82 | Rico Lewis - 2024/25

ninjamonkey said:
We all know what he can offer but he's got to seriously sharpen up his defensive game. No excuse for their goal, that's just piss poor defending, has to be busting a gut to get back in line with the defensive unit, he had plenty of time to do so.

That's not the major problem though, it's his complete disregard for shape at all times. He needs to quickly learn it's only appropriate to go roaming into a number 10 role when he knows he's got defensive cover. Doing it every time, regardless of cover just leaves us wide ope. He's completely out of the game most of the time we don't have the ball. We've already been exploited by the gaps a couple of times this season and it's only going to continue. It's not strictly on him, the system isn't good enough but there's plenty of work that he can do.
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Why is Lewis being blamed for the goal when it was Stones who went walkabout and lost his man?
 
SebastianBlue said:
How much do you think a 19 year-old elite level player that can cover RB/CDM/CM/RM/RW/AM (in one game) would cost in today’s market?

What about a 21 year-old?

How much would Kimmich in his prime cost right now?
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I don’t know the answers to any of those questions.

If he’s a “cover” player then ok, my based on what I see, I only see a squad player at best. Absolutely he is versatile and gives his all whenever he plays, but he looks like our Phil Neville at best.

I also think his age isn’t relevant here. If we are saying he’s doing ok for his age and will get better then fine, loan him out until he is, or sell him with a buy back.
But for some of the weaknesses I see in him now, I’m not convinced he will dramatically improve over the next few years. If I’m wrong, then brilliant, honestly. But for example, his sometime lack of positional awareness when defending or his often lack of finishing ability, I think are a part of him as a player.
 
chesterbells said:
I don’t know the answers to any of those questions.

If he’s a “cover” player then ok, my based on what I see, I only see a squad player at best. Absolutely he is versatile and gives his all whenever he plays, but he looks like our Phil Neville at best.

I also think his age isn’t relevant here. If we are saying he’s doing ok for his age and will get better then fine, loan him out until he is, or sell him with a buy back.
But for some of the weaknesses I see in him now, I’m not convinced he will dramatically improve over the next few years. If I’m wrong, then brilliant, honestly. But for example, his sometime lack of positional awareness when defending or his often lack of finishing ability, I think are a part of him as a player.
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My point was that Lewis is already performing at a very high level, has been one of our most consistent and reliable players, and I think he will get better over the next few years.

We would have to spend an exorbitant amount of money to get an “elite level” player that can do what he does in our system, whether his same age or a few years older.

So I suppose I am asking you and others: are you advocating for us to drop £100+ million on a player that can cover all the positions Lewis can, just at a higher level right now?

Or should we develop him in to that player, whilst still doing an incredibly important job, and continuing to help us win silverware?
 
ninjamonkey said:
It was definitely on Lewis. When the ball goes out to our left, everybody shifts over, gvardiol goes out, dias covers thr channel, stones goes over to cover behind dias as he should, Rico has to get in line and tuck in, he didn't.
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Rico was further forward per instructions, and tried to get back. Stones is meant to stay wider and have a look over his left shoulder to see if there is a runner on the far post, specifically because Lewis will often not be able to get back to cover fast enough (he can’t be in two places at once, despite the expectations of some blues on here). He can easily run to close the man in the middle of the box from that wider position, if needed—and Dias will cut any ball to the middle runner, if he can. If he can’t, Stones isn’t going to be able to do it, so Stones is there to close, not cut out, and tucking closer to the middle runner is entirely unnecessary. It means we have two CBs covering the same runner, with only one actually being able to stop a ball from getting to him.

The goal was mostly down to Stones taking a poor line and thus ceding the great position for a tap in to the Wolves player, as Lewis scrambled back from his more forward position, which Pep has told him to take up in certain possession situations.

I genuinely don’t understand that of all the players this season, Lewis is one being singled out for being not good enough. In my opinion, on average, he is in our top three best players for the season thus far.
 
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ninjamonkey said:
It was definitely on Lewis. When the ball goes out to our left, everybody shifts over, gvardiol goes out, dias covers thr channel, stones goes over to cover behind dias as he should, Rico has to get in line and tuck in, he didn't.
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Exactly. People see what they want to see.
 
SebastianBlue said:
Rico was further forward per instructions, and tried to get back. Stones is meant to stay wider and have a look over his left shoulder to see if there is a runner on the far post, specifically because Lewis will often not be able to get back to cover fast enough (he can’t be in two places at once, despite the expectations of some blues on here). He can easily run to close the man in the middle of the box from that wider position, if needed—and Dias will cut any ball to the middle runner, if he can. If he can’t, Stones isn’t going to be able to do it, so Stones is there to close, not cut out, and tucking closer to the middle runner is entirely unnecessary. It means we have two CBs covering the same runner, with only one actually being able to stop a ball from getting to him.

The goal was mostly down to Stones taking a poor line and thus ceding the great position for a tap in to the Wolves player, as Lewis scrambled back from his more forward position, which Pep has told him to take up in certain possession situations.

I genuinely don’t understand that of all the players this season, Lewis is one being singled out for being not good enough. In my opinion, on average, he is in our top three best players for the season thus far.
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Rico's recovery run was shit, simple as...
 
ninjamonkey said:
It was definitely on Lewis. When the ball goes out to our left, everybody shifts over, gvardiol goes out, dias covers thr channel, stones goes over to cover behind dias as he should, Rico has to get in line and tuck in, he didn't.
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Gvardiol started to go out and then started heading back towards our box. That ball should never have got anywhere near stones or Lewis.
 
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