Declan Rice
Declan Rice
Some pundits never move off a player. A World Cup semi-final and a league title only give them a new clip to use.
Deep-lying midfielders get called safe when the team wins and limited when the same passes go sideways. The job has not changed. The vocabulary has.
Naming four clubs he would not get into is the nuclear version of that argument. It is designed to travel further than the analysis.
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Graeme Souness has gone after Declan Rice again, this time on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show after Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Chelsea. The Liverpool legend first called him “limited” following England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina. He has now said Rice may not even be a midfielder.
“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball. In the build-up, he’s last man. He’s sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He’s last man. A lot of the time, he doesn’t play in midfield.”
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Souness compared it to dropping into a back four. “In my second or third home game (of my career), I went into the back four like all midfield players do today. It’s old man’s football. It’s cheating. An old man’s way of playing midfield. You get the ball under no pressure and you play it out to the full-back.”
He added: “He plays too deep to affect the game. I don’t think he’s got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He’s the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he’s back there all the time. He’s not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half.”
The rest of the rant was about square balls and precious modern players. “The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He’s a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there’s nothing to dislike about him. But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn’t fall easily on these players’ shoulders. He isn’t the complete midfield player.”
Asked whether Rice is world class, Souness said: “I’m not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City. If you want the best in that position, City had two of them – Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield. time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways.”
Rice helped Arsenal end a 22-year title wait and was among England’s better performers in the summer. Arteta has him ready for Napoli on Wednesday. Souness is not watching that. He is watching a midfielder who drops in, takes it off Gabriel and recycles. Whether that is cheating or the job Arteta asks him to do is the split the clip will feed all week.