Among Pep Guardiola’s team of renowned superstars, the unsung hero and driving force behind Manchester City’s title run this year was Rico Lewis — an 18-year-old plucked from the academy production line, with no experience in the first team before this season.
‘Some players here have won five Premier League titles,’ Guardiola said at the turn of the year.
‘Why do you think you have to fight? That’s why we need Rico. For him, “Wow, this is new, I want to play, I want to win the Premier League”. This energy is contagious.’
That statement is telling. Guardiola has his finger on the pulse and knows that something is not right with the team’s hunger and desire. They dropped points in six of their 20 league and Champions League games before Christmas.
Joao Cancelo will be a casualty as Guardiola creates an internal storm. Cancelo, a regular before the World Cup, became unhappy with his lack of minutes, following the introduction of Lewis for his first start on December 28.
Rico Lewis (R) has been the overlooked driving force behind City’s Premier League campaign
Lewis (left) was dropped from Manchester City’s academy line-up with no first-team experience before this season
Pep Guardiola (back right) has cracked the code behind his young Man City squad
At Chelsea, a week later, Cancelo started but was withdrawn by Guardiola at half-time and replaced by the teenager. He would have been embarrassed. But Lewis was remarkable and justified his choice.
All of this has a real impact on the squad. Cancelo became a sacrificial lamb. The Chelsea match ended up being Cancelo’s penultimate Premier League appearance in a City shirt before he was loaned out to Bayern Munich.
This must have sent shockwaves through the squad. Guardiola said: if you don’t show me hunger, you won’t play and, in fact, you won’t be here.
Allowing Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus to leave in the summer should remove any doubts about players who are in their comfort zone winning so many trophies. But no and he has to act to inject more hunger.
Guardiola looked at Arsenal and perhaps envied the fire in their bellies. The Gunners are in a title race for the first time in years and he may appear to prefer it.
He saw Lewis’s attitude as a shining light and wanted to give him a chance. He could have seen that Lewis had an effervescent energy. He punches balls forward and is natural in entering the midfield, showing great composure.
The youngster later lost his place as Guardiola opted to be safer at the back ahead of the big games — Liverpool and Arsenal — and opted for John Stones as an extra player in midfield. This is another brilliant innovation.
With Erling Haaland in the team, Guardiola had to get extra bodies in the midfield to help them dominate games. ‘Rico showed us the way,’ Guardiola said recently. ‘He is our little Philipp Lahm.’ We now see the Stones occupying those positions to much praise from fans and pundits alike.
Lewis’ (left) effervescent energy gave him a chance at City
With one of the back four — be it Lewis from full back or Stones from central areas — stepping into midfield, City are overloaded and can control before they attack.
Losing in the knockout rounds of the Champions League in previous seasons will be very painful for Guardiola. City will dominate teams but then lose them on the counter-attack.
But this new system allows them to keep three combative defenders at the back to create an impressive wall in front of goalkeeper Ederson.
Another unsung hero in this title win was Manuel Akanji, who played 70 percent of City’s games and was an outstanding figure at the back. He showed mobility, speed and composure on the ball.
Ruben Dias, the organizer, sits between Akanji and Kyle Walker, who is the fastest defender on the planet. Now his strengths are used to maximum effect. Nathan Ake was another who had his formative season and left a good impression.
The manager told us Walker couldn’t play that reversed role, but now Guardiola has found how to get the best out of the Englishman.
This fine-tuning of his system could make this the best team he has ever created.
Manuel Akanji (centre) played 70 per cent of City’s games and became an outstanding figure at the back
The departure of Joao Cancelo (left) paved the way for Lewis to get his chance at Man City
At Barcelona, he inherited most of the squad, but this team was largely his own creation. Bar Kevin De Bruyne, every player was signed by Guardiola himself.
Now they are close to the end of the season, and two cup finals.
If they can beat Inter Milan in the Champions League — City’s second European Cup final in three years — Guardiola will feel he has cracked the code and City’s young squad could become a dominant force on the continent for years to come. .
Guardiola has put seven years of work into creating this football monster and I don’t see him losing any ambition or letting go of this team anytime soon.
News/Image Sources: Daily Mail
