I mean this just isn't true. The importance he had in a massively successful period for the club, playing with some genuinely poor midfield partners, shows just how good he really was. He was a player that you needed to watch week in, week out to truly understand how much he made us tick and how he brought everything together.
Declan Rice | signs for arsenal
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Carrick was the main midfielder for the team that won 5 leagues in 7 seasons and was very close to winning the other two. He was a great player but just below the very best. When we won it in 2012/2013, he was as good as RVP.
Rice would do very well to reach that level.
Rice would do very well to reach that level.
Pep also said Maguire is fast.
Much like the majority of this current Arsenal team.
Carrick was a main stay in a team that dominated English football and on the European stage. Whilst I wouldn’t have called him world class, he was certainly much much better than non United fans (and England managers) give him credit for. This was evident when he missed games, we just weren’t as defensively sound without him in front of the back four.
I'd take a young Carrick in a heartbeat for this team now.
Rice will never be able to appreciate space and passing between the lines like Carrick could.
Rice has far better physical attributes, and is probably better defensively given he started as a CB by trade. For a team that wants to predominantly play on the front foot though, you'd want Carrick. There are so few midfielders like that, which is why they're always lumped in together, often unfairly (Xavi, Scholes, Xabi Alonso, etc.) Carrick wasn't the best of that school of midfielder, but he's as close as England have come to it since Scholes himself. We were so lucky to have both of them together.
Put it this way, if Pep needed a new first XI deep midfielder and he had a choice between Rice and Carrick, I think he would almost always choose Carrick.
I’d love a 24 year old Carrick at Arsenal. But he’d also be £100m+ today.
I’d also prefer Rice, but purely to provide defensive balance behind Havertz and Odegaard.
You're probably right, I think we paid £18m, which seemed extortionate at the time! Was worth every penny in the end though.
Rice probably does suit that midfield 3 better, if that's what you're going with. Although I think a double pivot of Carrick and Rice with Odegaard ahead of them would lock out pretty much any side you came up against.
Havertz is a weird one, still not sure that'll work out. Will be interesting to see.
Always the Arsenal fans. Midfield anchor in the most successful period in club history and one of the best sides in PL history. A team that got to 3 CL finals in 5 years and was making the semis almost annually from 2007. He absolutely was world class and I would not swap him for any DM who played in the PL at that time. The only DMs I would have swapped him for anywhere on the planet at that time was Busquets and Pirlo.
I agree. I think Havertz will only work if Zinchenko inverts even more than last season.
Ramsdale
White Saliba Gabriel
Rice Zinchenko
Saka Odegaard Havertz Martinelli
Jesus
I’m not sure emulating City on a smaller budget with a less prolific striker is necessarily the best way to go.
Gonna be an intriguing season.
Looks great.
It’s definitely exciting. I just have the same concern as last year - squad depth. City have the best set of rotation options I’ve ever seen.
Timber will solve to major weaknesses we have at CB/RB (and you know more about him than I do). We might have won the league last year had we had him to turn to when we lost Saliba and Tomiyasu for the season.
Rice and Havertz improve our starting XI, but I’d love it if we could keep hold of Xhaka and improve the squad at the same time. We need the likes of Havertz and Xhaka competing for a spot to contend with City, but players like Xhaka often prioritise game at this point in their careers (which is admirable).
Looks like those four players behind Jesus would have enough goals in them to make up for having a less prolific striker than Haaland. Also less prolific than Haaland can just mean two goals instead of a hattrick.
Hey Moyesey come and spend that money…
Thank feck we haven't signed this clown, and Arsenal weakened for next season too. Delighted
Thank feck we haven't signed this clown, and Arsenal weakened for next season too. Delighted
Sure you are. How is he a clown? What has he done?
It doesn't seem fair that the manager with the best hair in the EPL is now in charge of the player with the best hair in the EPL.
You'll find from my post history that I am really delighted United didn't waste their money on him. Overrated, overhauled, overpriced ballbag. He is to playing football what Roberto Martinez is to managing it. Failing upwards and will be found out this season. A huge downgrade from Partey
You'll find from my post history that I am really delighted United didn't waste their money on him. Overrated, overhauled, overpriced ballbag. He is to playing football what Roberto Martinez is to managing it. Failing upwards and will be found out this season. A huge downgrade from Partey
I don't care about what you think about him as a player, though I'm interested to know why you think he's a clown? As I asked, what has he done?
Big gormless head on him, shit midfielder. Congrats!
Haha, fair enough. I thought he had actually done something on or off the pitch.
I have a niggling feeling they aren’t going to be after any of our deadwood.
Arsenal to sign Rice for £105m
United will regret not buying him.
United will regret not buying him.
Never imagined he would go Arsenal
Fantastic signing to say the least.
He is a good player, but never will be a 100+ million calibre player.
Why? I would have thought it be the most likely place for him to go.
Moyes should spend that money on Maguire and McTominay.
Does that put him in the top 10 most expensive signings in history then?
Do you tell yourself that at night?
How does Arsenal has so much funds to spend on one player? From recent history, I don't remember thrm doing so. Typically they prefer to spend on few promising players and hope some will turn up well.
Fantastic signing for Arsenal despite the steep price. He's a quality player.
To say the normal what would you call it?
I think they have a relatively low wage bill after being out of the champions league for so long. An Arsenal supporter may be able to help more though.
This was taking forever. Decent signing though
You just answered your own question
They have so much funds because Arsenal have not spent as much as other big teams, and are lagging behind in terms of squad development to consistent league challenging level.
That, and having an owner who can facilitate such levels of spending.
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