How important is Rico Lewis to Manchester City?

A key player for Guardiola’s side.

Transcript

00:00And Rico Lewis, only 19 years of age, obviously he's come into this side, there was rumours

00:07of him possibly leaving in the summer, he's sort of become a little gem in this Manchester

00:11City side, what's the latest you can tell us about him, because obviously he wasn't

00:14featured at Bournemouth?

00:15Yeah, well he came off the bench in the final stages and it's interesting, it's only the

00:20second Premier League game he hasn't started this season, which is remarkable given he

00:24was very in and out of the team last year, a real bit-part player and look, there's no

00:28shame in that because he's, you just mentioned, he's 19, he's a young lad trying to break

00:31into the best squad in the world, so even to be anywhere in and around that is credit

00:36to him in some ways, but I think that he, this season's been fantastic, you know, maybe

00:42City's best player, I think three or four weeks ago I said Erling Haaland but he's had

00:46a bit of a lean spell the last couple of weeks, so maybe Lewis has been the best player, and

00:50look, I think it underlines just how important he's become to this team, especially with

00:53Rodri out, and they do lack that control in the middle, they lack a player who can

00:58maybe keep the ball moving a little bit quicker, and I thought at times on Saturday at the

01:02Vitality Stadium they lacked a little bit of rhythm, they didn't move the ball as quickly,

01:05I mean the fact that we did get the 80 minutes with our shot on target probably says that.

01:09The possessions, I'd say they had a lot of the ball, but I didn't think they did a lot

01:12with it, there was a couple of hopeful crosses, chucked into the box from Mateus Nunez, plenty

01:18of shots from distance, that's become a real theme of City's play over the last couple

01:24of weeks as well, but I think Lewis, as well with Lewis, I mean he tends to play full-back

01:29and push into midfield, and that brings with it more control, and a bit of an overload

01:34in midfield, and I think that City, they set up with a back four of Walker and Vardy all

01:38in the wide areas, they were very much going down the lines, they weren't coming inside,

01:42and then you had centre-back Akanji and Ake, neither of them really pushed into midfield

01:50either, and I just think that they really missed Lewis at the weekend, and he came on

01:55in the latter stages, and by far and away the best 10 minutes of the game was at the

01:59end, okay Bournemouth probably sat deep 2-0 up at that stage and thought right we'll just

02:03defend for these last 10 minutes, so that was maybe a factor in City getting more chances,

02:08I think that City at the moment are a better team with Rico Lewis in the side, I think

02:13a few people would point to some defensive frailties, and he has been at fault a couple

02:17of times for a few goals, not a fault as such but he's been in the wrong place at the wrong

02:20time for a couple of goals recently for City, so that's a factor as well, but I think that

02:25in general they are better with him in the team and didn't provide as much of a threat

02:31at the weekend without him.