82 | Rico Lewis - 2024/25

[CΛL]

Time will tell. I seldom comment adversely on players, usually deferring to the judgement of the professionals, but here's my amateur asssessment on Kalvin Phillips a month before we signed him for £49m.

View attachment 156118

Phillips can ping it about, that’s he’s only thing

 

[BlueMoonz1977]

A hell of a lot of playets have totally gash this season, including lewis.

I even had a pop at some of his displays.

A lot if it boils down to what has unfolded on the pitch and the frustration that goes with watching it - not everyone mind, but a a fair few.

when the dust settles on this season it will all be forgotten

 

[Dax777]

Time will tell. I seldom comment adversely on players, usually deferring to the judgement of the professionals, but here's my amateur asssessment on Kalvin Phillips a month before we signed him for £49m.

View attachment 156118

Fair enough. I think lots of people got Phillip right. Not half as many as those who got Rodri wrong though.

Imagine telling half the 'Plodri' fans here he'd win Balon Dor someday. They'd have sworn you needed an asylum.

That said, I get what people don't like about Lewis, granted, i think its a bit overblown.

He lack top end strength, size, physicality and speed. And his crossing is non-existent. Its not hard to see what many are complaining about. It is just not the total story.

His weaknesses are often overblown, and his strengths are often diminished just to prove the overall point that he sucks.

He strikes me as your great role player in a top club. The type of player everyone underestimates.

He is probably top 3 in smarts and knowledge of the game on our squad. Outside of Gundogan, and Rodri no one else strikes me as a better student of the game.

He makes the right decision 90% of the time ( even if its the safe decision often).

He moves without the ball better than practically anyone other than Kev and Kova.

On defense, he is by a large margin the smartest player we have. There is a reason why you can catch him barking orders towards Dias and Gvardiol when he's in the back line.

He almost never breaks the offside line. This takes an unbelievable amount of situational awareness to keep up with the line constantly.

Of all our fullbacks (in this new era of dominance - from Mancini on) he is perhaps the best at this. The gulf between him and Kyle Walker, at keeping up with the line, someone who had been playing high-level football before Lewis was born, to see Lewis consistently be 2ice the player shows his intelligence.

He is always available for a pass. Always. And almost always knows what he'd do next. He receives the ball often by opening up his body and creating angles and options. He almost never gets himself easily cornered.

And the few rimes he gets cornered, he is good at shielding the ball and forcing his defender to foul him.

I can go on and on about the little things he is good at. Spotting open areas, targeting attacker's weak side ( i.e. if he is playing against someone who loves to cut inside, he jumps the inside and forces then to go outside, yet if its a player that liked heading to the line, he forces them inside)

Personally, I hope he stays here and reaches his potential... I see him somewhere between Phillip Lahm and Gary Neville.

I'll take either personally.

 

[Newman Noggs]

Fair enough. I think lots of people got Phillip right. Not half as many as those who got Rodri wrong though.

Imagine telling half the 'Plodri' fans here he'd win Balon Dor someday. They'd have sworn you needed an asylum.

That said, I get what people don't like about Lewis, granted, i think its the claim overblown.

He lack top end strength, size, physicality and speed. And his crossing is non-existent. Its not hard to see what many are complaining about. It is just not the total story and its often overblown.

But the weakness is often overblown, and his strengths are often diminished just to prove the overall point that he sucks.

He strikes me as your great role player in a top club. The type of player everyone underestimates.

He is probably top 3 in smarts and knowledge of the game on our squad. Outside of Gundogan, and Rodri no one else strikes me as a better student of the game.

He makes the right decision 90% of the time ( even if its the safe decision often).

He moves without the ball better than practically anyone other than Kev and Kova.

On defense, he is by a large margin the smartest player we have. There is a reason why you can catch him barking orders towards Dias and Gvardiol when he's in the back line.

He almost never breaks the offside line. This takes an unbelievable amount of situational awareness to keep up with the line constantly.

Of all our fullbacks (in this new era of dominance - from Mancini on) he is perhaps the best at this. The gulf between him and Kyle Walker, someone who had been playing high-level football before Lewis was born, to see Lewis consistently be 2ice the player shows his intelligence.

He is always available for a pass. Always. And almost always knows what he'd do next. He receives the ball often by opening up his body and creating angles and options. He almost never gets himself easily cornered.

