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How good is Declan Rice?
How good is Declan Rice?
Declan Rice is a 22 years old midfielder who plays for Premier League club West Ham United and the England national team. He has been a hot topic for over a year now and he will likely get a move to a Champions League side next summer.
In this thread, I will look at his strengths and weaknesses to tell you how much he is worth according to me and whether or not he would be a good buy for a Champions League side.
Overview of this thread:
• His experience
• His position on the pitch
• In possession
• Out of possession
• Conclusion
• His experience
• His position on the pitch
• In possession
• Out of possession
• Conclusion
This is the second season in a row Rice is in the top six for minutes played among U23s in Europe’s top five leagues. He has already played 10,636 minutes of professional football since the start of his career at West Ham and is now the captain when Mark Noble isn’t on the pitch.
This is the second season in a row Rice is in the top six for minutes played among U23s in Europe’s top five leagues. He has already played 10,636 minutes of professional football since the start of his career at West Ham and is now the captain when Mark Noble isn’t on the pitch.
Pellegrini got sacked halfway through last season and David Moyes came in to save the club from relegation. Once Moyes got his hands on Tomáš Souček, he decided to put the Czech in a pivot alongside Rice where the Englishman would be on the left of the pivot.
Rice often forms a back three in possession under David Moyes, as highlighted below. He drops on the left side of a back three to let Souček be the single pivot. That pushes the two West Ham full-backs higher up the pitch.
After talking about where he plays on the pitch, we now have to look at his style of play when his team has the ball. Firstly, Rice’s biggest asset for me is how much he scans upon receiving. I made a video about it.
This constant scanning gives him an edge to circulate the ball quicker than most midfielders of his age I have seen. He knows what to do before receiving the ball, which means he doesn’t need to keep it for too long. Sometimes, it would be great to be more patient though.
This constant scanning also allows him to look at the best options when his teammate has the ball. He always points to where his teammate who has the ball should play the ball at, as seen below. I would say it also depicts that he is a leader (he is also West Ham’s captain).
His second most important asset is his switches or through balls from any range. Rice has a great pin and with both feet as well. It is probably an instruction from Moyes. One he gets the ball, the midfielder has to look for a long ball towards the opposite side.
The West Ham midfielder also has a great shot from range, which allows him to be threatening from outside the box if West Ham can’t break down their opponent. It can also help West Ham if an opposite player decides to get out of his zone to prevent the shot.
Now, we have to talk about two weaknesses of Rice in possession and I will try to convince you this is not as bad as you can first believe but only if he finds the right manager.
Firstly, Rice often struggles on the turn. What it means is that when he receives the ball, his body shape doesn’t give him an edge over his closest opponent. This is depicted below.
In the GIF above, we can see Rice scanning around him therefore he obviously knows that his space to turn forward. He is good at driving forward with the ball at his feet so it would make sense for him to change his body shape in order to escape pressure.
As said before, he already knows that he has to take as much information as possible before receiving, all he needs now is someone to show him how to take the best out of this. This is why he also has to find the right guidance at his next club.
It is the same when it comes to his ability to break lines. He doesn’t necessarily try to find players between the lines but this mainly comes down to the system he plays in. Moyes doesn’t favour his midfielders taking risks.
What would he do if he was tasked to take risks? We have seen he is good at circulating play and he circulates it fast because he is an assured ground passer. From my point of view, it means he could definitely find players between the lines if tasked to.
Finally, Rice is a massive threat from set-pieces. He can score headers but can also help at the far post to make a deviation. One of his goals is seen below.
Out of possession, he most often wins his defensive duels. He has a 67% success rate, which is the same as Wilfried Ndidi. It’s extremely good despite the difference in volume. Indeed, Rice is only at 6.5 defensive duels per 90 minutes.
He is a good tackler as well as he reads well what players near to him will do but his reading behind his back still has work to be made. Below, you can see Rice getting caught up higher up the pitch, and his recovery pace doesn’t allow him to recover in time.
Declan Rice has never played for a possession-based side and I understand why teams were reluctant to buy him for the quoted £80M price last summer. However, he might be available for around £50M this summer and it would be a much better price for him.
I prefer him in a double pivot because he likes to carry the ball forward. He still needs work if he has to be played in a single pivot, even more in a side who would get more exposed to transitions. He has box-to-box instincts.
All in all, I would say he is among the three or four best Premier League midfielders among those who can move this summer although I don’t know the exact ranking as I haven’t watched the other players as much as I watched him. This is already good for an under-23 player though.
