Pep Guardiola said Manchester City “lacked pace” in the first half of Thursday’s game against Chelsea. They found it with the introduction of Rico Lewis in the second. Twenty-seven passes attempted; all of them finished. The 18-year-old’s stock is rising.
City had struggled before the break at Stamford Bridge, unable to exert their usual control and lucky not to go behind when Carney Chukwuemeka hit the post. But Guardiola’s substitutions, and one of them in particular, were instrumental in the 1-0 victory.
Lewis, a beaming Guardiola said in his post-match press conference, “changed the game” after replacing Kyle Walker, the academy product seemingly lining up at right-back but, as in his previous appearances, spend most of the time in midfield. .
There, in an area of the pitch that Chelsea had previously dominated, Lewis’ short, sharp passing and clever positioning allowed City to regain the initiative, while giving his team-mates the platform they needed to find their rhythm .
The decisive goal, created and scored by fellow substitutes Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez, came from City’s left-back. But in the end, a far greater proportion of the city’s attacks had reached the opposite side, where Lewis was operating. It was no accident.
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Man City’s flank attacks against Chelsea
“There are players who play very well for themselves, but he has the ability to make the whole team play better,” added Guardiola. “He has that ability and it’s not easy to find. He’s our little Philipp Lahm.”
It was, of course, with Lahm at Bayern Munich that Guardiola was awakened to the possibility of instructing a full-back to climb, which has subsequently become a hallmark of his approach.
Lahm’s “metamorphosis”, as author Marti Perarnau calls it in his book Pep Confidential, began with a suggestion from Guardiola’s former assistant Domenec Torrent during Bayern’s European Super Cup meeting with the Chelsea in 2013.
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Lewis finished the Chelsea match with a pass success rate of 100%.
“Why don’t we try Lahm as a pivot?” Torrent asked Guardiola as he watched Jose Mourinho’s side exploit the space behind Toni Kroos that night at Prague’s Eden Arena.
And so they did, the mid-match adjustment helping Bayern draw 2-2 in extra time before winning the match on penalties and lifting the trophy.
“If we win something this season, it will be because of this decision to move Lahm,” Guardiola reflected afterwards. “All the other pieces fell into place the moment we put him in the middle of the field.”
Bayern won the first of three consecutive Bundesliga titles with Lahm operating centrally, his success providing a squad that Guardiola would later take with him to City.
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Pep Guardiola turned Philipp Lahm from a full-back into a central midfielder
Looking back, the similarity between Guardiola’s praise of Lahm and his praise of Lewis now is striking. On Lahm: “He’s super smart, understands the game brilliantly and knows when to come in or stay out.” On Lewis: “He’s so smart, so smart. At every moment, he knows when to open up inside and what to do.”
Those comments were nine years apart, but Guardiola could easily be talking about the same player.
What’s more exciting for City, of course, is that while Lahm learned the Champions League-winning full-back role at the age of 29, Lewis is doing so aged just 18 in November, as if tailor-made in the ‘academy of the City for this precise function. . He wasn’t even born when Lahm broke into Bayern Munich’s first team.
It’s impossible not to get excited about what could become.
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“I think he’s going to be a superstar,” former City prodigy Micah Richards told Sky Sports after the teenager’s eye-catching display against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup last month.
“I rarely put that pressure on players because I don’t think it’s nice, and if they don’t get to that level they say they’re over the top, but this is a special player we’re seeing.”
Richards’ struggles with injury are, of course, a reminder of the obstacles that can arise in even the most promising careers, but Lewis’ breakthrough could hardly offer more encouragement.
His performance against Chelsea was, after all, just a continuation of what came before. In his six Premier League appearances, he has a pass success rate of 93 per cent, which places him behind only John Stones and Manuel Akanji among City players, despite playing in areas of the pitch where he faces considerable pressure from opponents.
The first five starts of his senior career have required considerable steel for someone so young, coming against Sevilla, Chelsea, Liverpool, Leeds and Everton, and yet coming through them.
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Lewis has split his time between right back and midfield
It is in midfield where he has delighted his manager the most, finding space and using it to recycle possession quickly and efficiently, but Lewis also has the makings of an orthodox full-back.
He’s quick and combative, his physical attributes and mental toughness developed during a childhood spent training at his father’s Thai boxing gym as well as City’s academy, and he’s so comfortable hugging the line aside as if getting inside.
Indeed, his goal against Sevilla in November, a goal which made him the youngest player to score on his first Champions League start at 17 years and 346 days, came from precisely this position, Lewis took a pass from Julian Alvarez and then drilled a diagonal finish. beyond the goalkeeper of Sevilla, and hero of the World Cup, Yassine Bounou.
Guardiola was quick to point out after that game that Lewis was not given his chance – “we don’t give gifts for him to be a Man City or academy fan” – instead revealing that he had marveled at the teenager’s skills since “day”. one” of the preseason.
“This boy has something special,” added Guardiola that night.
It’s an assessment that rings even truer two months later.
Source: Rico Lewis: Why Man City boss Pep Guardiola loves his ‘little Philipp Lahm’ | Football News
