What is Declan Rice’s Best Position for Arsenal?
Watching Jorginho’s masterclass against Liverpool and Newcastle, made me realise how much we’ve missed that profile of player over the season. We’ve missed those incisive plays through the centre of the pitch that allowed us to cut through the hearts of teams.
It is no secret that since we lost Thomas Partey, the team has been lacking a lot of incisiveness from the middle of the park. While Declan Rice has been an able deputy, he’s no Thomas Partey, and that’s starting to become very apparent.
I mean, no disrespect to Declan and I love him as a player, but with him as our single pivot, we’ve missed that incisive central progression that won us a lot of games.
While many Arsenal fans believe we need to switch over to a double pivot of Rice and Jorginho, I don’t think that is a long-term solution to our central progression problems. I also don’t believe that is how Mikel Arteta envisions the long-term development of the team.
Don’t get me wrong, the benefits of playing a double pivot against bigger teams when central access is unavailable are understandable and very appreciated, as it appeared to be a Mikel Arteta “eureka” moment.
We thought this was the way, but I’d like to take you back to our home game versus City, when Rice and Jorginho worked, but Mikel did not stick with it after that game, and it wasn’t due to performance. It felt like it would be a case-by-case situation, but I can definitely see Jorginho playing well against Porto.
Trust me, this isn’t a hate piece towards Declan Rice; I love him just as much as the next Arsenal fan. I think he’s been incredible since he joined the club, but I also think he hasn’t quite reached those heights to be classified as a truly world-class no. 6; though he has every potential to be right up there with the likes of Rodri and Busquets.
However, he needs to develop the boldness to go on to dominate the midfield with his qualities on the ball and not just off it. Jorginho has inadvertently thrown down a gauntlet to Declan Rice, and he has to pick it up. Or has Jorginioh’s performances made Mikel think maybe Rice is best suited as an 8? Personally, I think Rice could be a great № 6; he has to improve in some places.
Where does Declan Need to Improve as a No. 6?
Declan already has an impressive number of qualities that make him a great player; an incredible engine, great anticipation and situational awareness, a lovely long stride that makes him deceptively quick over long distances and he’s a great tackler of the ball, all whilst being a very vocal leader.
His ability to read the game and know where to position himself to stop a counter at source is unrivalled in the Premier League. He’s an outstanding ball-winner, making him a great player for almost any club in the world, in any position in midfield.
But Declan is not just playing for any club in the world or in any position; Declan is playing for Arsenal, and he’s supposed to be their all-action number 6 who can control games for them, and right now he isn’t doing that in the big games. So, what does Declan need to do to improve?
Central Progression
Declan needs to be bolder in possession of the ball when in midfield. There are so many times that I see him evacuating midfield to drop alongside Gabriel to help progress play down the left, and while that was a role Xhaxa handled brilliantly, Partey was also still the recipient of those passes when Xhaxa looked to exploit a team pressing them towards the left.
This allowed Xhaxa to make a simple pass into Partey, who receives the ball under pressure, turns, and plays an incisive pass into Jesus or Odegaard, who have dropped into the centre to receive that pass.
That was one of Arsenal’s most reliable and simple ways to build up. Even when pressed, Xhaxa could simply line up a pass with one of the centre backs, who could use Partey as a wall pass or a shield to move the ball through the centre.
However, with Declan moving from the centre and trying to build up through the outside, it leaves us without a recognised build-up player in the middle, and that can cause us issues, whether that comes in the form of our slower build-up play as opposition teams box us out and make it harder for us to build through the middle and, as such, make us send the ball into the wide players during the first phase of play when a team is settled in a very defensive shape.
Mikel Arteta’s Ideas
Mikel has tried to remedy this by either dropping Odegard deeper to aid with build-up centrally, but that hinders our attacking fluidity higher up the pitch as Havertz is not very good at creating chances higher up the pitch or linking midfield and attack, and this still slows play down as it takes Odegaard away from where his talents are most needed.
Zinchenko has also tried to help us build up centrally by moving infield earlier than usual, but since he becomes the sole pivot, he (1) either drags a wide man with him and then overloads midfield and since he’s the single-man progress is slowed.
Or (2) he moves infield, and his abilities are limited because he can be man-marked. Zinny’s best qualities are on display when he can cause overloads in midfield, and that doesn’t work when he’s a single pivot.
While Mikel has deployed Zinchenko and Odegaard to varying levels of success, it either makes us lose something further upfield in build-up or lose numerical superiority.
They aren’t the best deep creators, and their talents are best used in different scenarios and systems. However, I still think there is a way they can be used along with Declan centrally to create variations in our build-up play.
Boldness and Invention
While Declan is not a timid player, he shows a certain level of timidness in his passing and ball progression. Whenever I see Declan on the ball, I don’t feel a sense of invention and craft coming from his passes; he has no incisiveness to make line-breaking passes through the middle.
Take Jorginho’s pass to Martinelli when we played Liverpool — the one where he shaped up to shoot and then made a disguised pass into Martinelli.
It was a shame he didn’t expect the pass because if he had, his touch would have been better and he should have scored. I don’t see that kind of guile from Declan, if put in a similar situation, Declan may have been able to see the pass, but he wouldn’t have had the craft to pull it off.
I’d bet he would have rather had a shot or passed it to Odegaard. I need Declan to take responsibility of the ball when he has it. I don’t expect a worldie pass every day, but I need him to do more with the ball at his feet because he got everything else.
Now some of you might ask, what if Mikel has changed his mind about Declan and sees him as an 8? Then Declan still has a few things he needs to do to improve his game.
Where does Declan Need to Improve as an 8?
A lot of the qualities that make Declan a great player apply here as well. Any time I see Declan barreling down the field bouncing players off him like houseflies, I have a slight laugh because I know they can’t stop him.
However, as unstoppable as Declan is when running with the ball, he still becomes a little flustered when getting into the final third of the pitch. He needs to be cuter on the ball if he wants to play as an 8 for us.
He just needs to take more responsibility for the ball when he’s with it. A great example of this was the run he made to get beyond Havertz after he intercepted a Newcastle player’s pass.
Yes, he’s the 8, so he has to make that run, but it’s the ball back out to Saka that gets me, while a good pass and the correct one in the end, he could have made the pass into the runner just in front of him. However, I’m also aware that these things take time to build as a player, so I’m not saying Declan should do it all right at this moment.
Final Thoughts
I know it sounds strange to say that a player who is already doing well can improve, but I think as fans, we should be asking for more of our players, especially those who have so much potential. It has to be constructive because we want what’s best for the club, and we want to see the best from our players.
Declan is an incredible player, and I don’t expect him to pull out all the stops overnight, but he’s got the potential to be a world-class player, even better than Rodri. He already has all the physical and mental attributes; now he just needs to take his passing game to the next level. It’s not all about the big switch; a little more intricacy goes a long way.
