82 | Rico Lewis - 2025/26

Guys chillout, Yes he has his weaknesses in his game but don’t forget he‘s still a kid, only 20yrs(!).
Imagine how big the pressure is on his mind. Some of you act like he‘s a finished player. He was thrown in very young, look how Foden was treated by pep with his young age where everyone was buzzin why he doesnt play more often but could be look Like Rico at that moment.

Rico need to learn, earn experience and solve the obvious weakness. The good thing is, I think he is willing to learn and is a very intelligent player. Some Clubs below the top 6 would love to get him in. And he could turn out to be a 80+m player we would look at to bring in.

Trust in Pep, if he loves him, there is something of a quality we don’t see.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
The guy hasn't played in over a week and people are still coming on here daily to denigrate him.

It's weirdo behaviour.
Click to expand...
No need to slate him for the sake of it, weirdo behaviour indeed.

I hope Rico can become established at City but he's gonna struggle to get game time, especially if we sign a proper quality LB. Whenever he plays he needs to play as though his life depends on it. If he doesn't he'll probably be sold or loaned out.

I'm all for giving our youth a chance but if they don't hit the ground running most we won't make it. Not too many will make it with us but we've made over half a billion profit from selling academy players.

Although McAtee has scored a few goals he hasn't imposed himself and impacted on games enough so I think we'll most likely sell him or loan him this summer. I think O'Reilly has done enough to be given another season. I just hope he keeps his head down and continues to improve.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
The guy hasn't played in over a week and people are still coming on here daily to denigrate him.

It's weirdo behaviour.
Click to expand...
Not really. Discussing players is the point of this section of the thread. Not just on the day they play but whenever you feel like or have something to say about them

The way i see it there seems to be 3 groups of fan views related to Rico:

1. Have reached a conclusion about Rico and believe he'll never be good enough.

2. Think he is still developing and young enough to become good.

3. Think he is already performing and is a solid role player with multi position flexibility.

People in group 2 think people in group 1 are showing a lack of understanding on how maturing works.

People in group 3 think people in group 1 are haters.

People in group 1 think people in group 2 are happy clappers for homegrown and people in group 3 are delusional.

We are all somewhere on that spectrum :)
 
BlueMoonRisin’ said:
No need to slate him for the sake of it, weirdo behaviour indeed.

I hope Rico can become established at City but he's gonna struggle to get game time, especially if we sign a proper quality LB. Whenever he plays he needs to play as though his life depends on it. If he doesn't he'll probably be sold or loaned out.

I'm all for giving our youth a chance but if they don't hit the ground running most we won't make it. Not too many will make it with us but we've made over half a billion profit from selling academy players.

Although McAtee has scored a few goals he hasn't imposed himself and impacted on games enough so I think we'll most likely sell him or loan him this summer. I think O'Reilly has done enough to be given another season. I just hope he keeps his head down and continues to improve.
Click to expand...
The reality is other than foden no academy has made it at city. It’s almost impossible and the club/ fans expect ready made world class players instantly. Despite some of our previous signings being average or not as talented.

You mentioned O’reily, if he has a poor season lots will want him sold.

For me it’s all short term thinking. The way it’s worked at city is that a youth player has a brilliant game or run in the team, we then can’t give them enough game time and they have an inevitable spell of poor form. We then sell them. It’s that middle section - we’re terrible at actually developing that talent into a regular first team player.

You mentioned Mcatee, he had spells where he doesn’t play for months, yet we’re expecting him to dominant games. How’s any player, never mind youth meant to do that.
 
I don’t see Lewis as being a player who starts most games but I definitely think he can be a good squad player for us. All clubs need players who will play that role without kicking up a fuss, and even better when they can play in more than one position. Unfortunately that bad run he had in late 2024/early 2025 has soured people a bit but he definitely improved in later performances as the season drew to a close.
 
Pep has been somewhat reluctant to play and trust in academy grown players since being manager here.

McAtee is a bit of a strange situation in that he told him(bigged him up) he had a future here and he'd play before bringing him back from Sheffield United. He started 4 FA cup and 2 League cup games but didn't start in any PL or CL games. He did OK in the cup games and had a few decent cameos in league games but I don't think he didn't really did enough to impress Pep and it looks like we're willing to sell or loan him before the season starts.

O'reilly got quite a few starts on the bounce at LB and he did well. Decent tackler, reads the game well, good passing and link up play with an eye for goal and assist with passes/crosses. He's limited to playing LB now but I hope he get plenty of minutes in midfield as a starter in lesser games or from the bench in all games.

Pep has been reluctant to use subs in the past particularly last season but I'm hoping he uses more next season without making subs too late to have any impact. If we play with more pace and intensity next season I think he'll make some subs at HT or early in 2nd half, I'm hoping so.

