are some posters here who are too swift to condemn, and then cannot give praise where it is due, or will say something inane like, 'now he has to keep it up'. It is that which I can't abide. Support the players until they leave or damage the club with their words. Supported people do better, both in sport and in life.

 

[chesterbells]

I'd classify the first 100 games of a player's career as their apprenticeship. Rico is currently on 84 City appearances.

He might not become a superstar, but he should be a solid rotation option in a settled City team.

Interesting perspective that cheers. So to you, is “young player” more about how many games they’ve played, rather than their chronological age?

That’s part (but not all) of what I was meaning in my exchanges with @oldius really, as in at what age does a play stop being considered a “young player? We have u18s, u21s, and in some sports like cycling u23s. It’s useful to see how many games he’s been involved in for our first team, my perception was that it was quite a lot by now.

 

[chesterbells]

The fact that he's 20 is obviously relevant to judging his performances.

It’s not obvious to me though. I’ve been making a judgement based on watching him. If he’s playing in our team and he gets outmuscled in a 50/50, or makes a pass that’s too safe when a better more productive one is on, or shanks a shot, or is too slow in a sprint, or lacks height in an aerial challenge, I honestly don’t think his age is relevant at all.

 

[super_city_si]

He's a good player for 20 and likely to be a decent back-up for us for a long time. However, a Premier League winning first choice right back, he is not.

Well put. Has been used far too often out of necessity this season. Is useful to supplement a functioning team, but not to be its engine.

 

[Bluewonder]

It’s not obvious to me though. I’ve been making a judgement based on watching him. If he’s playing in our team and he gets outmuscled in a 50/50, or makes a pass that’s too safe when a better more productive one is on, or shanks a shot, or is too slow in a sprint, or lacks height in an aerial challenge, I honestly don’t think his age is relevant at all.

Do players not improve after the age of 20?

 

[Ste68]

Think this is the year he has been asked to come of age in terms of game time as he is likely to end up having done a 40 plus games season for the first time. Been a long season for him and it has shown. Think he has time on his side to come on strongly again but just don't see him as our first choice RB. More than useful squad player and great at finding pockets of space but needs to keep working on what he then does with the ball. Time still on his side but we need to buy a first choice RB who is not Lewis or Nunes.

 

[oldius]

When judging a young player, it can be useful to look at world-class superstars and where they were at that age - even some of our own legends. At 20, Kyle was loaned out to QPR. At 20, Vinnie left Anderlecht for Hamburg. At 20, David Silva was loaned out to Celta Vigo from Valencia. They were the first three I checked, and I am certain that more will example that players at 20 are nowhere near what they became, in most cases.

 

[chesterbells]

The point is that young players are not the finished article, so judging them in the same way as you would judge a 30 year-old superstar is folly. Any player coming into the first team from the academy needs to have support and patience to allow them to develop. They need to have opportunity and gradually increasing minutes to hone their skills. The 'teenager' wasn't a mistake - have another read of my post - I was speaking of when he broke into the side.

As we have seen, and I had this argument on here many times, failing to integrate academy talent is an error. When I suggested that is what should happen, many people here were critical, pointing to the impact on results, and that it was not possible to win trophies that way. It was nonsense then, and nonsense now, but young players cannot be judged in the same way as experienced professionals. Rico Lewis is a serious talent. Khusanov, Reis, McAtee, Savinho, Doku, O'Reilly, and others, are at the beginning of their career, with some real development ahead of them. We have to allow that to happen, as we should with players like Mukasa, McAidoo, Gorman, Mfuni, and others whom we hope will get an opportunity. There are some posters here who are too swift to condemn, and then cannot give praise where it is due, or will say something inane like, 'now he has to keep it up'. It is that which I can't abide. Support the players until they leave or damage the club with their words. Supported people do better, both in sport and in life.

I would say in the 80 plus appearances that he’s made, that he’s had that opportunity to integrate. I don’t think that’s unduly swift to make comments that on watching those performances, he isn’t and hasn’t shown that he is a starting player in top 4 side.

Re the teenager comment, I wasn’t suggesting you’d made a mistake because you clearly knew he was 20 cos you mentioned it. I meant that it looked to me like shoe-horning yet another reference to his age.

Just to say too, of your broader point about young players, it’s admirable, and re the likes of Khusa, O’Reilly, Doku etc agreed. My point isn’t about young players, it’s about this young player.

Your last point about “support the players”, I’m genuinely not sure what that means. I never shout criticism to Rico or any other City player at the match (though plenty do!), and on Saturday I’ll be cheering him as loudly and as pleased as everyone else if he rifles one into the top corner. And if I ever met him in person I’d be nothing but polite and positive. But making critical comments on an online forum discussion is something completely different, and no one on here is obligated to be only praiseworthy.

Anyway, as ever, feel free to come back, but I think we’ve both spent long enough on this, and both know each others pov. I respect yours but don’t agree with it.
As such, have a good day pal :)

 

[chesterbells]

Do players not improve after the age of 20?

I’ve already spent long enough on this thread today with oldius (!), but so ill try and reply briefly.

Yep, in some ways. But I don’t see the evidence, in this players case, that this is going to happen with him. It’s an opinion, that’s all. I don’t think he’ll get any taller, run any quicker, or get stronger in 50/50s but I could be wrong (and would love to be!). He pass choice and finishing might improve, let’s see. My view - my opinion - is he’ll have, and deserves, a great career in the game, but not in a top 4 team. If he were for sale would a Champions League team come in for him?