Declan Rice

[MadDogg]

And a passing accuracy of 70 % v 90% V Leicester.

I dont think people understand why McTominay is in the team, its to break play up.

I'm curious what site you use as that's nowhere near what fbref.com has, which is 78.1% vs 84.6%. Your previous post against Liverpool was also quite different as it has Fred at 78.4% and McTominay at 82.4%.

I don't care how much you are in the team to break play up (something Fred normally does more of as well), you still need to provide decent ability on the ball and make yourself an option to pass to so that your team can build. Over the last month or so it's almost been like McTominay has been actively hiding from the ball. While I'm not his biggest fan I normally appreciate what he brings, but ever since his great match against Leeds he's been terrible and his partner (normally Fred) has basically had to play as a one man midfield.

 

[Poborsky's hair]

We don't need two players doing the same job. That is our biggest problem at the moment. Neither Fred or McTominay are capable of playing that position on their own. Matic is but his legs are going.

Rice playing there would free up a place for another creative midfielder

Rice playing there on his own? Please explain what is Souček doing there then? They are both playing in a double pivot. I don´t have his numbers at disposal now but he´s a monster defensively too runs the most in the EPl too.

People want a player to play a single CDM position there. Maybe it coud be possible but in reality it´s all about how the whole unit works. We have Fred who is brilliant - kante type. Mctominay is big and strong and runs a lot but his positioning is reylly poor along with sub par acceleration. not mentioning his on the ball contribution. so he´s one we can upgrade easily. Matic is good on the ball but so slow and also not a defensive midfielder often can´t track back and losing is player. whenever I see players go past him I wonder if people are blind that they think he´s a DM. Certainly can upgrade. DVB looks too weak too cointribute defensively slow and phisically weak and too simple going forward, really don´t know why we bought him now but perhaps he will work hard and show some "herrera" transformation dropping deeper form his natural positionin which he´s not good enough for a top team and show some grit there.


I am not against going for Rice but he is not playing as a 6 for WHU either. They also play in deeper block than any other team. We should take that into account..

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

You dont think an out out DM is a priority? We constantly have to play Fred/Scott to do the job of one DM as we lack a quality DM Matic`s legs are gone now

We play Fred and mctominay together strictly because we don't have a compatible center defence that can operate infront of one DM. It needs the extra protection. It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of our set of DMs. Even if we had Thomas partey we'd still be forced to play one of Fred, McTominay or Matic alongside him in the biggest games because of our center defensive issue.

 

[TheGame]

This will just be another extortionate priced transfer. I like Rice but sick of the English tax attached to players.

 

[Bebestation]

I personally love that we are a club that value English players and are willing to play over price to get them.

Always have, always will.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

This will just be another extortionate priced transfer. I like Rice but sick of the English tax attached to players.

If they are going to sell to other PL teams them I can understand why they’d put huge prices on them.

 

[TheGame]

If they are going to sell to other PL teams them I can understand why they’d put huge prices on them.

You can understand an increase yes but sometimes figures are twice the normal value. Then again if clubs are willing to pay, I suppose why not.

 

[::sonny::]

The new Eric Dier?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Need someone better on the ball. Let Chelsea overpay for him.

 

[croadyman]

Should explore the european CDM options first before deciding to go for Rice because they are certainly going to be cheaper but the big question is are we really interested in the likes of Zakaria, Locatelli

 

[Martial'sEmergingSmile]

Need someone better on the ball. Let Chelsea overpay for him.

I don't understand this myth that Rice isn't good on the ball.

He has more progressive passes than Douglas Luiz, Ruben Neves and Rodri - all of whom are lauded as ball-playing defensive midfielders. More importantly, he's extremely accurate with them - bettering all three of those as well as players like Kalvin Phillips, Hojberg and Jordan Henderson in progessive passing accuracy. He also beats Pogba, Matic, Fred and McTominay in that metric.

In addition he's also a physical beast with a sky high football IQ... which is an overlooked but hugely important attribute.

He's even got some nice #TEKKERZ

 

[Freak]

I don't understand this myth that Rice isn't good on the ball.

