82 | Rico Lewis - 2023/24

[Akira]

He is Pep's new Kimmich imo. Can fit in seamlessly all the way from attacking midfield down to right back, that you find it hard to nail down where his best position is.

 

[Bluewars]

We've tried 5/6 players in that #8 role and none of them have excelled in it.

Rico, although energetic doesn't have the positional discipline or finishing to play there (yet) 1st half he should've scored what was an easy finish, he also pushed up too high throughout the the game until Leipzig's 3rd goal was ruled offside then he dropped deep next to Rodri which is where he played well and after Stones he is our best player in that role.

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

Should be playing over Walker. He's such a good progressive passer.

I still can't believe Walker was given that length of a contract for any reason other than Pep feeling wildly guilty for benching him in the UCL final.

Do you know how many times Walker neutralized numerous attacks down the wing on Saturday? They couldn't make a SINGLE thing happen from that wing. Rico would have been completely destroyed if he got the nod over Walker in that game.

 

[Blue and true]

He's so good for his age. That pass he lasered into Doku before the third goal was pure intelligence.

 

[TrentGrisham]

Do you know how many times Walker neutralized numerous attacks down the wing on Saturday? They couldn't make a SINGLE thing happen from that wing. Rico would have been completely destroyed if he got the nod over Walker in that game.

Walker did play well versus Liverpool. I said as much.

 

[DATOIA]

Should be playing over Walker. He's such a good progressive passer.

I still can't believe Walker was given that length of a contract for any reason other than Pep feeling wildly guilty for benching him in the UCL final.

Rico Over Walker ?

LOL

Behave my friend....

 

[TrentGrisham]

Rico Over Walker ?

LOL

Behave my man....

Walker's game versus Liverpool was the first all season where he locked his side up and didn't have a brain fart.

There's been far too many instances this season of him completely switching off or just losing 1v1 matchups. If he's not being a lockdown defender with minimal brainfarts, he becomes a net-negative to the team in my eyes because he's borderline useless in the attacking half when we're in possession, and we obviously have possession of the ball far more than we don't.

For me, the risk of Rico inverting from RB and helping out Rodri/our buildup/attacking play outweighs the risks of him having to defend the odd counterattack, or given his size: set pieces. I know I'm in the small minority, but I feel like Rico's defensive fragility has been largely overblown. IIRC, he completely locked down Salah in the league cup in one of the earlier starts of his career last season.

 

[OB1]

Walker's game versus Liverpool was the first all season where he locked his side up and didn't have a brain fart.

There's been far too many instances this season of him completely switching off or just losing 1v1 matchups. If he's not being a lockdown defender with minimal brainfarts, he becomes a net-negative to the team in my eyes because he's borderline useless in the attacking half when we're in possession, and we obviously have possession of the ball far more than we don't.

For me, the risk of Rico inverting from RB and helping out Rodri/our buildup/attacking play outweighs the risks of him having to defend the odd counterattack, or given his size: set pieces. I know I'm in the small minority, but I feel like Rico's defensive fragility has been largely overblown. IIRC, he completely locked down Salah in the league cup in one of the earlier starts of his career last season.

The offensive part of Walker’s game is not his strongest point but he is far from useless in an attacking sense. His decoy runs alone can be very useful but he doesn’t make them often now because he is usually focused far more on the defensive side. He gives us something no one else can when defending against the counter attack.

He is also quite simply the best right back Manchester City have had since Tony Book and I’d say he is probably better than Skip, so quite probably our best ever RB.

Rico is a great prospect but it remains to be seen what his best position is. He is not ready to be first choice RB.

 

[TrentGrisham]

He is also quite simply the best right back Manchester City have had since Tony Book and I’d say he is probably better than Skip, so quite probably our best ever RB.

I've never denied this. He's a legend of the club and the best English RB of all time. I just thought it was the perfect time to transition away from him to a more 'modern' fullback, or at most give him one more year. To give him 3 was absolute madness, in my opinion. It's not like he's a left-back where there's a complete lack of quality in that position in the game currently.

because he is usually focused far more on the defensive side. He gives us something no one else can when defending against the counter attack.

But he hasn't been defending well is my point. At least not at a high enough standard that he's nailed on to start every game. He's absolutely not solely responsible but just off the top of my head this season thus far, he's been heavily involved in Sheffield United's goal, all of Man United's chances came from him switching off, Bournemouth's goal, Brighton's goal, his Chelsea performance, etc.

 

[Dax777]

Should be playing over Walker. He's such a good progressive passer.

I still can't believe Walker was given that length of a contract for any reason other than Pep feeling wildly guilty for benching him in the UCL final.

I didn't want to be the one to say it. But Kyle is a specialist player to me. Not an every game player.

I think we are a better team in most games with Rico over Kyle. And Kyle in special games against certain Superstar players like:
Mbappe, Leao, Vinicius etc.