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Declan Rice: Dent it like Declan

Heavy Duty Rom

Outdated Tweets Merchant
He was in my opinion our best player last and rightly was for the nominees for PL player of season. Although Rice hasn't been the level he was last season, he still been one of best CMS in league and one top 5 best players so far this season.

This season, he’s being used wrong, more so than last season. He’s even more advanced now, barely showing any defensive instinct.

Use him as a 6, and the fee would probably be somewhat justified. But in this current role, it’s 100m down the drain.
 

Thrice

Spoon Master #2
Euro 2024 Superbru Champion 🏆
This season, he’s being used wrong, more so than last season. He’s even more advanced now, barely showing any defensive instinct.

Use him as a 6, and the fee would probably be somewhat justified. But in this current role, it’s 100m down the drain.
I think the ideal scenario moving forward is Rice back as the 6, Ødegaard as the 8, Nwaneri as the 10.
 

MartinelliOUT

Member

Country: Belgium
Rice can be excellent with creative players ahead of him, but unfortunately, we have far too few of them. We’ll never see the best of Rice with only one creative player in front of him, namely Ødegaard. He’s a very good player, clearly not worth his price, but still an excellent signing. He’s just not suited to play as an LCM (even if he can be interesting there). It was up to Arteta to find a creative LCM and permanently establish Rice in the number 6 role.
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
People don't want Rice as a 8 because they think he lacks creativity, but that's the reason he doesn't play as a 6. His skillset suits the role he has now much more for a top team that dominates possesion, you lot think he's gonna spend all game running around tackling even though we have the ball more.

Also our defence is probably the best thing about the team, you guys want to go even more defensive? I don't think people really know why they want Rice as a 6 it's just become something to parrot.
 

Heavy Duty Rom

Outdated Tweets Merchant
People don't want Rice as a 8 because they think he lacks creativity, but that's the reason he doesn't play as a 6. His skillset suits the role he has now much more for a top team that dominates possesion, you lot think he's gonna spend all game running around tackling even though we have the ball more.

Also our defence is probably the best thing about the team, you guys want to go even more defensive? I don't think people really know why they want Rice as a 6 it's just become something to parrot.

It’s quite simple. He’s a 6. A ball winner, who will then pass the ball to the two 8s or drive forward with the ball.

We want him at 6 because he helps the defence deal with transitions, transitions both Partey and Jorgi struggle with.

We want him at 6 in the hope Arteta will finally sign a more attacking 8 so we have two creative midfielders rather than relying on one.

He’s better behind the ball facing play than receiving the ball high up with his back to goal.

Very simple.
 

Clrnc

We need another CB

Country: Singapore

Player:Tomiyasu
It’s quite simple. He’s a 6. A ball winner, who will then pass the ball to the two 8s or drive forward with the ball.

We want him at 6 because he helps the defence deal with transitions, transitions both Partey and Jorgi struggle with.

We want him at 6 in the hope Arteta will finally sign a more attacking 8 so we have two creative midfielders rather than relying on one.

He’s better behind the ball facing play than receiving the ball high up with his back to goal.

Very simple.
Well said. Rice is really a grafter and is good at all the mechanical work with zero creativity. We don't need a DLP if we play rice as DM, just play 2 pure number 8 ahead of him to make up for it.

The whole midfield setup is wrong and flawed with these set of players
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
It’s quite simple. He’s a 6. A ball winner, who will then pass the ball to the two 8s or drive forward with the ball.

We want him at 6 because he helps the defence deal with transitions, transitions both Partey and Jorgi struggle with.

We want him at 6 in the hope Arteta will finally sign a more attacking 8 so we have two creative midfielders rather than relying on one.

He’s better behind the ball facing play than receiving the ball high up with his back to goal.

Very simple.
Partey and Jorginho are much better at transitioning the ball than Rice, that's the main reason they usually play their over him. Even when he plays Rice as a 6 there's usually Zinchenko/Partey/MLS at fullback to help with that.

The issue is he's not that good at passing to the 8s or even playmaking in general, his skill set is better used further up the pitch where he can win the ball high up and stop counters before they start. Also his contributions offensively are underrated, he's good in the final third.
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
Well said. Rice is really a grafter and is good at all the mechanical work with zero creativity. We don't need a DLP if we play rice as DM, just play 2 pure number 8 ahead of him to make up for it.

The whole midfield setup is wrong and flawed with these set of players
You can't really be a 6 in this team without creativity, maybe in a double pivot.

Regardless Midfield isn't the issue with this team it's the forwards, they create enough and don't concede loads either.
 

Heavy Duty Rom

Outdated Tweets Merchant
Partey and Jorginho are much better at transitioning the ball than Rice, that's the main reason they usually play their over him. Even when he plays Rice as a 6 there's usually Zinchenko/Partey/MLS at fullback to help with that.

The issue is he's not that good at passing to the 8s or even playmaking in general, his skill set is better used further up the pitch where he can win the ball high up and stop counters before they start. Also his contributions offensively are underrated, he's good in the final third.

Transitioning the ball? Right now it’s basically Gabriel and Saliba moving the ball. The role of the 6 on the ball is overhyped with how we are playing right now. Also, Rice at 6 might not work as well as we want because it’s Kai/Merino at 8. If we had an actual on the ball creator, Rice not being an elite passer wouldn’t matter.
 

Fewtch

Özil at 10 And Emery Out
You can't really be a 6 in this team without creativity, maybe in a double pivot.

Regardless Midfield isn't the issue with this team it's the forwards, they create enough and don't concede loads either.
Yh that's the problem. We bought a 100m player not suited to our style of play. For 50m we could get a better 6 or a better attacking midfielder than Rice. But if we played a Wenger/Conte doublepivot or Klopp/Howe flat three then we couldn't get a better player than Rice.
 

DJ_Markstar

Based and Artetapilled

Player:Martinelli
Partey and Jorginho are much better at transitioning the ball than Rice, that's the main reason they usually play their over him. Even when he plays Rice as a 6 there's usually Zinchenko/Partey/MLS at fullback to help with that.

The issue is he's not that good at passing to the 8s or even playmaking in general, his skill set is better used further up the pitch where he can win the ball high up and stop counters before they start. Also his contributions offensively are underrated, he's good in the final third.

He's talking about defending against counter attacks. Rice is possibly the best midfielder in the league in this scenario.

It helps you pin teams in their own box as their counters are kinda meh but what you then need is players who can dominate in the oppo box. I think Arteta's idea was pin teams in their box and then blast them with crosses to Bodybuilder FC but IMO you also need excellent technical players in this situation and that's what we're lacking in the frontline.
 

BigPoppaPump

Reeling from Laca & Kos nightmares
So much talk about Rice and he was on the bench for most of the game. Then was very good when he came on, miss aside. Weird.

Maybe if he had played from the start we would have won.
That's why I don't get why people always want him as a 6 when he plays really well as an 8. He's the leats of our problems right now.
 

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