Are doubts about Declan Rice’s ability to perform as #6 after his showing in the Arsenal 1-0 loss to Newcastle uncalled for? Was it simply a bad day at the office?
How can we, as Gooners, overlook Rice’s outstanding performance as a #6 in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool? Against the Reds, especially in the first, he snapped into tackles and had Arsenal dominating the midfield battle.
The expectation was that he would impress in the same role against Newcastle, but that didn’t happen.
(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
Not being biased; Newcastle, especially in the first half, won the midfield battle. Rice couldn’t do anything to nullify the Magpies midfield threat, and Mikel Merino and Leandro Trossard didn’t help either.
Yes, the £105 million 2023 recruit may not have had his best game against Newcastle, but which Arsenal player did? Is it appropriate to assign blame to Rice?
Why do we tend to forget going for his deal we were looking to by a DM? It is just that he joined and showed he could also contribute as a central midfielder. We asked him to move like Odegaard because we didn’t have an LCM, and he did that excellently. But his strongest position is as a DM.
You shouldn’t disregard him as a number six. We’ve seen what he did against Liverpool in his natural #6, trust him, and he would remind you how good he is in that Partey role.
Darren N
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It’s not that simple – partey is still in the team, and has been sharing the 6 role when he inverts inside. And partey has been our best player recently. No one doubts rice’s defensive capability in the 6 role, the question is whether he has the ability to move the ball quickly and intelligently as partey and jorginho do, as it helps us to break the press and get up the field until dangerous positions. It requires skill, understanding of the role and imagination – I don’t doubt rice has the skill, (maybe a little in the passing ability but not sure), but I do doubt he has the other parts.
And we played badly with rice in the 6 role alongside havertz last season – havertz was blamed, but again, I’m not sure it’s that simple.
Truth is bit by bit Every player looks unsure to what they should be doing. Raya, looks dodgy, Saliba, looks dodgy, Gabriel looking dodgy, Rice looking dodgy, Haverz looking dodgy, Martinelli looking dodgy and Trossard looking dodgy. Its not an individual thing, its a team thing. They all look stale and lacking ideas.
Yes, I think that’s true – and more worrying than a player or two (or even three) being “off-form”.
This is where Arteta will need to show what he’s made of as a coach. Things are different this season in that it was generally thought in the summer that 2024-25 could well be Arsenal’s title season. The expectation was higher than at the beginning of last season and because of that the current slump is an even bigger blow.
Managing the players, getting the tactics right, and boosting morale (which must be rock-bottom) are what’s needed. Arteta has to do it, there isn’t anyone else.
Strangely enough, I didn’t think anyone was singling Rice out for any special criticism, as the view, seemingly, was that it was a below par performance from everyone.
If anything, it should be MA being criticised for breaking up his partnership with Partey!!
Thank goodness we don’t get this kind of “support” at the Emirates, where every player gets 100% support.
Ken, that exactly what, I am saying. Arteta has problems to deal with (like any manager) but he makes more problems by not making simple changes. There is nothing wrong with wholesale changes but when they clearly don’t work, then there is. You lose a RB and you put your RB at LB and your best midfielder to RB and play a midfielder not used to the prem and give a new role to your other midfielder, is just stupid!!!! Why create even more problems. He is messing with Haverz and Trossard and that isn’t working either.
I’m not disagreeing with you Reggie with regards to your last comment, but I don’t see players becoming dodgy or not knowing what they’re doing – it’s more that our injuries are playing a big part in how we’re playing and MA’s decision to move Partey, in my opinion our best player this season, to RB.
But he had no need to. And regarding injuries, he didn’t have to do a lot more than replace each player with another player and keep the team the same. But he didn’t do that.
Reggie
That is one of my concerns with Arteta. We have depth, but he plays the same players just plays them out of position.
Moving Partey to RB when he has been our best midfielder and among our best players this year was stupid to be honest.
Rice/Merino combo is not clicking so far in midfield, but yet Arteta forces it. The Havertz and Trossard interchanging didn’t work, we had no one centrally for portions of the game, yet a traffic jam in midfield with so many inverting.
Arteta over complicates things by micro managing imo.
Who’s arguing with you regarding MA’s decision to move Partey then Reggie?
Nobody but Arteta. I think.
I hope MA can simply rest Declan Rice and play Jorginho as he always plays and Jorghinho can do the six role well, allowing Partey to be more creative.
I think our best midfield combination is Jorginho and Rice. I think Partey has been gassed up this season and Rice next to him has looked below average. Last season the protection in front of our backline was very good and this season, it has looked poor. I feel that Jorginho’s positioning when next to Rice is more balanced. That would be a change that I would make when White comes back. I’d also take Trossard out he’s been trash for a while now and I’d try either Jesus Nwaneri or Moreno there until Ode returns
Interesting thought on jorginho – you might be correct, but the issue I have is that partey has been playing well all season, and rice hasn’t. It doesn’t make sense to me to take out the one who’s playing well in the hopes that it will improve the form of the one who’s underperforming (relatively speaking, I don’t think rice has ever been awful, just not great), when there could be other reasons for rice’s form. In a normal situation it would be the one who’s low on form who is dropped. We know partey can be a key player in this side just as much as rice, he’s shown it many times since he joined.
I actually think rice and partey have played well together in midfield when their roles are more clear. When partey has played RB, he’s often inverting and covering similar positions to rice, which may be part of the problem – it might be better to have rice moving across to the right midfield position, or asking partey not to invert.
Not to discount your point on jorginho – he’s a very clever player, and you might be right about his positional sense giving us better balance. I’m just not sure we don’t have a similar balance when partey and rice play together (particularly when odegaard is also in the side)