And the few rimes he gets cornered, he is good at shielding the ball and forcing his defender to foul him.

I can go on and on about the little things he is good at. Spotting open areas, targeting attacker's weak side ( i.e. if he is playing against someone who loves to cut inside, he jumps the inside and forces then to go outside, yet if its a player that liked heading to the line, he forces them inside)

Personally, I hope he stays here and reaches his potential... I see him somewhere between Phillip Lahm and Gary Neville.

I'll take either personally.

I sincerely hope that you are right and I am wrong. We all want to see one of our own succeed.

 

[super_city_si]

I think Lewis has merits but he's nowhere near ready for first team starts in my opinion. I think this seasons malaise and injuries has seen him start way too many games and to compound it he's started amongst a very slow and old midfield.

Hopefully next season he gets cameo minutes and cup games and gets to progress out of the spot light. He might not get much better or he might, but I dont think playing in the current team is helping him.

 

[super_city_si]

On defense, he is by a large margin the smartest player we have. There is a reason why you can catch him barking orders towards Dias and Gvardiol when he's in the back line.

Hes terrible in defence. Has no concept of danger, lets runners go all over the show. He is nowhere near the smartest player we have back there at 20. Thats bollocks.

 

[Dax777]

Hes terrible in defence. Has no concept of danger, lets runners go all over the show. He is nowhere near the smartest player we have back there at 20. Thats bollocks.

Yes, at 20 he is. That's why his potential is sky high. Ake might come close when fully healthy. But no one else plays mistake free football like he does on our defense.

He just does the right thing a lot.

True, he doesn't have Khusanov or Nunes's extra gear to make up for a prior bad decision. But he makes so few of them to start with. Fewer than any of the defenders we have.

 

[mattcity5]

Fair enough. I think lots of people got Phillip right. Not half as many as those who got Rodri wrong though.

Imagine telling half the 'Plodri' fans here he'd win Balon Dor someday. They'd have sworn you needed an asylum.

That said, I get what people don't like about Lewis, granted, i think its the claim overblown.

He lack top end strength, size, physicality and speed. And his crossing is non-existent. Its not hard to see what many are complaining about. It is just not the total story and its often overblown.

But the weakness is often overblown, and his strengths are often diminished just to prove the overall point that he sucks.

He strikes me as your great role player in a top club. The type of player everyone underestimates.

He is probably top 3 in smarts and knowledge of the game on our squad. Outside of Gundogan, and Rodri no one else strikes me as a better student of the game.

He makes the right decision 90% of the time ( even if its the safe decision often).

He moves without the ball better than practically anyone other than Kev and Kova.

On defense, he is by a large margin the smartest player we have. There is a reason why you can catch him barking orders towards Dias and Gvardiol when he's in the back line.

He almost never breaks the offside line. This takes an unbelievable amount of situational awareness to keep up with the line constantly.

Of all our fullbacks (in this new era of dominance - from Mancini on) he is perhaps the best at this. The gulf between him and Kyle Walker, at keeping up with the line, someone who had been playing high-level football before Lewis was born, to see Lewis consistently be 2ice the player shows his intelligence.

He is always available for a pass. Always. And almost always knows what he'd do next. He receives the ball often by opening up his body and creating angles and options. He almost never gets himself easily cornered.

And the few rimes he gets cornered, he is good at shielding the ball and forcing his defender to foul him.

I can go on and on about the little things he is good at. Spotting open areas, targeting attacker's weak side ( i.e. if he is playing against someone who loves to cut inside, he jumps the inside and forces then to go outside, yet if its a player that liked heading to the line, he forces them inside)

Personally, I hope he stays here and reaches his potential... I see him somewhere between Phillip Lahm and Gary Neville.

I'll take either personally.

Excellent post, agree with it all. I'm not sure he'll ever be an absolute top level player, but a lot of the criticism is way ott.

Just wanted to add regarding a lot of the criticism of him being knocked off the ball, the correct criticism would be to about the lack of options for him. We've always been at our best when 11 want the ball - too often during the poor period that dipped way down. If he's having to hold onto the ball because there's no options, don't scapegoat him - look at those hiding instead.

 

[spacecadet]

Yes, at 20 he is. That's why his potential is sky high. Ake might come close when fully healthy. But no one else plays mistake free football like he does on our defense.

He just does the right thing a lot.

