Yeah he's wiry in frame, but he's still strong, but he's never going to engage aggressively/proactively like Rudiger or Zouma for example. I might be talking rubbish as I don't watch him as regular as you lot would, but that's my take anyway.
Declan Rice
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I mean, it's fine if you've made your mind up about him.
Benteke did indeed run off Christensen who had let him go to cover the untracked player to his right [Mount's fault]. Pause the clip when Zaha passes the ball, and look at what Zouma is doing.
He got his timing wrong, PvA is a quick player, but the 2nd goal was down to Christensen's error. I'd also question why Benteke was allowed to be on the goal line by himself to tap it in.
Anyway, to get back to the thread, I don't know what sort of defender Rice is, so it's difficult to predict what his impact will be. Judging by how he plays the CDM role, he could possibly function as the ball-playing defender, in which case, Zouma is likely the guy who gets the nod to pair with him from the start.
It doesn't come naturally to him to engage aggressively. His instinct always appears to be to bide his time, then nick the ball away when he opportunity presents itself.
This guy can play.
He could always play. Unfortunately, there's a lazy stereotype that English players are untechnical and overrated simply by virtue of them being English.
Good hit, but not sure what foster was doing.
His current transfer value is 50m means West Ham is likely asking about 60m-80m. No chance United is going to spend another big one this summer other than Sancho.
I want him
It’s a year too early for us. He’d be a great Matic replacement. Hopefully West Ham can convince him to stay another year otherwise I think he’s off to Chelsea.
Prefer Neves, but he's alright
Chelsea isn't going to spend big on him when they want to spend big on keeper & left back. They'll move on and trust on Jorginho, Kovacic, Kante & Gilmour for another season.
They want him as a centre back.
No there isn't, not any more. Sancho, Rashford, Sterling, Foden etc are all considered technically excellent players.
Good. He's terrible at centre back anyway.
Lost his runner for the goal there.
Disagree personally, think he has a lot of attributes that would make him a top drawer CB.
Seen him playing on centre back before and he was meh. He doesn't know how to position himself as centre back, may be 3 at the back but not 4 at the back. He's a DM imo.
Fair enough, I thought against wolves the other day he was pretty good positionally. Not a great sample size though and he was alot younger when I saw him play there, before.
I think he could be a DM that slots into a back 3 with very attacking FBs.
He reminds me of a young Michael Carrick.
I’d be tempted to cash in on Fred and get Rice.
I’d be tempted to cash in on Fred and get Rice.
He has Chelsea blood in him so if we came calling he will re-sign for us no doubt. My problem is that we want to play him as CB. I feel he is not as good as a CB while also we are wasting his potential to be a top CDM. We need to rid of Jorginho if we are getting him for DM role, possibly even Kante.
Starting to think he'd be a great Matic replacement for us but unfortunately, the price tag will be extremely high (like Maguire and AWB before him), and I think if we're getting Sancho, we won't have big money to spend elsewhere. I personally think that it is best to go crazy with spending in this coming transfer window, and give ourselves a young, strong squad that can grow into a title winning core for years to come. Get our targets now while certain clubs are vulnerable, and we won't have to worry about spending a lot of money in future transfer windows.
So I’ve been thinking about signing this guy since I watched West Ham beat Chelsea recently. When he first broke though I liked him a lot and thought he was someone we should be looking at. Having said that, we appeared to be building towards a 4231 under Ole and I became unsure of where he would fit in. Now, with us seemingly settled into this 433 with one sitting deep, we should be all over Rice.
I’ve seen a fair amount of chat suggesting McTominay will be the one to play there long term; however, my firm belief is that Rice is currently better and has a higher ceiling than Scott. That’s not to knock McSauce, as I do like the guy, but I don’t see him being a week in, week out starter for us throughout his time here. I’m cautious, as I don’t want to turn this into a straight comparison between the two; however, Rice appears to sense danger better, holds his nerve better when maintaining team shape and perhaps most tellingly, has his head on a swivel and is constantly looking to remain aware of what is happening around him. The last of those points is indicative of a well-schooled footballer and makes him very effective when plugging gaps. His passing, whilst not particularly eye-catching is perfectly serviceable and for me, is not a concern. He’s also not afraid to fizz one in to his forwards, which I don’t mind. Having said that, with Bruno and Pogba ahead of him, the need to rely on him to be creative would be minimal. Again, there’s an intelligence to his passing and I’ve seen him playing multiple prodding, exploratory passes from outside his own box that have lead to counter attacks. It’s easy to envisage him helping absorb pressure in big matches and starting counter-attacks after winning the ball. For me, that’s where he could shine for Utd.
