Think Arteta has talked about pushing Rice up and really give him the role Xhaka had last season. Zinny can still slot in next to Partey.
Declan Rice | Arsenal £105m player
- Thread starter Samid
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Think Arteta has talked about pushing Rice up and really give him the role Xhaka had last season. Zinny can still slot in next to Partey.
Looked excellent to me yesterday. In fairness it was quite a cagey match and we know he can excel in that sort of environment.
Such a good player. He would walk into our midfield and instantly become the best midfielder we've had in many years. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.
If Rice is the difference between you winning the title and last year, nobody will care what you paid. Casemiro on the other hand needs replacing in January by the looks of it.
Casimero another classic post Fergie United signing and also poor from ETH. He spent most of the window chasing FdJ who was never coming, then we sign a 30 year old for huge fee and wages. RM keep rinsing us for players that are past it, look at Varanne. Why are we so gullible. RM only let these players go when they know they are done. The management of this club is pathetic. Souness called it right on Casimero.
It could have been if we hadnt wasted £70m on Casimero. A number of pundits said Rice was interested in Utd last summer.
Casemiro played with Amrabat on Saturday and played like he's in testimonial or something.
His legs have gone. He should retire from international football if he is to keep going in Premier league
I really don’t get the reactions in here. You’d think he’s the second coming of Redondo.
If anything he had good games, but that’s it. No more no less.
He was not outstanding in any ways, played his part and kept it tidy.
His price tag will always play against him, but for 105m it’s normal to expect way more than what he’s shown since the start of the season.
If anything he had good games, but that’s it. No more no less.
He was not outstanding in any ways, played his part and kept it tidy.
His price tag will always play against him, but for 105m it’s normal to expect way more than what he’s shown since the start of the season.
I dont think its about that at all. Its like he's taking a piss or something. Dont know what to make of it.
Weird to particularly praise him after yesterday - he wasn't bad, but it was also a run of the mill type of performance, a couple of good tackles/blocks, a chance cleared off the line (not quite sure why players get massive credit for these, when it's just about where the keeper most of the time has positioned you, and clearing a ball coming at you), but also a reason why Arsenal were so lacklustre. He seems immune to making any forward passes, and contributed very little to the play. Partey did a lot more with his short cameo and showed that you can actually contribute to the play all the while doing your defensive tasks.
Nothing against Rice, but he's a boring player, who does very basic stuff (but does it well), I just don't understand hyperbole after these kind of performances.
Nothing against Rice, but he's a boring player, who does very basic stuff (but does it well), I just don't understand hyperbole after these kind of performances.
Way better than I thought he would be for Arse. Keeps up with the pace of the game and does all the simple things right. Serves the squad and sets up the good players in the best way possible, compared to Casemiro who is more focused on creating a lot of stuff, which is great but not when he doesn't serve the squad well.
Standards have really dropped for “brilliant” midfield performances these days
I think you are missing some of the less obvious stuff and to be fair it can be easy to miss unless you are watching the player rather than the ball. It is the interceptions and cutting off of passing lanes where he strives and is very much our modern day Gilberto Silva. Doesn't lose the ball either and is always moving into space to support his teammates especially the backline. I would like to see him drive forward a little more but I think we haven't sorted out our 8 that he can completely rely on.
I am not sure he is a 100 mil+ player like Bellingham but he is extremely solid, better than I expected. Personally, I don't care if he is worth 100 mil+, he is without question one of the first names in our lineup and has no problems playing the big games.
I mean, no one was brilliant yesterday, it was an overall poor game. Players were disciplined and did their jobs, but it was meh. Rice was definitely not "brilliant" by any stretch of the imagination.
Again, he's "solid". I have no issues with saying that. He was solid with West Ham. He's been solid in England. But he has no flair, and he's pretty boring.
And I'm not missing anything, there is very little else to Rice's game - which is fine if that's what you're expecting from him. But calling him brilliant in such a boring, flat game, is just funny.
I wouldn't mind a few of these performances from Utd players.
He wasn't spectacular, but when is he ever? He was quietly excellent, just did his job no fuss, no fcuking about and closed down City's midfield options. This is exactly why he was brought in, to provide that type of cover in midfield.
He's being praised for doing the job a lot of people on here criticise Casemiro for not doing.
He is exactly what arsenal need, to help grind out the results which they wouldn’t have last season. Good signing for them
Not gonna dispute that - that's not what I'm arguing at all
He was a non-factor in the performance yesterday. He wasn't the difference between a win or a draw.
I really do admire the confidence you have in your footballing opinions. It's very impressiveNot gonna dispute that - that's not what I'm arguing at all
He was a non-factor in the performance yesterday. He wasn't the difference between a win or a draw.
Cool cool.
I don't mind Rice, for what it's worth, I find his first days at Arsenal to be exactly in line with what could be expected and am just slightly amused by the narrative that some (fans, media) are trying to create, due to him being English, the fee, etc. It's pretty transparent.
As for yesterday, I would find it more admirable to highlight people's posts who thought he was "brilliant".
Yeah, Gilberto Silva seems a decent comparison. Certainly a lot closer to him than Roy Keane. Someone who rarely lets you down but rarely puts in brilliant performances.
Absolute nonsense. He was ok, like the rest of the players yesterday. Not every game has an outstanding performance etc (which may be a disappointment to some). Arsenal were rubbish in the first half, and not much better in the second. City were way off it, and no Rodri and no KDB (and no Gundoghan) will always be a huge factor.