True, he doesn't have Khusanov or Nunes's extra gear to make up for a prior bad decision. But he makes so few of them to start with. Fewer than any of the defenders we have.

He hasn't been picking up or the right side of runners all season. How many goals before Christmas came from a long ball over the left side and he was nowhere near when the ball came across? He is never a defender.

 

[chesterbells]

When are people going to stop referencing his age when discussing him? Will it be when he turns 21? Will it be when he turns 22? 23?

The “he’s only a teenager” defence for him was used on here almost as much as Bellingham’s age was referenced (and continued even after he’d turned 20). As well as age, number of first team appearances is a factor too, and my view would be that he’s already had a helluva lot of opportunities to show his worth and potential already.

 

[pride in battle]

Fair enough. I think lots of people got Phillip right. Not half as many as those who got Rodri wrong though.

Imagine telling half the 'Plodri' fans here he'd win Balon Dor someday. They'd have sworn you needed an asylum.

That said, I get what people don't like about Lewis, granted, i think its a bit overblown.

He lack top end strength, size, physicality and speed. And his crossing is non-existent. Its not hard to see what many are complaining about. It is just not the total story.

His weaknesses are often overblown, and his strengths are often diminished just to prove the overall point that he sucks.

He strikes me as your great role player in a top club. The type of player everyone underestimates.

He is probably top 3 in smarts and knowledge of the game on our squad. Outside of Gundogan, and Rodri no one else strikes me as a better student of the game.

He makes the right decision 90% of the time ( even if its the safe decision often).

He moves without the ball better than practically anyone other than Kev and Kova.

On defense, he is by a large margin the smartest player we have. There is a reason why you can catch him barking orders towards Dias and Gvardiol when he's in the back line.

He almost never breaks the offside line. This takes an unbelievable amount of situational awareness to keep up with the line constantly.

Of all our fullbacks (in this new era of dominance - from Mancini on) he is perhaps the best at this. The gulf between him and Kyle Walker, at keeping up with the line, someone who had been playing high-level football before Lewis was born, to see Lewis consistently be 2ice the player shows his intelligence.

He is always available for a pass. Always. And almost always knows what he'd do next. He receives the ball often by opening up his body and creating angles and options. He almost never gets himself easily cornered.

And the few rimes he gets cornered, he is good at shielding the ball and forcing his defender to foul him.

I can go on and on about the little things he is good at. Spotting open areas, targeting attacker's weak side ( i.e. if he is playing against someone who loves to cut inside, he jumps the inside and forces then to go outside, yet if its a player that liked heading to the line, he forces them inside)

Personally, I hope he stays here and reaches his potential... I see him somewhere between Phillip Lahm and Gary Neville.

I'll take either personally.

Its suprising he is relatively weak, considering his background.
In the semi final i thought he played well, but can he step up to the next level ? Not sure...

 

[pee dubya]

When are people going to stop referencing his age when discussing him? Will it be when he turns 21? Will it be when he turns 22? 23?

The “he’s only a teenager” defence for him was used on here almost as much as Bellingham’s age was referenced (and continued even after he’d turned 20). As well as age, number of first team appearances is a factor too, and my view would be that he’s already had a helluva lot of opportunities to show his worth and potential already.

Personally I'll only start repeatedly slagging him after every game once he gets to 24/25.

 

[Dax777]

Personally I'll only start repeatedly slagging him after every game once he gets to 24/25.

Lol.... Paging 25 yearold Nunes. You have a slagging off waiting on aisle 5 :)

 

[pee dubya]

Lol.... Paging 25 yearold Nunes. You have a slagging off waiting on aisle 5 :)

Nah that was last season (not really, but I would have sold in the Summer), this season he's won me over.

Bizarrely the closest is probably Foden, although he's got enough credit to write this off as a bad season and hope he comes back stronger. But in a time where we really could have used a bit of inspiration from a player reaching his peak, he's been a big disappointment.

 

[Dax777]

He hasn't been picking up or the right side of runners all season. How many goals before Christmas came from a long ball over the left side and he was nowhere near when the ball came across? He is never a defender.

Again this is false. But i understand why.people say this, because often, the goal scorer is supposedly 'his man' but this is often an error in understanding what went on the whole sequence.