I suppose it all comes down to price, but I do like this guy and I feel he’d be a ‘round peg for a round hole‘, type of signing. Whilst Fred and McTominay are fine squad players, they’re not quite the specialist Matić is in that particular role and I think it shows in our results and performances. I know Rice can play centre-half, so people might say he’s not quite a specialist CDM; however, in my opinion, that is his role and he fulfils it well. In days not so far gone by, we’ve signed players without consideration for where they fit in the system, e.g. Mata and shoving him on the right wing or Sanchez, despite having Rashford and Martial playing on the left at the time. Now that we seem to have a system, let’s sign players that appear to fit it - again, and it’s just my two cents, Rice seems to tick the boxes.
I’ve seen a fair amount of chat suggesting McTominay will be the one to play there long term; however, my firm belief is that Rice is currently better and has a higher ceiling than Scott. That’s not to knock McSauce, as I do like the guy, but I don’t see him being a week in, week out starter for us throughout his time here. I’m cautious, as I don’t want to turn this into a straight comparison between the two; however, Rice appears to sense danger better, holds his nerve better when maintaining team shape and perhaps most tellingly, has his head on a swivel and is constantly looking to remain aware of what is happening around him. The last of those points is indicative of a well-schooled footballer and makes him very effective when plugging gaps. His passing, whilst not particularly eye-catching is perfectly serviceable and for me, is not a concern. He’s also not afraid to fizz one in to his forwards, which I don’t mind. Having said that, with Bruno and Pogba ahead of him, the need to rely on him to be creative would be minimal. Again, there’s an intelligence to his passing and I’ve seen him playing multiple prodding, exploratory passes from outside his own box that have lead to counter attacks. It’s easy to envisage him helping absorb pressure in big matches and starting counter-attacks after winning the ball. For me, that’s where he could shine for Utd.
I suppose it all comes down to price, but I do like this guy and I feel he’d be a ‘round peg for a round hole‘, type of signing. Whilst Fred and McTominay are fine squad players, they’re not quite the specialist Matić is in that particular role and I think it shows in our results and performances. I know Rice can play centre-half, so people might say he’s not quite a specialist CDM; however, in my opinion, that is his role and he fulfils it well. In days not so far gone by, we’ve signed players without consideration for where they fit in the system, e.g. Mata and shoving him on the right wing or Sanchez, despite having Rashford and Martial playing on the left at the time. Now that we seem to have a system, let’s sign players that appear to fit it - again, and it’s just my two cents, Rice seems to tick the boxes.
He's proven me wrong, I think we need him to be Matic' successor. Give Moyes his Jones and Lingard asap.
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Tidy passer. Good show against Watford for sure.
Chelsea bound.
I still think 50m is a steal for him (pre-Covid). Massive potential 21 y.o.
Hopefully , another overrated English man Barkley Mark 2 I reckon
I think he'll easily cost more than that.
I doubt it. Rice is clearly a born leader. Barkley struggled to even get in the Everton team half the time before Chelsea bought him. But mentality wise he's the polar opposite to Rice despite his unique talent.
Not saying Rice is Xavi either, but he'll probably be in that bracket of English players who were not the most gifted footballers but had the leader mentality - John Terry, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Gary Neville, Stuart Pearce, Paul Ince etc
There's a thread filled with posts that Mctominay is better than him. Looks like the tables have turned. Rice now looks like the heir to Matic and Carrick
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I think we need to get Van De Beek. Even though he usually plays as a 8 and 10, I think he's got what it takes to play as a 6 as well. He's got good close control. He's pacy and pretty decent at tackling as well. The stories linking us with him have kinda gone away but I think Van De Beek would get more than enough games even if he started on the bench. Would love to see Fred and Rice in a midfield for West ham though 
yeh. That would be a "steal" at that price. Although it seems like his performance is up and down. As expected from young player.
I didn't rate him highly, looks like I'm obviously wrong about him. He looks very good talent.
Yeah he is a talent but think we will be priced out as West Ham are going to stay up
He is good form but I am not buying the hype to be honest. McTominnay was also discussed in high regard when he had a spell of good form too.
Lets not even comment on Longstaff
Lets not even comment on Longstaff
Yeah to think we wanted Longstaff for £50m last summer was a scary thought. Like I said in another post think we would be smart to take our time on this one.
We didn't want Longstaff for £50m. We wanted him as a cheap punt, then ran a mile when we were quoted £50m.
It's almost as if young players in a technically difficult midfield position need time and patience to develop before they're written off as hopelessly shite for eternity.
Oh yeah that was it
The passings? shooting? and/or defending?
I remember Carrick's positioning is one of his 4 best traits (passings, long range shooting and vision are the others) when he was young.
His defending? not so much.
I like Rice, but he is nothing like young Carrick. If his passing improves where he can be close to Carrick, he would be a serious asset. Right now though he wouldnt be worth the outlay.
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