Rico Lewis has taken the spotlight in recent weeks having made a huge impact on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side. The English full-back was given his Manchester City debut against AFC Bournemouth in August 2022 but now appears more regularly for his side, with manager Pep Guardiola describing him as his ‘little Philipp Lahm’. We’ve looked at what Lewis brings to the City side, and why Guardiola has likened him to one of his former players, Philipp Lahm.
Rico Lewis is an 18 year old footballer who has broken onto the scene following his impressive showing against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. The full-back completed 62 passes, won 5 out of his 8 ground duels and had 90 touches of the ball, second to only Rodri who had 119 touches. However, it wasn’t his stats which caught my eye, it was his positioning during the game.
Seen above, Lewis slotted into the inverted right-back role perfectly as if he’d played there on numerous occasions. He was comfortable playing in the midfield on the right of Rodri, providing a passing option to provide a link between defence and attack. His positioning also allowed for Kevin de Bruyne to play in a wider role utilising his dangerous crosses to great effect. This role is a key feature of Guardiola’s City side with Cancelo and Walker playing there regularly, for a youngster like Lewis to come in and perform so well is very impressive.
Rico Lewis followed up this performance with a good display against Leeds, again tucking inside to form Pep’s 2-3-5 formation in possession, completing 48 out of 55 passes including two key passes and one big chance created. He did it again in a draw against Everton, completing 96% of his passes (misplacing 2 out of 56) and was influential in the build-up.
His second half appearance against Chelsea is what caught my eye most. In the first half, Manchester City struggled to get much going down their right flank occupied by Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo. The lineup for the match was one of Pep’s new experiments; he used a 3-2-5 instead of his conventional 2-3-5 and had Rodri stepping up from CB, in what was a libero role. Walker & Cancelo generally had poor performances but City appeared to miss the link between defence and attack down both sides.
This is where Lewis’ physique and technical ability came into play and allowed Manchester City to control and win the second half. Guardiola brought him on and reverted back to his conventional 2-3-5 with Lewis slotting into midfield alongside Rodri and Nathan Ake. His agile build allows him to turn quickly when in possession, giving him the option of the quick ball forwards when he receives it off the defenders. He was also very comfortable in shifting sideways in midfield, giving him the option of spreading the play out to the left rather than focussing all of his passes on the right side of the pitch.
So we know that Rico Lewis is a top fullback in the making, why did Pep Guardiola choose to compare him to Philipp Lahm? Lahm transformed from a fullback into a midfielder under Guardiola when he was managing Bayern Munich. Pep came up with the idea of having his fullback (Lahm) tucking inside in order to protect the space behind Toni Kroos. Lahm performed excellently in this role and thus played as a midfielder in many games from 2013 until Guardiola departed Bayern Munich. The technical brilliance, awareness, composure and defensive security that was once shown by Lahm is now being shown by Lewis, hence his inclusion in recent matchday line-ups.