Lets take Palace's 1st goal for example, which is one of the 'many examples' fans here cite when complaining about Rico.,

In that sequence, Rico does nothing wrong. At the beginning of the sequence he stays with Eze and runs with him until Eze runs offside, but Lewis stops in line with Dias, if you watch the play from when Palace's #6 swings the ball out to the right back, even Dias Jumps up to set an offside line and put Maleta offside just like Lewis did with Eze behind him, but unfortunately O'Reilly, incorrectly broke the line and charged forward to go challenge the Right back.
As soon as O'Reilly makes that error the Palace RB just one touches the ball into the space O'Reilly has left open and Sarr makes a curling run into that space... At that point, everyone is behind, Gvardiiol is behind Sarr, Dias is behind Maleta and Lewis is 2 steps behind Eze.

Sarr put in a fantastic early ball and Eze scores...

Lots of our fans go, frickin Lewis, never senses danger. When in fact, the only error was Nico's.

Again, Sarr was open and had an easy Cross, Maleta was open and had the cross gone to him it would have been an easy tap in. It went to Eze for an easy tap in.

Again, while Lewis's man scored. Lewis did not commit an error or lose track of the man cutting in behind him. What he did, like he almost always does, is do the correct thing at the correct time, but looked bad coz O'Reilly messed up on the other side and fucked the line up.

Watch who everyone turned to after the goal, O'Reilly. They all knew who messed up. Gvardiol even went and chatted him up. Not a single person turned and said, Lewis!!

Same game, as we are progressing just before Gonzo won our free kick for Kevin's goal, watch who kept changing pockets to stay open for a pass in a dangerous area, Rico!!! He is miles ahead of lots of our players in knowledge...

 

[Dax777]

Nah that was last season (not really, but I would have sold in the Summer), this season he's won me over.

Bizarrely the closest is probably Foden, although he's got enough credit to write this off as a bad season and hope he comes back stronger. But in a time where we really could have used a bit of inspiration from a player reaching his peak, he's been a big disappointment.

Of all the players ( including hopeful transfers) that i project to start next season. I have rhe least faith in Foden and Dias at thd moment :(

 

[spacecadet]

Again this is false. But i understand why.people say this, because often, the goal scorer is supposedly 'his man' but this is often an error in understanding what went on the whole sequence.

Lets take Palace's 1st goal for example, which is one of the 'many examples' fans here cite when complaining about Rico.,

In that sequence, Rico does nothing wrong. At the beginning of the sequence he stays with Eze and runs with him until Eze runs offside, but Lewis stops in line with Dias, if you watch the play from when Palace's #6 swings the ball out to the right back, even Dias Jumps up to set an offside line and put Maleta offside just like Lewis did with Eze behind him, but unfortunately O'Reilly, incorrectly broke the line and charged forward to go challenge the Right back.
As soon as O'Reilly makes that error the Palace RB just one touches the ball into the space O'Reilly has left open and Sarr makes a curling run into that space... At that point, everyone is behind, Gvardiiol is behind Sarr, Dias is behind Maleta and Lewis is 2 steps behind Eze.

Sarr put in a fantastic early ball and Eze scores...

Lots of our fans go, frickin Lewis, never senses danger. When in fact, the only error was Nico's.

Again, Sarr was open and had an easy Cross, Maleta was open and had the cross gone to him it would have been an easy tap in. It went to Eze for an easy tap in.

Again, while Lewis's man scored. Lewis did not commit an error or lose track of the man cutting in behind him. What he did, like he almost always does, is do the correct thing at the correct time, but looked bad coz O'Reilly messed up on the other side and fucked the line up.

Watch who everyone turned to after the goal, O'Reilly. They all knew who messed up. Gvardiol even went and chatted him up. Not a single person turned and said, Lewis!!

Same game, as we are progressing just before Gonzo won our free kick for Kevin's goal, watch who kept changing pockets to stay open for a pass in a dangerous area, Rico!!! He is miles ahead of lots of our players in knowledge...

You are living in the realms of fantasy.

 

[mattcity5]

Again this is false. But i understand why.people say this, because often, the goal scorer is supposedly 'his man' but this is often an error in understanding what went on the whole sequence.

