Declan Rice: Bend It Like Decam

[GoonerJay24]

I'm just highlighting the fact you said declan rice can run all day without the ball and pop a corner in. That to you makes him top of the tree. The guy does nothing going forward, even with zero football knowledge from open play dec has been shocking with goals and assists. But no doubt you will be happy as the boy can run all day like forest gump without the ball. Reminds me of the kane arguments at the euro, "he runs selfless all game" yeah but we got knocked out and did nothing.

We will see at the end of season how your boy dec and all this selfless running with zero quality on the ball going forward gets us.

He's good, but overrated by many especially under this playing style. For me, it’s always been about the price tag. He doesn’t offer enough consistently for a player who cost us £100M+. He lacks the passing, IQ, and intricacy of players like Rodri or Busquets. Those are the only types of defensive midfielders who should command that kind of price in a possession-based team.

Our midfield interplay has regressed since 2022/23 largely because the profiles Arteta has recruited don’t align with the intended style of play. When Vieira left Fabregas replaced him so Wenger adjusted the tactics accordingly. We’ve evolved since 22/23 by becoming more defensively solid and more dangerous from set-pieces, but our general tactical structure in possession has remained the same, just less threatening. That’s not entirely down to Rice, but it’s clear he lacks Partey’s ability to turn on the ball, play quick passes and dictate.

He’s a good box-to-box midfielder, but without the runs or goal threat of an Aaron Ramsey or Frank Lampard type No.8. At the same time, he doesn’t have the guile of a Wirtz, Nasri, or Cazorla profile. As an 8, he’s often underwhelming. It makes you question Arteta’s judgment in spending so much on a player whose contribution feels insufficient for a possession-based team.

Regardless he’s our player now, so hopefully he's paired with Zubimendi in a double pivot with Ødegaard at 10.

 

[Thrice]

It's not really that important for a team that dominates the ball though, it's why Rice doesn't really play as 6 for Arsenal much because you'd rather have a playmaker in that role. It might work for West Ham but you need a Partey or Jorginho type for top teams.

I actually think it's pretty important against counter attacks. And I think we've made huge progress in that regard. We rarely concede on counter attacks with Rice on the field.

 

[shoot for the top]

He's good, but overrated by many especially under this playing style. For me, it’s always been about the price tag. He doesn’t offer enough consistently for a player who cost us £100M+. He lacks the passing, IQ, and intricacy of players like Rodri or Busquets. Those are the only types of defensive midfielders who should command that kind of price in a possession-based team.

Our midfield interplay has regressed since 2022/23 largely because the profiles Arteta has recruited don’t align with the intended style of play. When Vieira left Fabregas replaced him so Wenger adjusted the tactics accordingly. We’ve evolved since 22/23 by becoming more defensively solid and more dangerous from set-pieces, but our general tactical structure in possession has remained the same, just less threatening. That’s not entirely down to Rice, but it’s clear he lacks Partey’s ability to turn on the ball, play quick passes and dictate.

He’s a good box-to-box midfielder, but without the runs or goal threat of an Aaron Ramsey or Frank Lampard type No.8. At the same time, he doesn’t have the guile of a Wirtz, Nasri, or Cazorla profile. As an 8, he’s often underwhelming. It makes you question Arteta’s judgment in spending so much on a player whose contribution feels insufficient for a possession-based team.

Regardless he’s our player now, so hopefully he's paired with Zubimendi in a double pivot with Ødegaard at 10.

Zubimendi isn’t a great playmaker either. In terms of creativity, its going to be like having two defensive midfielders.

 

[OSBK]

No goofball, what I said was that he is the best out of possession holding midfielder in the world. The strawman and hyperbole are an improvement on your previous response though so kudos. I was going to light you up but I see that @db10_therza did it in a kinder and more analytical way. It's odd how he has better statistics than Phil Foden despite apparently having zero quality on the ball but I have 20/20 vision and the ability to process images so I can understand why maybe that escaped you but not me.

no all he did was point out that dec got 2 assists against city and 3 others in 22 games this season. You also seemed to forget my point about declan rice being moved to a 8 and jumped on me. Still 1 goal this season, 5 assists in 22 games with 16 games to go. So if he repeats this same form for the remaining games is 1 goal and 5 assists in the last 16 games going to be enough for the league title? you keep picking your narrative to protect him from critism. I'm sure after the newcastle game when he was run ragged by Bruno you sat there and said "it's ok we are out of another cup, dec is still great off the ball"

You have your version of dec and how he performs fair enough. Me I expected alot more from a guy who cost 100million, allegedly the best England midfielder and the key to our success. If he finishes this season with 2 goals and we are 9 points behind pool then he like all the other players he can not be protected from critism.

