Graeme Souness Critiques Declan Rice: 'Old Man's Football'
Graeme Souness has launched a ferocious critique of Declan Rice, accusing Arsenal’s £105 million man of “cheating” in midfield and insisting he does not belong among Europe’s elite holding players.
Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show in the wake of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over title rivals Chelsea, the former Liverpool captain honed in on Rice’s positioning and role in the build-up. For Souness, the 27-year-old is spending far too much time masquerading as an extra defender.
“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball?” Souness asked. “In the build-up, he’s last man. He’s sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He’s last man. A lot of the time, he doesn’t play in midfield.”
That, in Souness’ eyes, is not modern sophistication. It is a cop-out.
“In my second or third home game (of my career), I went into the back four like all midfield players do today. It’s old man’s football. It’s cheating. An old man’s way of playing midfield. You get the ball under no pressure and you play it out to the full-back.”
Souness did not deny Rice’s quality as a destroyer. He actually called him the best defensive midfielder in England. But he argued that Rice’s habit of dropping deep to collect easy passes from the backline strips away his ability to truly shape games.
“He plays too deep to affect the game,” Souness said. “I don’t think he’s got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He’s the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he’s back there all the time.”
From there, Souness went a step further. If Rice insists on living in the back line, why call him a midfielder at all?
“He’s not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half. The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He’s a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there’s nothing to dislike about him. But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn’t fall easily on these (players’) shoulders. He isn’t the complete midfield player.”
The question of Rice’s status at the very top level drew an even blunter response. Souness dismissed the idea that the Arsenal man would walk into the midfields of Europe’s superclubs.
“I’m not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City,” he said. “If you want the best in that position, City had two of them – Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield. Next time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways.”
Souness then widened his criticism beyond club football, pointing to England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in the summer. For him, Rice carried a share of the blame.
“When England went one-nil up against Argentina, they s*** themselves. ‘Oh, what do we do now?’ And I put that down to Declan Rice and [Elliot] Anderson as the central midfield players in the engine room,” he claimed. “They didn’t get them playing. They went back in held hands with the back four.”
Rice continues to be trusted by both Arsenal and England as the heartbeat of midfield. Souness, though, has laid down a stark challenge: step out of the back line, dictate games higher up, and prove he is more than just the most expensive centre-half who doesn’t know he’s one yet.