Lets take Palace's 1st goal for example, which is one of the 'many examples' fans here cite when complaining about Rico.,

In that sequence, Rico does nothing wrong. At the beginning of the sequence he stays with Eze and runs with him until Eze runs offside, but Lewis stops in line with Dias, if you watch the play from when Palace's #6 swings the ball out to the right back, even Dias Jumps up to set an offside line and put Maleta offside just like Lewis did with Eze behind him, but unfortunately O'Reilly, incorrectly broke the line and charged forward to go challenge the Right back.
As soon as O'Reilly makes that error the Palace RB just one touches the ball into the space O'Reilly has left open and Sarr makes a curling run into that space... At that point, everyone is behind, Gvardiiol is behind Sarr, Dias is behind Maleta and Lewis is 2 steps behind Eze.

Sarr put in a fantastic early ball and Eze scores...

Lots of our fans go, frickin Lewis, never senses danger. When in fact, the only error was Nico's.

Again, Sarr was open and had an easy Cross, Maleta was open and had the cross gone to him it would have been an easy tap in. It went to Eze for an easy tap in.

Again, while Lewis's man scored. Lewis did not commit an error or lose track of the man cutting in behind him. What he did, like he almost always does, is do the correct thing at the correct time, but looked bad coz O'Reilly messed up on the other side and fucked the line up.

Watch who everyone turned to after the goal, O'Reilly. They all knew who messed up. Gvardiol even went and chatted him up. Not a single person turned and said, Lewis!!

Same game, as we are progressing just before Gonzo won our free kick for Kevin's goal, watch who kept changing pockets to stay open for a pass in a dangerous area, Rico!!! He is miles ahead of lots of our players in knowledge...

Totally correct.

Clever play by Palace mainly though, taking advantage of players being allowed to be yards offside and the waiting for play to catch up with them. Difficult to deal with as a team, certainly wasn't Lewis's fault as if hed tracked the runner he would have potentially played others onside and left us open to an even more direct throughball.

Kind of think the solution is a higher starting position from the keeper, so they can cut out the cross.

 

[Crooked_rain]

Again this is false. But i understand why.people say this, because often, the goal scorer is supposedly 'his man' but this is often an error in understanding what went on the whole sequence.

Lets take Palace's 1st goal for example, which is one of the 'many examples' fans here cite when complaining about Rico.,

In that sequence, Rico does nothing wrong. At the beginning of the sequence he stays with Eze and runs with him until Eze runs offside, but Lewis stops in line with Dias, if you watch the play from when Palace's #6 swings the ball out to the right back, even Dias Jumps up to set an offside line and put Maleta offside just like Lewis did with Eze behind him, but unfortunately O'Reilly, incorrectly broke the line and charged forward to go challenge the Right back.
As soon as O'Reilly makes that error the Palace RB just one touches the ball into the space O'Reilly has left open and Sarr makes a curling run into that space... At that point, everyone is behind, Gvardiiol is behind Sarr, Dias is behind Maleta and Lewis is 2 steps behind Eze.

Sarr put in a fantastic early ball and Eze scores...

Lots of our fans go, frickin Lewis, never senses danger. When in fact, the only error was Nico's.

Again, Sarr was open and had an easy Cross, Maleta was open and had the cross gone to him it would have been an easy tap in. It went to Eze for an easy tap in.

Again, while Lewis's man scored. Lewis did not commit an error or lose track of the man cutting in behind him. What he did, like he almost always does, is do the correct thing at the correct time, but looked bad coz O'Reilly messed up on the other side and fucked the line up.

Watch who everyone turned to after the goal, O'Reilly. They all knew who messed up. Gvardiol even went and chatted him up. Not a single person turned and said, Lewis!!

Same game, as we are progressing just before Gonzo won our free kick for Kevin's goal, watch who kept changing pockets to stay open for a pass in a dangerous area, Rico!!! He is miles ahead of lots of our players in knowledge...

Miles ahead in knowledge eh?

Well that isn't really translating into his ability and what he does on the pitch.

That's not me saying he's awful but what good is all this supposed knowledge that is "miles ahead" of others if his performances aren't ahead of others??

I know plenty about snooker techniques, where to hit the white in order to get position etc etc. actually applying that knowledge is where I'm having problems, I'm not very good. In theory I should be much better than I am, but that doesn't translate into carrying it out in a game.

So all this knowledge talk is pie in the sky stuff when it comes to football. All that matters is what you actually do on the pitch to effect a game. And if your great performances show off your knowledge, then your knowledge can be acknowledged.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Was he injured?. Motm in semi final - should have at least been on the bench