As for Lewis he'll struggle to nail down any position and start games next season, especially if we sign a specialist RB. He needs to bulk up on upper body strength and keep concentration in key moments, especially when played at RB. He also needs to learn how to tackle better and distribute the ball better when running with more forward defence splitting passes instead of playing easy safe option short passes. He needs to kick on from last season to play more. It's not as though he's van inexperienced kid anymore as he's played more minutes than any other academy player than Foden I think.
 
Last edited:
I'm sorry I think he's such an obvious player to sell, he's really low in the pecking order in all of his positions, and he's pure profit from financial POV.
 
Dax777 said:
Not really. Discussing players is the point of this section of the thread. Not just on the day they play but whenever you feel like or have something to say about them
Click to expand...

If you think coming on here to simply write unconstructive bollocks like "championship player" is "discussing players" then we have different definitions of what a discussion is.

The issue for me is that amongst the differing opinions and debates, there's a very vocal groups of people on this site who just love to say negative shit about people at the club in order to get a rise out of other forum members.

I don't care if people rate Rico or don't rate him; I'm not seeking to validate my opinion through others. I just think it's fucking pathetic the way some of these people willingly badmouth their own club's players and staff for a bit of attention. But that's just me.
 
He's got a good shot on him and his strengths are geared - in my opinion - towards being an '8' in this system because of the way he picks up pockets (usually in dangerous positions!) and always shows himself for the ball. Specifically in games where we're camped up in the final third of teams who sit back.

His disadvantages are that he's lightweight and easily bullied off the ball - and if he doesn't lose it then he just sinks to the ground and lies on the ball. That's far from ideal in full back positions and much easily manageable if he was in midfield/on the edge of the other team's box.
 
DenizCTID said:
Guys chillout, Yes he has his weaknesses in his game but don’t forget he‘s still a kid, only 20yrs(!).
Imagine how big the pressure is on his mind. Some of you act like he‘s a finished player. He was thrown in very young, look how Foden was treated by pep with his young age where everyone was buzzin why he doesnt play more often but could be look Like Rico at that moment.

Rico need to learn, earn experience and solve the obvious weakness. The good thing is, I think he is willing to learn and is a very intelligent player. Some Clubs below the top 6 would love to get him in. And he could turn out to be a 80+m player we would look at to bring in.

Trust in Pep, if he loves him, there is something of a quality we don’t see.
Click to expand...
A lot of so called fans, particularly ones posting on this thread, are morons.

Imagine being that arrogant that you know more about football than a generational manager in Pep.

I’m not talking about differing opinions, and the ‘I think he’s crap brigade’, I’m referring to the outright, direct abuse he receives on this forum. I hope to god he doesn’t log on here
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
The reality is other than foden no academy has made it at city. It’s almost impossible and the club/ fans expect ready made world class players instantly. Despite some of our previous signings being average or not as talented.

You mentioned O’reily, if he has a poor season lots will want him sold.

For me it’s all short term thinking. The way it’s worked at city is that a youth player has a brilliant game or run in the team, we then can’t give them enough game time and they have an inevitable spell of poor form. We then sell them. It’s that middle section - we’re terrible at actually developing that talent into a regular first team player.

You mentioned Mcatee, he had spells where he doesn’t play for months, yet we’re expecting him to dominant games. How’s any player, never mind youth meant to do that.
Click to expand...

On this basis, Delap was fortunate to escape
 
Saw an article the other day, can't remember where, but it was about Pep and his time at Barca. How there was a centre-back who was too lightweight and not quick enough, but Pep saw something in him and promoted him to the first team. It was Busquets and he turned him into a defensive midfielder.

No guarantees ever obviously, but Pep sees qualities in Rico and sees a role for him. Meanwhile, some people ignore the 20 good things and focus on the one bad thing. Not something they do for many other players (though Nunes says hi).

Just think people need to watch him with a clear mind and judge based on everything, not just based on their preconceptions.
 
Just watching the highlights from the Wydad match.
There is an incident, almost identical to the Rico sending off, that leads to the winning goal. Not even considered as a foul.
 
Beanhead said:
We should sell imo, decent money for nothing and Nunes is far, far better.
Click to expand...
He is association trained and doesn’t get big wages. Clearly not an RB and won’t ever be good enough in any position but might make a living by being a squad player. Not everyone needs to be top - don’t think he is good enough and I don’t see him starting for any other top 10 PL club but it is what it is.
Having enough HG players might change that stance next season.
 
Last edited:
Did Rico select going to Club World Cup with us over representing England U21’s? I know James McAtee did as I have seen his recent interview where he states that he didn’t regret the decision he had made, probably justified given they won it last night and he possibly wouldn’t have got much game time.
If Rico did reject the opportunity to go with the u21’s then you can’t fault his commitment to the club although unfortunate given his sending off and ban.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top