Rico is starting to step up his game

I might not have been too enthused about Diego Rico in many games, but I feel he is starting to add some positive things to the team. He is contributing especially well when defending and is reading the game much better now that he has got up to Premier League speed.

Rico has got up to speed.

I do believe he just needed a run of games and it has so happened that he has been given a chance. Now he is looking more the part and is even looking up and trying to pick out a man when making his crosses. I am sure the match he had against Everton was a big help to him, as he kept a cool head at the back and was sensible with his forward runs. Getting that balance right is essential, and while he perhaps has been concentrating more on getting his position right in defence it has been the left side that has been a bit better in stopping the opposition of late.

Filipe Anderson was up against Rico for much of the game against West Ham, but Anderson didn't have one of his best games. The understanding with Aké seems to be coming along. Whether Aké finds Rico easy to work with is not clear, but the two of them certainly helped each other out a lot and made good angles to enable some simple passes which is half the battle.

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Rico looked shocked to get booked in the first half and was perhaps a bit unlucky as he was rather bundled over himself. Still, defenders don't tend to get the benefit of the doubt when they are running back towards their won goal to defend.