Apart from him not clearing the ball for their goal he had a really decent game. He is a very intelligent footballer with a big future at City with a bit of luck.
That's supposed to be a bad thing?New Micah Richards
He’s not got any pace mate, that’s one of his problems. Sharp over the first few yards but not a fast player at all.He's got a great attitude, a lot of pace and is fairly solid. He came in last season at a time when we were shite, people weren't showing any desire to win games and he showed them they can be replaced. He was a huge part in why there was a general improvement in our form. However, it wasn't particularly down to anything he did on the pitch. He was at fault for the goal against Spurs, and he was caught out a few times in the middle. What's brilliant is he keeps getting into those risky positions, keeps showing for the ball and keeps doing his best. He's got a great attitude and a good skillset.
I don't see him making it as a full back, but you never know. We tend to play CBs as full backs or Walker who is one of the best of his generation. Rico's still a young lad with a lot to learn. Their goal came from a failure to stop Joelinton's run. It's a big ask for Rico to take the ball off him considering the size difference, but Akanji and then Ake should have at least stopped the ball across the goal. And Rico had just failed to interpret the ball and gone past it.
He's raw, certainly. But he has great potential. He'll need to be handled/nurtured carefully, similar to how Phil was developed to where he is today.I've never rated Lewis, but Guardiola is far more qualified than me, and obviously sees something that I don't.
I just wish some City fans would adopt the same attitude with other players.
Does he really? Because when he won his place to Cancelo and everyone was saying that he was the next big thing it didn't take long for Pep to bench him for almost all of the rest of the season up until this game, and people expect him to be excelent insuch big and intense game when he doesn't have game time and he's only 18.and obviously sees something that I don't.
I just wish some City fans would adopt the same attitude with other players.
As said though, he’s never going to oust Nunes/Kovacic/Rodri for that role, so while short term it’s fine, the likelihood is that he ends up like Palmer in the medium term, frustrated about limited gametime.I don't like him at fullback in these sorts of games. Doesn't have the defensive awareness or strength yet. Looks much more comfortable as an 8 where his energy gives us something different.
Throw-ins are one of my all-time City bugbears. For the extreme quality we have had as a team, the way we completely freeze on throws when we're struggling is mental. So with that in mind, Rico was symptomatic last night rather than totally to blamePretty average performance tonight, possibly Rico's worst for us - dragged into the wrong position for the goal and his passing was slow - most annoying for me is it has to be a basic skill to take a throw-in and with time running out he dithered several times to get the ball in which wasted too much time ending up gifting possession. He has all that's needed but still has a lot of work to do to get to the level of being a starter.