He has more progressive passes than Douglas Luiz, Ruben Neves and Rodri - all of whom are lauded as ball-playing defensive midfielders. More importantly, he's extremely accurate with them - bettering all three of those as well as players like Kalvin Phillips, Hojberg and Jordan Henderson in progessive passing accuracy. He also beats Pogba, Matic, Fred and McTominay in that metric.

In addition he's also a physical beast with a sky high football IQ... which is an overlooked but hugely important attribute.

He's even got some nice #TEKKERZ

Exactly. Every time I watch him play he’s playing balls through the lines to the more offensive players. He’ll be a fantastic addition to any top team and would be my choice to replace Matic. But the fee that west ham would want would be a problem if we also want to get someone like Grealish or Sancho or Haaland.

Can we give west ham one of our deadwoods in addition to some cash for Rice to lower the price down slightly? Maybe a Lingard or Mata or Jones to reduce the price by 10m or so?

 

[Dante]

I'm curious what site you use as that's nowhere near what fbref.com has, which is 78.1% vs 84.6%. Your previous post against Liverpool was also quite different as it has Fred at 78.4% and McTominay at 82.4%.

I don't care how much you are in the team to break play up (something Fred normally does more of as well), you still need to provide decent ability on the ball and make yourself an option to pass to so that your team can build. Over the last month or so it's almost been like McTominay has been actively hiding from the ball. While I'm not his biggest fan I normally appreciate what he brings, but ever since his great match against Leeds he's been terrible and his partner (normally Fred) has basically had to play as a one man midfield.

No he hasn't. It was only for a couple of matches when Ole decided to use Fred as a single pivot. In those matches, Fred was very obviously dropping between our CBs (like Matic) to help us play out from the back. McTominay's passing stats may have been lower than Fred's in those games, but they were also playing different roles. If anything, it was McTominay who playing on his own in midfield. But in normal circumstances, when Fred+McTominay play as a double pivot, they tend to make a similiar number of passes each match.

Overall, the two of them also offer a similar amount of quality on the ball. Fred has a better range of passing, while McTominay is quicker at releasing the ball. McTominay 's passing isn't bad by any stretch. It only usually lets him down when he tries to tricky passes through the lines. When he gets told to keep it safe, you can usually rely on him to hit 90% accuracy.

 

[MadDogg]

No he hasn't. It was only for a couple of matches when Ole decided to use Fred as a single pivot. In those matches, Fred was very obviously dropping between our CBs (like Matic) to help us play out from the back. McTominay's passing stats may have been lower than Fred's in those games, but they were also playing different roles. If anything, it was McTominay who playing on his own in midfield. But in normal circumstances, when Fred+McTominay play as a double pivot, they tend to make a similiar number of passes each match.

I haven't noticed any difference in Fred dropping between the CB's. It's something that he's always done at times, as has McTominay himself. Neither have been doing it anything like Matic does who spends almost more time in the defence than the midfield sometimes. Even if that were the case though it still doesn't excuse McTominay's disappearing act, as against Leicester and Villa in particular he was constantly just walking behind an opposition player making it completely impossible to pass to him. I'm not saying he was doing it deliberately, but it was such incredibly bad play that he may as well have been. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that his Leicester match is probably the most invisible midfield performance I have ever seen. Meanwhile Fred was running around trying to get into space and giving the ball carrier someone to pass to (which is why he ended up with three times the amount of ball as McTominay did).

Even before this last month Fred was averaging just under 20% more passes per 90 minutes than McTominay.

Overall, the two of them also offer a similar amount of quality on the ball. Fred has a better range of passing, while McTominay is quicker at releasing the ball. McTominay 's passing isn't bad by any stretch. It only usually lets him down when he tries to tricky passes through the lines. When he gets told to keep it safe, you can usually rely on him to hit 90% accuracy.

It's honestly not even close. Fred plays significantly more passes. He plays more attacking and creative passes. He launches more attacks and creates more goal scoring opportunities with his passing, and passes the ball the ball longer more often. All while having a higher completion rate. By no means am I saying he's a great passer, but he is 'good enough'. McTominay has had a few games here and there over the last 18 months where he's shown similar ability so I am hopeful that he might continue to develop that side, but for now his ability when we have the ball is a noticeable weakness for us and one of the most obvious things we should be looking to improve on.