But no, no, it's all about Declan Rice to some. Maybe they didn't see the game against Lens in the week.
Saliba was excellent against Haaland, and Saka is the man at that club. They are a different team without him. Odegaard too. Rice, in my opinion is no better than Partey.
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I think a lot of Arsenal fans are reflexively defense of him because of the price tag and so, as a response, they can go way overboard praising his overall performances and hyping up some of the very basic things that he does on the pitch.
He's very good at anticipating danger, interceptions and covering a lot of the field, but the flip side of this is that Arsenal's attack from midfield appears more staid than it did last season. For all of his defensive prowess, there have been times when Arsenal have still not looked very solid in midfield this season, but that could be down to Arteta's tinkering with Havertz etc.
If he can become Arsenal's version of Fernandinho it's not bad at all really. That's a title-winning player that contributes in a lot of subtle, under-appreciated ways and set a base for the creator types to do their thing.
He's very good at anticipating danger, interceptions and covering a lot of the field, but the flip side of this is that Arsenal's attack from midfield appears more staid than it did last season. For all of his defensive prowess, there have been times when Arsenal have still not looked very solid in midfield this season, but that could be down to Arteta's tinkering with Havertz etc.
If he can become Arsenal's version of Fernandinho it's not bad at all really. That's a title-winning player that contributes in a lot of subtle, under-appreciated ways and set a base for the creator types to do their thing.
Oh yeah I fully agree with you on this point. I've definitely noticed a marked difference in how pundits have been talking about our team in the last few years since we've started buying more English players.
It's a bit extreme to say he was a non factor in the performance though. He might not have been directly involved in the winning goal but I think his presence helped us stay so solid defensively for most of the game.
I think arsenal have been a lot more solid but a lot less exciting this season compared to last, Rice replacing Partey probably reflects that. He's a beast defensively but is only decent on the ball.
Very true...the entire Arsenal vs City match was bang average yesterday, even more so when you considered the insane salaries they are all on.
Without sounding like a grumpy old man, the standard in the premier league is nowhere near as high as Sky Sports rave about.
The 2 posts in between, from @Taribo's Gap and @Jeffthered cover what I mean and what I've said, I don't want to go round in circles. Again, my reaction has been in response to someone calling his performance yesterday "brilliant".
£105m for a player who gets a goal contribution once every ten games.
Agree, I think this is by design. Last season we were playing more exciting football (at least for 3/4 of the season) but ran out of steam in the end. It wasn't sustainable. I think Arteta is trying to make us more solid and harder to beat. I think our attack will get better as the season goes on.
We kept City's chances to a minimum - clean sheet and they had one shot on target. Last season they beat us 4-1 and 3-1. Our exciting football did nothing for us against them.
Casemiro was brilliant last season and carried us alone in so many games, last season alone is worth it what we paid for him, let's not talk bollocks about his transfer.
Not arguing he isn’t.
I’m saying for 105m we’re allowed to expect a lot more than what he’s been showing.
I thought he was , much like the match in general, rather mediocre.
Think you'll be hard pressed to find any Arsenal fan not pleased with him so far. We're undefeated domestically and joint top of the league. We've lost one game in all comps. We've had Partey out for 2 months, and we haven't missed him. Rice is the main reason for that.
Would you consider Rodri a flair player?
Ok then.
Memory of Goldfish some people have.
But he seems distantly fallen off the peak somehow. Maybe all the injuries affecting the team as cohesive unit.
But if this continues we need to be in the market in December.
He also took a bit of time to get up to speed, and I remember a few Real fans said he was more of a diesel and got better in the second half of the season - though admittedly, his first half of the season performances were never as bad as the current ones. Could be that he's done (I don't believe so), could be a blip from which he'll recover soon (I'm hoping so).
Saka is the most consistent player in the team and is close to the world class.
Saliba and Odegaard closely follows that. But most Arsenal fans would say that of all players in the team Martinelli has the highest ceiling. There is no saying if he gets any close to that but in terms of raw attributes and skillset he has higher ceiling than say Saka.
With regards to Rice/Partey,
Rice is actually (significantly) worse than Partey while progressing the ball. There is no question there but he provides few other things like he is always available and defensively he is (much) better than Partey. But the biggest thing is he basically always drops 7+ performances and most of the times 8+. With Partey you will get anywhere between 4 - 9.5
Basically Rice has a higher floor. That Gilberto Silva comparison someone made was really good. I agree he is no Viera/Keane atleast not yet.
I am not his fan (not yet) but he has exceeded my expectations.
He's enhanced them, they are a much more resilient side with him and he just doesn't stop running when they need him to.
It does underline how big an investment it has been for Arsenal to get to where they are, but they have simply spent better than United, Liverpool and Chelsea, perhaps with the exception of Havertz. Also super fortunate that Martinelli turned out to be the player he's become along with Saka. It's near enough impossible to have two top quality attackers come in at young ages and go through the ranks near enough at the same time.
Seeing as we're shit I hope they win it this year just to break the City cycle a bit, and with the addition of Rice I think they're better placed than anyone.
It does underline how big an investment it has been for Arsenal to get to where they are, but they have simply spent better than United, Liverpool and Chelsea, perhaps with the exception of Havertz. Also super fortunate that Martinelli turned out to be the player he's become along with Saka. It's near enough impossible to have two top quality attackers come in at young ages and go through the ranks near enough at the same time.
Seeing as we're shit I hope they win it this year just to break the City cycle a bit, and with the addition of Rice I think they're better placed than anyone.