I find it odd that you're so eager to criticise Rice yet you vehemently defend mctominay - a far inferior player - against all criticism.
Declan Rice
- Thread starter andersj
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I thought he was really good against Liverpool. He does the simple things really well, gets about the pitch, high passing accuracy, lots of tackles/interceptions etc. He's not Keane or Vieira level but I think he deserves a lot of the praise he gets.
One is overrated. The other one is underrated.
They don't exactly play in same positions so we shouldn't really compare but I stand with that he is no less valuable than Rice. It all depends what you need from a player.
You don't need to overrate him to know he'd be better for us than McTominay and Eriksen
I watched the game yesterday, genuine question.
Did he play?
Did he play?
He's a top player and seems to be one of the very few 100M players worth it. Shame we pissed away major transfers on the likes of Antony and Maguire.
I agree, I felt he would be worth it (if that much for a player could ever be worth it) as he seems to have monster mentality. Physically he has everything you want in a midfielder. He is now also taking our corners from the left and set pieces, and he's racked up assists lately. Now he's at 4 goals and 4 assists in the league. Not bad at all for a DM.
You have to give it to Arsenal, they are holding up nicely despite all of the issues with this «Maguire in midfield» who «cant pass under pressure».
Supposedly Arteta's plan was always to push Rice forward, but Partey being absent all season put an end to that. But he's found a solution with Jorginho, pity Jorgi doesn't have the legs to play 3 times a week.
It's easy game for Rice, let's judge him against Porto. Good player, but we as a fanbase overrating him abit
Must be nice to make up things in your head and win arguments against these made up things!
This new Jorginho based tactical set up is a reason why Zubimendi should be a priority target for y'all in the summer
He has been linked to Arsenal for the past 2 summer. I highly doubt he is interested in joining Arsenal.
Did you say that about Rice? Don't conflate you having not gone for him yet with him not being in interested. He is literally the one player in Europe who is an upgraded clone of Jorginho, who has been key to y'all morphing into 'Goalinho fc' since the slight winter break. You have really not needed to go for Zubi for your ranks till now.
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He is class. Those who dont rate him are the same who didnt value Carrick. He is perfect for his role and does is role brilliantly.
An extravagant leap to conclusions.
Arteta's interest in him is well known. If I remember correctly Arteta couldn't get him in back then so he bought Jorginho instead. I read before Zubi prefer to stay in Spain and Barcelona was interested in him as Busquet replacement. Things may have changed though.
One of the signings of the summer. Maybe he is actually. Not sure if anyone has been as good as him when looking at the new signings.
Barcelona straight up can't afford him now. Plus Arsenal two years on are a far more enticing prospect. I'll be suprised if after witnessing these first two months of 2024 with Jorginho as s fulcrum of his side, Arteta doesn't cement interest in him. Unless he can bag bigger fish like De jong or Kimmich.
He is that guy in football manager that doesn't have any special attributes, yet you keep picking him because he is always rated a solid 8 after every game.
Liverpool's two in midfield (Szoboslai & Mac Allister) are up there with him
We will see this summer whether Edu can do the deal. He is linked with Bayern as well.
I think you have a match over them if you did move. They don't even have a manager and are yet to know what they will really do player wise in the summer
The talk is he’s a bit of a home bird and hasn’t wanted to leave Sociedad yet, but if he were to leave we’ve positioned ourselves at the head of the queue.
By the way, Jorginho has only started 3 out the 8 games since our mini winter break.
Very solid player. We really missed out.
Szobozslai has been a mixed bag and injured for a while. Mac Allister has been really good recently but took a while to find his place in the team.
Rice has been consistently better than both this season.
Five goals and five assists for him, his most productive season ever already. That aspect of his game has been a big surprise to me. I don't even know if he took set pieces at West Ham but his delivery has been fantastic.
In terms of form. NOT impact. I'd wager those two have definitely been the reason Liverpool have taken the leap from last season to sitting in first place. I don't believe Rice has been as transformative to Arsenals form. IMHO this season those two and Kudus as new signings have been the most positively transformative to their team's form. So don't be surprised whoever can lift the league or finish above between Arsenal /Liverpool will likely get that award.
Im pretty sure he did take them but I don’t remember his delivery being so good. Perhaps Jover (our set piece coach) is the reason.
A midfielder that's better than anything we have.
And then they also have Ødegaard, who is also better than anything we have.
Between him and Bellingham, the England NT will have quite the midfield.
And then they also have Ødegaard, who is also better than anything we have.
Between him and Bellingham, the England NT will have quite the midfield.
He’s said for years hat he’s capable of more. He’s actually quite skillful if you watch any of his training videos. Many people thought that his game, limited by Moyes and Southgate was all that he could do
He was interested in joining us, would have solved central midfield for the next 5 years plus. ETH wasted a summer chasing another ex player in FDJ, who was never coming. Then we panicked into Casimero, RM took us for fools and he needs replacing already. We could have spent the money better on him. Not all on ETH but his obsession with his former players part of the problem.
Rice must be the most needlessly slandered player on this forum. The guy is having a world class season.
That was because he didn't want to leave in the middle of the season with Real chasing a European place, and then in the summer we were concentrating on Rice. Even back then the word was he preferred Arsenal to Barca, can't remember why.
Yeah I don't think Zubimendi is ever leaving San Sebastian
Have a similar feeling. He would be at the top of our list but very difficult to get him to move. Also if Alonso moves to Liverpool both Arteta/Alonso will fight tooth and nail to get him.
Most likely we will go for Luiz and with Jorginho extending works out for us.
He's a quality player. I never thought he was worth 100m but he's having a brilliant season.
Still not sure why the heck he's taking corners though. That doesn't make any sense to me.
What's with this passive aggressive attitude?
Still Midfield Maguire. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Not that you should need stats to tell you Rice isn't the FDJ/Kroos profile midfielder we're talking about.
Still looks decent under pressure though, does he not?
Thinking back to all the posters who thought Rice was not good enough on the ball for Man Utd; worst take since people did not want Mane?