GRAEME SOUNESS: Declan Rice is still not forward-thinking enough and it showed in win over Italy
GRAEME SOUNESS: Declan Rice isn’t progressive enough yet and he showed it in England’s win over Italy… he must constantly challenge himself to improve if he wants to become an elite midfielder.
- Rice still has a lot to prove if he wants to be considered a world-class midfielder.
- At 24, it’s up to him to challenge himself, improve and push himself to get better.
- He scored against Italy, but the same things that I have referred to were shown.
In a column earlier this season, I wrote that Declan Rice still had a lot to prove in certain areas of his game to be considered a top-class central midfielder.
He needs to get on the mid-turn more when he receives the ball from his defenses and play it more forward, and not just go back the way he came and square up his passes. And he needs to contribute more goals. He has scored twice in the Premier League this season in 26 games and it’s not enough.
Now Rice has also said her part. He thinks my criticism is ‘harsh’ and that I don’t see him play every week. That’s true. But I’ve seen him a lot, for West Ham and for England.
I saw the match against Italy and the same things were shown. Any world-class midfielder is in the midfield most of the time and looks to play forward. How many times did Rice do that in Naples? It is not enough for me. Get some videos of Kroos and Modric playing in their midfield roles for Real Madrid. Or go back a few years and look at Paul Scholes.
As we saw against Italy, he has dominated the defensive side of the job. But I think he has to push himself to be better and never be happy with his luck. That’s what great players do.
Declan Rice still has a lot to prove if he’s to be considered a top-class central midfielder.
Rice called criticism of him “harsh” in the build-up to England’s victory over Italy on Thursday.
Rice may end up at center back when he’s done playing.
Will he end up as a central defender one day, which I think is very possible, or does he want to be a top-tier central midfielder who stars in the Champions League every season?
I bet Declan is a great guy to work with and popular with his teammates and great to drive.
But you need to aim for the stars. This is just my opinion. But I think you should ask yourself one question as you go through his career: ‘How do I become a world-class player?’
The bottom line is that at 24 you need to constantly challenge yourself to improve.
Rice scored England’s first goal in their 2-1 win in Naples after some fine work from Harry Kane
He’s only scored twice in 26 games for West Ham this season, which isn’t enough.