 

[Jibbs]

If he comes here I have no doubt in my mind he will have as good a career as Carrick here. It is just that now to get Carrick type quality and longevity we will need to spend 80 m plus.

 

[RkkMan]

We play Fred and mctominay together strictly because we don't have a compatible center defence that can operate infront of one DM. It needs the extra protection. It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of our set of DMs. Even if we had Thomas partey we'd still be forced to play one of Fred, McTominay or Matic alongside him in the biggest games because of our center defensive issue.

Problem with using Fred/Scott constantly is it hinders our ability to be creative in the big games as we have to always use a diamond to accommodate them two plus Bruno and Pogba limiting our creativity from the wings. A pivot of Pogba with Scott/Fred/Matic wont work in big games either because Matic`s legs are gone, Scott/Fred are more of pressing no8s rather than no6s plus they`re extremely limited in their progressive passing compared to the likes of Thiago/Fabinho/Rodri/Henderson. We could put Ramos/VVD in our defence but our build up play and protection from midfield would still be an extremely huge issue

 

[Lash]

The new Eric Dier?

Yep. Although people seem to think when you say that it's a dig.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Problem with using Fred/Scott constantly is it hinders our ability to be creative in the big games as we have to always use a diamond to accommodate them two plus Bruno and Pogba limiting our creativity from the wings. A pivot of Pogba with Scott/Fred/Matic wont work in big games either because Matic`s legs are gone, Scott/Fred are more of pressing no8s rather than no6s plus they`re extremely limited in their progressive passing compared to the likes of Thiago/Fabinho/Rodri/Henderson. We could put Ramos/VVD in our defence but our build up play and protection from midfield would still be an extremely huge issue

I don't buy that all. Our creativity is never hindered by having one of Matic, Fred or Mc Tominay on pitch alongside Pogba or Van de Beek. That isbnt true at all. Our creativity rather is strictly and consistently hindered by being forced to use a defensive minded double pivot to protect our incompatible center half pair of Lindelof and Maguire, for it forces us to weaken our midfield creativity. In turn weakening our attack.

Creativity has nothing to do with why we dont play a double pivot of a single holding player and one of Pogba or Van de Beek vs bigger teams. Its strictly because of the state of the first choice center of defence. They wouldn't be able to protect it.

I insist. It would not matter if we had Fabinho himself in our ranks. Let alone Ngolo Kante. He alone would never be able to protect Lindeloff and Maguire vs bigger opposition. Its the center defence that needs fixing. Not the midfield.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

I don't understand this myth that Rice isn't good on the ball.

He has more progressive passes than Douglas Luiz, Ruben Neves and Rodri - all of whom are lauded as ball-playing defensive midfielders. More importantly, he's extremely accurate with them - bettering all three of those as well as players like Kalvin Phillips, Hojberg and Jordan Henderson in progessive passing accuracy. He also beats Pogba, Matic, Fred and McTominay in that metric.

In addition he's also a physical beast with a sky high football IQ... which is an overlooked but hugely important attribute.

He's even got some nice #TEKKERZ

Agree. I think it was gainst Spurs after the restart that he put in a Carrick-esque performance. He's also pretty two footed.

 

[RkkMan]

I don't buy that all. Our creativity is never hindered by having one of Matic, Fred or Mc Tominay on pitch alongside Pogba or Van de Beek. That isbnt true at all. Our creativity rather is strictly and consistently hindered by being forced to use a defensive minded double pivot to protect our incompatible center half pair of Lindelof and Maguire, for it forces us to weaken our midfield creativity. In turn weakening our attack.

Creativity has nothing to do with why we dont play a double pivot of a single holding player and one of Pogba or Van de Beek vs bigger teams. Its strictly because of the state of the first choice center of defence. They wouldn't be able to protect it.

I insist. It would not matter if we had Fabinho himself in our ranks. Let alone Ngolo Kante. He alone would never be able to protect Lindeloff and Maguire vs bigger opposition. Its the center defence that needs fixing. Not the midfield.

