Declan Rice: All Hands On Dec

[Dokaka]

Rice as a prime Casemiro type no6 is still the best role for him (but not the team).

Agree with your post but would add I think this goes beyond just Arsenal. In many ways Rice is a perfect example of how football has shifted in recent years, defending is primarily done much further up the pitch and attacks are started from deep, so you end up somewhat wasting both the defensive star and the playmaking star if you play them in a stereotypical 2015-ish 4-3-3.

It's not every team of course, think it mainly applies to proper good teams expecting to control a lot of game.

 

[Trilly]

Only thing I'd change is move him to the right side of the midfield 3, think he could have much more impact bombing towards/into the box without forcing him to either cut inside or shoot/pass with his left foot.

With Saka being so potent cutting in on the right I could easily see Dec be super effective both underlapping and overlapping on the right and getting into good shooting or cutback positions.

This has serious legs, eliminates one of his weaknesses going forwards (the stiffness) and places him in a position where he can utilise his ball striking ability. Also takes some defensive responsbility away from Saka.

Never thought I'd see myself advocating Rice to play in the B2B version of the KDB role but it actually makes sense on paper.

This is why we need another attacking mid asap, Ødegaard having to play as the RCM is starting to feel a bit restrictive and he isn't exactly showing the form to justify it.

 

[outlawz]

Agree with your post but would add I think this goes beyond just Arsenal. In many ways Rice is a perfect example of how football has shifted in recent years, defending is primarily done much further up the pitch and attacks are started from deep, so you end up somewhat wasting both the defensive star and the playmaking star if you play them in a stereotypical 2015-ish 4-3-3.

It's not every team of course, think it mainly applies to proper good teams expecting to control a lot of game.

Pirlo and Gattuso long set the blueprint of having a creative 6 and a ball winning 8. It's not so much which configuration is better - both are as good as each other (having a defensive 6 and creative 8 instead). The main thing is just ensuring you have the balance in place.

 

[Dokaka]

Pirlo and Gattuso long set the blueprint of having a creative 6 and a ball winning 8. It's not so much which configuration is better - both are as good as each other (having a defensive 6 and creative 8 instead). The main thing is just ensuring you have the balance in place.

Not the same thing, Milan primarily played a 4 man central midfield and while Pirlo was definitely the deepest midfielder, he had Seedorf and Kaka in front of him. Gattuso was still primarily defending which is reflected in his numbers too, Rice is often so far up the pitch he could be confused as a CF if you took a picture.

It was essentially a different game anyway going so far back so it's very difficult to compare.

 

[outlawz]

Not the same thing, Milan primarily played a 4 man central midfield and while Pirlo was definitely the deepest midfielder, he had Seedorf and Kaka in front of him. Gattuso was still primarily defending which is reflected in his numbers too, Rice is often so far up the pitch he could be confused as a CF if you took a picture.

It was essentially a different game anyway going so far back so it's very difficult to compare.

It is the same in that the playmaker played deeper than than the defensive ball winner who had freedom to hunt higher up the pitch. Rice does play higher up than Gattuso did but that's largely because as a team we play completely differently to older sides who didn't play the field tilt territorial game that we do.

 

[Dokaka]

It is the same in that the playmaker played deeper than than the defensive ball winner who had freedom to hunt higher up the pitch. Rice does play higher up than Gattuso did but that's largely because as a team we play completely differently to older sides who didn't play the field tilt territorial game that we do.

I disagree with this part mainly because while Pirlo was indeed deeper than Gattuso, there were literally two other playmakers in front of him still. The point about Rice is him literally being the midfielder furthest up the pitch quite often. If you compare him to the mid-2000s Milan sides he's closer to Kaka's role than Gattuso's.

I'd actually argue Pirlo was closer to your example at the latter end of his career when he was playing as the deepest midfielder in the midfield 3 with Vidal and Pogba in front of him. Obviously that was with a back 3 so it's not a 1=1 either but both Vidal and Pogba were definitely more attacking in their positioning than Gattuso was.

Generally agree with the second part but that was also kind of my point.

 

[Nunowoolmez]

Don't pretend this isn't accurate guys !

 

[Yousif Arsenal]

Don't pretend this isn't accurate guys !

i honestly still can't believe how perfect this 2nd free kick was

 

[ArsenalInMyHeart]

 

[North5]

Yeah I think you're better off trying to get Rice to be more decisive in the final third than become a deep lying playmaker type. He's much further away from that than he is from being a legitimate B2B midfeilder.

Rice as a prime Casemiro type #6 is still the best role for him (but not the team). It's the one role where he ticks every single box and I think he's already the best in the world at it.

Having said that, it's a somewhat limited role and a waste of a player with the engine to effectively play two roles (Chelsea realised the same thing with Kante) so I'm not mad at this B2B experiment. If it fails we can always just put him back at the 6.

He's really growing into the B2B role. And with MLS emerging as the inverted LB we are gaining the defensive shield back we missed with him not being a pure 6. It's working well. He's too good of an athlete to keep in one place most of the match.

 

[Riou]

Very poor last night, but no one mentions it...I will though!

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Whole thread of people having epiphanies about things I’ve been saying for years and got abuse for.

 

[Batman]

Very poor last night, but no one mentions it...I will though!

No one mentions it because he wasn't.

 

[MaraDon]

not a DM.

 

[Dennis_Bergkamp_10]

Good game. Our next captain.

 

[MutableEarth]

Grew as the game went on. Meant to be the 6 but kept getting sucked in high up the pitch. I think this kills the 6 idea even though I still think it should work in theory. But I'm pleased with his performances recently.

 

[GoonerJay24]

Had a good game, especially second half and gave everything. But you could see early on he lacks the quality of Partey and Jorginho

 

[Riou]

@Dokaka

Your boy cost us the goal tonight, ngl.

 

[Thrice]

He did what he could. I mean, he essentially has to do the work of two midfielders with Ødegaard at his side.

 

[Trilly]

Whole thread of people having epiphanies about things I’ve been saying for years and got abuse for.

Btw you kept arguing that Rice couldn’t be a DLP at the 6. Nobody bar a few optimists ever thought he’d be that player.