Rico Lewis has claimed that Manchester City have a player who is simply “rapid.”
Pep Guardiola’s men are not associated with having too many pacey players.
Since Guardiola took charge at City, it seemed like the club’s priority was to sign as many technically gifted players over other attributes taking precedence.
As Jose Mourinho rightly claimed, since last season, the Sky Blues have upped their athleticism as a squad.
But even so, with how Manchester City play, pace is not an attribute that makes or breaks their approach.
Rico Lewis says Man City have a player who is simply “rapid”
The Sky Blues rarely ever play on the counter-attack.
Teams do not allow them to do so because they often sit in a deep block and defend for a majority of games.
In addition, Manchester City are perhaps the most focused on having the control of a game than any other team in the world.
As a result, their approach play is often about playing as many passes as possible to dismantle an opposition team’s shape and being patient in how they build up from the back.
However, it would be disingenuous to claim that the speed the likes of Kyle Walker, Erling Haaland, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake bring to this City side do not add a different dimension to this side.
Speaking of pace, while playing a game of ‘Who am I?’ with Nathan Ake during a video for City’s official in-house media, Rico Lewis described Jeremy Doku by bringing up his searing speed.
Lewis said: “Rapid! He’s so quick.”
However, the Englishman went on to mention his position, which was against the rules of the game, which meant Nathan Ake had to move on to the next Manchester City player.
Man City should try to play on the break more with Jeremy Doku
As Rico Lewis, it is indisputable that Jeremy Doku is rapid.
In our view, at times, Manchester City should look to play on the counter-attack due to the £55.5 million man’s pace.
Jeremy Doku can use his pace, which Rico Lewis highlighted to give teams a nightmare, especially if space is afforded to him on the break.
Erling Haaland is another player who could use his speed to have the time of his life in transition and in fairness, City do try to bait the opposition press to hit them on the break.
This particular strategy should especially be employed against the top teams from time to time, as a player like Doku could emerge as a difference-maker in such games.