Declan Rice has finally put the doubts and discussions to bed
After years of internal debates amongst fans and pundits - it looks as if his performance yesterday finally put the doubts and arguments to bed. Declan Rice is not a 6 and I think when it’s all said and done, he will be remembered as more of a box-to-box player instead of someone who protects the back line.
If you take away his two other-wordly free-kicks yesterday, Rice had an amazing game playing almost as a number 10. There were numerous occasions we would see Rice make darting diagonal runs from the left touchline into the box and cause mass problems for the Real Madrid defenders who had no idea how to deal with him. He was always getting on the end of crosses and any time there seemed to be a mass pile-up of players in the box, rest assured that Rice was in the middle of it.
Technically, Rice is so so good - his ball-striking has been clear from the beginning and when he is able to run forward into space with the ball, it is almost impossible to stop him. Seeing Declan being able to affect the game so high up the pitch made me realise that he should not be playing as a lone 6 for club or country, because by doing so you are limiting his strengths and promoting his weaknesses.
When you watch Rice playing as a defensive midfielder, in possession he seems to struggle to make those risky line-breaking forward passes that can split a defence open. Instead he prefers to play it safe and recycle the ball - but there’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes Rice can also be caught out off the ball with his defensive positioning, where he doesn’t protect the space in-front of defenders like he should have, leading to opposition chances. But again, this isn’t the end of the world.
Every footballer has weaknesses and Rice’s are a lot more clear when you’re asking him to play as the lone defensive midfielder. Let him run and let him get in the box and that £100 million price tag that often weighs him down, will begin to feel a lot lighter. I think Arteta has realised this over the course of the season which is why we’ve seen Rice play higher up the pitch as of recent, with the Spaniard preferring either Jorginho, Lewis-Skelley or Partey at the bases of his midfield. But for country, I feel as most fans still view Rice as a 6 and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Tuchel use him there at next year’s world cup.
However, with the meteoric rise of Adam Wharton who’s proving to have a profile we have so dearly missed since the days of Michael Carrick, maybe he will be the one to push Rice higher up the pitch for the three lions, so we can see the best of him.
Declan Rice showed everyone yesterday who he really is. An all-action box-to-box midfielder who can do so much if he’s given the freedom. I hope in the future, for his club and his country’s sake, he continues to get used in this manner because it would be a huge waste of his talents