 

[OSBK]

He's good, but overrated by many especially under this playing style. For me, it’s always been about the price tag. He doesn’t offer enough consistently for a player who cost us £100M+. He lacks the passing, IQ, and intricacy of players like Rodri or Busquets. Those are the only types of defensive midfielders who should command that kind of price in a possession-based team.

Our midfield interplay has regressed since 2022/23 largely because the profiles Arteta has recruited don’t align with the intended style of play. When Vieira left Fabregas replaced him so Wenger adjusted the tactics accordingly. We’ve evolved since 22/23 by becoming more defensively solid and more dangerous from set-pieces, but our general tactical structure in possession has remained the same, just less threatening. That’s not entirely down to Rice, but it’s clear he lacks Partey’s ability to turn on the ball, play quick passes and dictate.

He’s a good box-to-box midfielder, but without the runs or goal threat of an Aaron Ramsey or Frank Lampard type No.8. At the same time, he doesn’t have the guile of a Wirtz, Nasri, or Cazorla profile. As an 8, he’s often underwhelming. It makes you question Arteta’s judgment in spending so much on a player whose contribution feels insufficient for a possession-based team.

Regardless he’s our player now, so hopefully he's paired with Zubimendi in a double pivot with Ødegaard at 10.

Completely agree. Actual sense spoken.

 

[Batman]

no all he did was point out that dec got 2 assists against city and 3 others in 22 games this season. You also seemed to forget my point about declan rice being moved to a 8 and jumped on me. Still 1 goal this season, 5 assists in 22 games with 16 games to go. So if he repeats this same form for the remaining games is 1 goal and 5 assists in the last 16 games going to be enough for the league title? you keep picking your narrative to protect him from critism. I'm sure after the newcastle game when he was run ragged by Bruno you sat there and said "it's ok we are out of another cup, dec is still great off the ball"

You have your version of dec and how he performs fair enough. Me I expected alot more from a guy who cost 100million, allegedly the best England midfielder and the key to our success. If he finishes this season with 2 goals and we are 9 points behind pool then he like all the other players he can not be protected from critism.

Oh wow you just keep going. If we don't win the title this season it will be because Saka missed 3 months and we have no striker, not because Rice is somehow not doing enough in midfield. You just very clearly don't understand football which is why the only person co-signing your nonsense is another person who just doesn't understand football. The only way your argument could be dumber is if you started complaining about Raya's lack of goals. Nobody forgot your point, you actually don't have one and that's the problem.

 

[OSBK]

Oh wow you just keep going. If we don't win the title this season it will be because Saka missed 3 months and we have no striker, not because Rice is somehow not doing enough in midfield. You just very clearly don't understand football which is why the only person co-signing your nonsense is another person who just doesn't understand football. The only way your argument could be dumber is if you started complaining about Raya's lack of goals. Nobody forgot your point, you actually don't have one and that's the problem.

Like I said change your narrative to protect your underperfoming guy. You cannot honestly sit there and say declan rice as a 8 and scoring 2 goals a season is good enough for a title winning side. FYI I agree saka and no striker is a massive impact, but still you cannot sit there and say dec has done his job. If dec goes on a run and scores 8-10 goals till the end of this season we have half a chance of catching pool. But if dec had scored 5-6 goals already we wouldn't be 9 point behind pool.

Face it, he has underperformed when and where we need him. He isn't the only one so don't get all shirty. I haven't even started on trossard, martinelli, Ødegaard yet.

 

[Batman]

Like I said change your narrative to protect your underperfoming guy. You cannot honestly sit there and say declan rice as a 8 and scoring 2 goals a season is good enough for a title winning side. FYI I agree saka and no striker is a massive impact, but still you cannot sit there and say dec has done his job. If dec goes on a run and scores 8-10 goals till the end of this season we have half a chance of catching pool. But if dec had scored 5-6 goals already we wouldn't be 9 point behind pool.

Face it, he has underperformed when and where we need him. He isn't the only one so don't get all shirty. I haven't even started on trossard, martinelli, Ødegaard yet.