I didnt say its limited when we have one of Matic/Fred/Scott alongside Pogba I said its limited when we have to use a diamond in big games due to making us too narrow with lack of width and creativity from wide areas. If we used the pivot I`ve mentioned in big games we`d lose almost every defensive midfield duel due to not having a proper anchor through the middle we`d be too exposed its why Ole ONLY uses a diamond in big games and the mentioned midfield only against deep blocks when you dont need so much defensive protection. A new DM able to drop into those defensive channels whilst able to transition the ball from deep phases would give us the much needed balance in both small and big games without needing 2 players to do the job of one thus negating creativity from wide areas we`d even be able to play them next to VDB/Pogba if he stays. Thats something our current DMs can never provide in a million years even with Baresi at the back and such skillsets are essential for a DM good enough for Utd
A new CB(and I earlier meant to agree with you Lindelof and HM are not a good partnership) only solves half the problem and it doesnt become much of a need anyway if Bailly continues to stay fit he`s miles better than Lindelof his agile style of play and Maguire is the perfect partnership put someone like Rice in front of them and we wouldn`t need a new CB and honestly which CB out there is a GUARANTEED upgrade on what we have? Upamecano despite all the hype isn`t a guaranteed upgrade and he`s nailed on for Bayern, Pau Torres is a left footed version of Lindelof and worse in the air so who?

 

[Stacks]

I personally love that we are a club that value English players and are willing to play over price to get them.

Always have, always will.

As an Englishman I do not like this. You sometimes end up with "not the best" player in any position and then when you need to upgrade they are hard to sell. Andy Carroll was English as was Downing. They held Liverpool back. The top 2 teams of the past few years feature few English players. Liverpool had Trent (youth academy), Henderson and Milner (back up veteran).
City had Sterling, Walker, Stones, Foden (youth graduate).

its just not a formula for success and is mostly romantic.

 

[Bebestation]

As an Englishman I do not like this. You sometimes end up with "not the best" player in any position and then when you need to upgrade they are hard to sell. Andy Carroll was English as was Downing. They held Liverpool back. The top 2 teams of the past few years feature few English players. Liverpool had Trent (youth academy), Henderson and Milner (back up veteran).
City had Sterling, Walker, Stones, Foden (youth graduate).

its just not a formula for success and is mostly romantic.

That's okay though but I have seen formula for success where clubs have followed a bit of pointing towards their nationality like Barcelona's greatest team ever. I have seen United have alot of homegrown players or national players in their team (class of 92 + players like Rooney, Rio, Wes Brown, Hargreaves, Carrick and so much more)

I'm not saying any english team will ever be that good - but I think people are underating how good English players may be this generation.

Grealish, Sancho, Rashford, Smith Rowe, Foden, Maddison, Sterling, Mount, Hudson Odoi, Rice, Greenwood, Kalvin Phillips, Ben white, Saka, TAA, Aaron's, Lamptey, Justin, Shaw, James, Chilwell, Bellingham, Gomez, Henderson, Calvert Lewin, Barnes, Abraham, ward prowse.

Just off the top of my head and avoiding the significant players in their prime like Kane, Ings or Vardy.

The fact is alot of us have wanted players like Grealish or Sancho for some time now because we do think they are good as any other play in the world regardless of their nationality. If Ole thinks Declan Rice is also one of the best CDM we could get for United, then his nationality is not important in all of this.
It just makes me personally happy we ended up getting a player with the nationality of the football club for things like long term loyalty.

 

[Stacks]

That's okay though but I have seen formula for success where clubs have followed a bit of pointing towards their nationality like Barcelona's greatest team ever. I have seen United have alot of homegrown players or national players in their team (class of 92 + players like Rooney, Rio, Wes Brown, Hargreaves, Carrick and so much more)

I'm not saying any english team will ever be that good - but I think people are underating how good English players may be this generation.

Grealish, Sancho, Rashford, Smith Rowe, Foden, Maddison, Sterling, Mount, Hudson Odoi, Rice, Greenwood, Kalvin Phillips, Ben white, Saka, TAA, Aaron's, Lamptey, Justin, Shaw, James, Chilwell, Bellingham, Gomez, Henderson, Calvert Lewin, Barnes, Abraham, ward prowse.

