82 | Rico Lewis - 2025/26

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

Absolutely love Rico. I was hoping he'd make it with us, but sadly he won't. Wish him all the best though

 

[chesterbells]

Think a lot of that side that started today will be gone, including Rico.

If there are buyers …

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

I’d forgotten how bad he was but thankfully he reminded me today.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Not even seen the bench for months, so expecting him to come in from nowhere and perform is asking a lot but that was not good at all.

The usual biggest gripe I have with Lewis is he doesn't show even a 10th of the desire to get back and defend as he does to sprinting into the centre forward position. He's the professional version of somebody in Sunday league who wants to play striker but is put at fullback so they just decide to play striker anyway from fullback and fuck the team, tactics or instructions.

I get that he wants to play further up but you play the role or you don't play at all. O'Reilly finds himself upfront from fullback but he sprints back into position, Rico jogs back into midfield.

His repeated decision to shield the ball when he has the strength and physique of a 10 year old is just odd. Why the hell would you lean into your biggest weakness?

Wish him all the best but has to be moved on in the summer, just hasn't got the physical attributes to play at this level and cannot compensate for a lack of them. Shame as he is good enough technically.

 

[sk3ptical]

Bashing a lad who haven't played in months.

 

[Dubciteh]

That 90 mins was Rico in a nutshell.

1st half - the team dominates, he is involved. Decent half.

2nd half - the opposition get a foothold in the game. He has to defend. He has to run. He has to mark players. He has to work hard off the ball. He can’t do it. He is the most unfit pro footballer of his age I have seen in a long time. He can’t run. He’s 2’ 8” tall. He weighs 4 stone piss wet through. He’s no fucking good.

One of the few positives of Pep leaving is we will never have to see Rico in a meaningful match again. No other manager is going to entertain him.

This is spot on. Cost us the second goal by being too weak. He had a good run at it but time for us all to move on…

 

[Roachy]

Bashing a lad who haven't played in months.

As long as it's respectful, it's warranted. Honest little player with great attitude, not good enough for us sadly.

 

[Stelea]

He is hopeless. Regressed massively.

 

[jamielowndes]

Great going forward but not strong enough and a liability in defence. He realistically has to be looking at a move to a team further down the prem or even in the Championship.

I doubt it would happen but I could see him being OK at a lower level La Liga team as the level of physicality isn't as intense there.

 

[JewelZee]

Think a lot of that side that started today will be gone, including Rico.

For me it's Savinho, Reijnders, Rico, and Ake (plus obviously Bernardo and Stones) among the starters and Kovacic among those who came on. Nico G. and Trafford could be gone but I'd like them to stay. Marmoush is a question mark. Not sure what to make of the rumors around Rodri and Gvardiol.

Haaland, Cherki, Semenyo, Doku, Foden, Donnarumma, Dias, Gvardiol, Guehi, Khusonov, Nunes, Ait Nouri, and NOR all should be back.

 

[Dax777]

He was very good in the first half. But out of gas, energy in the 2nd and performed horribly.

 

[blue_danube]

He would be a good signing for a newly promoted club like Coventry

 

[Platt Lane 59]

He would be a good signing for a newly promoted club like Coventry

Wasn't their ground once called the "Rico(h) Arena" ?

 

[richards30]

 

[cyan]

I like Rico. Good footballer with eye for space and the ability to link up with others and work the ball into dangerous spaces. We saw bits of that yesterday especially in the first half. But he gets exposed at right back. He is quite good at the inverted right back thing - but his best position is further up the pitch and there does not seem to have been a place for him in the team in that advanced role.

Next season he will no longer be an Under-21 player and so will take a squad place. With the HG and CT rules there might still be a place for him but I think he really needs to go and be somewhere else where he can play more and develop as a good first team player.

 

[bondsman]

He was very good in the first half. But out of gas, energy in the 2nd and performed horribly.

Was it more just that Villa started trying? He looked alright when they looked pissed.

 

[red 2 hats]

Think we'd struggle to get a decent transfer fee for him, should've snapped Forests arm off last summer, he's a lower championship player at best.

 

[mattcity5]

Thought he was great first half, second he may as well not have been there.

Think it was mainly that we couldn't as a team sustain the organised committed press that we went with early on. It only takes 1 to stop and that whole press falls apart and Villa worked it round/through us really well. No idea why the press fall apart, but it wasn't surprising in that heat.

 

[wattle]

Thought he was great first half, second he may as well not have been there.

Agreed. Rico is a superb inverted right-back, but unfortunately that’s his only position. He’s a dreadful authentic right back and yesterday played out that way. As soon as he reverted to right back in the second half he had a stinker.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Looked really promising in his first season but he's got worse since. Simply not good enough, sell to highest bidder ASAP.