I haven't changed the narrative at all. You're literally asking a player you claim can't do anything on the ball whose job isn't scoring goals to score a bunch of goals. You're a person with no idea how football works and each post you make is just embarrassing yourself further. When you made it seem like playing without the ball was some kind of outlier instead of what most of a player's time in the game consists of, that made it clear that you lack the cognitive ability to analyze this sport. Keep yelling at clouds if you want to. You sound ridiculous.

 

[Trilly]

Haven't checked the Rice thread in a while. Looks like people are still annoyed at him for his price tag and/or what his midfield partners lack.

The way I see it is that any elite midfield has a bunch of attributes that it's 2/3 midfielders need to provide. The more redundancies you have (e.g. every midfield needs one elite ball winning but if all your midfielders can do that then great) the better. Rice gives us ball winning, long passing, athleticism and just general defensive instincts/talent at a high level. He also gives us a few other attributes such as set-piece delivery, ball carrying and outside the box shooting at a decent level.

People get hung up on what Rice doesn't give us because he doesn't fit the traditional mould of what they'd expect from a player in his position but when you break down what he does give us he more than pulls his weight in that midfield. The rest is on his midfield partners/Arteta to provide the other attributes such as reliable distance shooting (Ødegaard absolutely failing here), playmaking, elite ball carrying etc.

 

[GoonerJay24]

Zubimendi isn’t a great playmaker either. In terms of creativity, its going to be like having two defensive midfielders.

But he's good at aiding with the build up and getting half turned

 

[OSBK]

I haven't changed the narrative at all. You're literally asking a player you claim can't do anything on the ball whose job isn't scoring goals to score a bunch of goals. You're a person with no idea how football works and each post you make is just embarrassing yourself further. When you made it seem like playing without the ball was some kind of outlier instead of what most of a player's time in the game consists of, that made it clear that you lack the cognitive ability to analyze this sport. Keep yelling at clouds if you want to. You sound ridiculous.

Every post it's someone else fault, or it's not his job. I'm starting to think you may be a electrician by trade.

What's the point, you cannot debate.

 

[shoot for the top]

But he's good at aiding with the build up and getting half turned

This season, Declan has similar progressive passing but more carries. I don't think Zubi will improve the team. We need someone who can play more progressive passes. Someone like Xhaka...

 

[Iwobeast]

Never seen Ronaldinho do this

 

[Mitch]

 

[Rasmi]

If you back off you won’t get dribbled past….smart

 

[Mitch]

If you back off you won’t get dribbled past….smart

 

[Red London]

Rice is great and a bit of a scapegoat at times on here.

People over analysing certain aspects of his game rather than looking at what he adds to this team overall.

 

[Batman]

Every post it's someone else fault, or it's not his job. I'm starting to think you may be a electrician by trade.

What's the point, you cannot debate.

It wasn't a debate. It was me pointing out that you fundamentally do not understand the sport you're commenting about. You don't have the cognitive ability for someone to have a debate with you. I would get more stimulating responses from a rock.

Nowhere did you see me fault anyone else for anything and if it had been a debate, one of the matters that would be debated if someone's job performance is being criticized is what exactly their job description is.

For example, I wouldn't criticize a police officer for not being able to perform open heart surgery because that's not his job. Only an imbecile would say that was making excuses and the inability to debate rather than the reality of what the police officer's actual responsibility is.

At any rate, the fact that you've been mocked by multiple people in this thread while only 1 equally dense individual has co-signed your nonsense would resonate with a well-functioning person as evidence that in fact they are wrong but we have established that you are not such a well-functioning person and therefore you will never get it.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Rice is great and a bit of a scapegoat at times on here.

People over analysing certain aspects of his game rather than looking at what he adds to this team overall.

People on this forum pick a player they hate and just pile on.

I swear people here were more positive about the squad when we were finishing 8th, you’d get called a troll for being critical of that lot but now you’re a troll if you support the players lmao.

 

[Red London]

People on this forum pick a player they hate and just pile on.

I swear people here were more positive about the squad when we were finishing 8th, you’d get called a troll for being critical of that lot but now you’re a troll if you support the players lmao.

Yeah I agree. I guess it’s how the internet will be, the threads are filled with people piling in to criticise and blow steam. It’s pretty toxic tbh and probably not the best for general mindset reading through some of the threads.

Also got people with agendas, and making points which don’t make proper sense but the points are accepted because it’s supports other people’s opinions on the player.