Just off the top of my head and avoiding the significant players in their prime like Kane, Ings or Vardy.

The fact is alot of us have wanted players like Grealish or Sancho for some time now because we do think they are good as any other play in the world regardless of their nationality. If Ole thinks Declan Rice is also one of the best CDM we could get for United, then his nationality is not important in all of this.
It just makes me personally happy we ended up getting a player with the nationality of the football club for things like long term loyalty.

no no I agree we have very good players right now in my country but I feel they are a bit overpriced. Bayern don't have to buy Germans for 80,000,000 or 119 million and they still dominate. City never spend more than 60 mill. If our board are open to having their pants pulled down then its ok

 

[8thWonder]

As an Englishman I do not like this. You sometimes end up with "not the best" player in any position and then when you need to upgrade they are hard to sell. Andy Carroll was English as was Downing. They held Liverpool back. The top 2 teams of the past few years feature few English players. Liverpool had Trent (youth academy), Henderson and Milner (back up veteran).
City had Sterling, Walker, Stones, Foden (youth graduate).

its just not a formula for success and is mostly romantic.

Off the top of my head and I could be wrong, there aren't many successful teams in any league, English, Spanish, Italian, German for example who don't have a 'core' of domestic players (and for English teams, massively politically incorrect maybe but I include British and Irish in this).

Liverpool have/had, Trent, Robertson, Gomez, Henderson, Milner, Oxlade Chamberlain
City less but still Stones, Walker, Delph, Foden, Sterling

A mixture of starters and good back ups.

By design or not it's normally the case isn't it?

We've got a solid amount already though so I don't think it's important to add any more for that particular intangible, but I also believe that Rice is a very good footballer who will move to a top side very soon, price permitting..

 

[Stacks]

Off the top of my head and I could be wrong, there aren't many successful teams in any league, English, Spanish, Italian, German for example who don't have a 'core' of domestic players (and for English teams, massively politically incorrect maybe but I include British and Irish in this).

Liverpool have/had, Trent, Robertson, Gomez, Henderson, Milner, Oxlade Chamberlain
City less but still Stones, Walker, Delph, Foden, Sterling

A mixture of starters and good back ups.

By design or not it's normally the case isn't it?

We've got a solid amount already though so I don't think it's important to add any more for that particular intangible, but I also believe that Rice is a very good footballer who will move to a top side very soon, price permitting..

There will always have a large number of domestic players due to restrictions on foreign players but I'm referring to starters and key players. Ones you splash on. No one seems to spend big on domestic players who end up successful. They spend big on foreign players who become the core pieces. it appears so anyways.

 

[Baneofthegame]

There will always have a large number of domestic players due to restrictions on foreign players but I'm referring to starters and key players. Ones you splash on. No one seems to spend big on domestic players who end up successful. They spend big on foreign players who become the core pieces. it appears so anyways.

Perhaps recently because other clubs can afford to keep their good young English players for longer in most cases.

Our club has usually had core English players, some of them have been for big money, Rio, Rooney etc.

 

[Stacks]

Perhaps recently because other clubs can afford to keep their good young English players for longer in most cases.

Our club has usually had core English players, some of them have been for big money, Rio, Rooney etc.

they were 2 of the best talents in their position. I have no problem with it. just make sure they are legit and worth the tax

 

[Diabovermelho]

He's Chelsea bound. And if we'll pay 70+ million on a english talent, it'll probably be Grealish.

 

[Denis' cuff]

There would be quality domestic players who have no interest in leaving the country to work. These same players are brought up to not necessarily like, but have a high regard for United. They know it is the ~pinnacle of football in this country. They are happy to spend their careers at United and from the clubs POV, a long term piece of the jigsaw. They can remain close to their families and friends and are thus content. We have had far more imported players who either use United for a stepping stone or a pay day and have little regard for the club. Obviously, there is some generalisation here but mostly true and that is leaving aside, a player from eg: South America having to schlepp across the globe for a meaningless friendly international, thus not making it back in time for the scheduled PL game. Ridiculous to say domestic recruitment is anything to do with “sentiment” and regarding quality of the player, you would hope the no.1 priority is that said player should meet standards. Basically, all things being equal, it makes sense.

 

[passing-wind]

Him or Ndidi will take the midfield up a level. Mctomminay is decent but he's hot and cold, not consistent enough across the board to have total confidence in excellent however for squad rotation. Fred is good but has his weaknesses.

The reason Rice would be a solid addition is because he offers an element that Fred / Scott don't which is the capability to play as a sole defensive midfielder in a system typically like a Busquets role 4-3-3. It's often understated how much flexibility this gives the manager at having more sustainability in controlling possession balancing the phases of play.

Bruno / Pogba could advance further forward and their defensive contribution isn't as much of a necessity to the extent of a 4231 if the defensive midfielder shows adequate positional awareness and the IQ to read the play.

If Matic was perhaps in his mid 20's as shown during his dominant form in his younger days for Chelsea it would rejuvenate the way are able to take the initiative in games through the team imposing itself. A very competent defensive midfielder in Rice COULD, potentially influence the team much more effectively in an attacking sense compared to Grealish, especially with ball retention and recycling possession.

I'd say as far a priority in conjunction with the English talent my priorities If I'm management would be Right wing, Defensive midfield going into next window.

 

[Bondi77]

Exactly. Every time I watch him play he’s playing balls through the lines to the more offensive players. He’ll be a fantastic addition to any top team and would be my choice to replace Matic. But the fee that west ham would want would be a problem if we also want to get someone like Grealish or Sancho or Haaland.

Can we give west ham one of our deadwoods in addition to some cash for Rice to lower the price down slightly? Maybe a Lingard or Mata or Jones to reduce the price by 10m or so?

Apparently they like Mctominay as his name was mentioned when there was talk of us offering money for Diop.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

I didnt say its limited when we have one of Matic/Fred/Scott alongside Pogba I said its limited when we have to use a diamond in big games due to making us too narrow with lack of width and creativity from wide areas.

You have misunderstood me. My point is we use the double pivot in big games both in the diamond and 4-2-3-1 STRICTLY because of the state of our first choice center half pair. Buying another DM wont make an iota of a difference to that because the issue isn't a midfield one.....

If we used the pivot I`ve mentioned in big games we`d lose almost every defensive midfield duel due to not having a proper anchor through the middle we`d be too exposed its why Ole ONLY uses a diamond in big games and the mentioned midfield only against deep blocks when you don't need so much defensive protection.

I get your argument. But I insist. The issue has nothing to do with having 'a proper anchor'. There is no proper anchor that can protect and incompatible center half pair on the lonesome. They just cause too many problems for one shield man to solve.

A new DM able to drop into those defensive channels whilst able to transition the ball from deep phases would give us the much needed balance in both small and big games without needing 2 players to do the job of one thus negating creativity from wide areas we`d even be able to play them next to VDB/Pogba if he stays. Thats something our current DMs can never provide in a million years even with Baresi at the back and such skill set are essential for a DM good enough for Utd

I se where youa re coming from. But I do feel Like many pundits you are mistakenly conflating us having to use 2 defensive players in midfield in big games with the either of the two players we use lacking quality to be good singular anchor men. For some reason people insist on simply ignoring the glaring issue of an incompatible center defense. A problem that forces a team to play a deeper line and forces a team to play two defensive minded players to shield it. With such a defence a side can next to never play front foot football in big games. Prime Busquets and prime Fernandinho would not be able to protect our current first choice center half pair on their lonesome in big games. Their glaring incompatibility just offers up way to many problems for a lone anchor man to solve.

A new CB(and I earlier meant to agree with you Lindelof and HM are not a good partnership) only solves half the problem and it doesnt become much of a need anyway if Bailly continues to stay fit he`s miles better than Lindelof his agile style of play and Maguire is the perfect partnership put someone like Rice in front of them and we wouldn`t need a new CB and honestly which CB out there is a GUARANTEED upgrade on what we have? Upamecano despite all the hype isn`t a guaranteed upgrade and he`s nailed on for Bayern, Pau Torres is a left footed version of Lindelof and worse in the air so who?

If Bailly or Tuanzebe were to ever solve their constant fitness issues. They'd instantly solve the problem. with either of them and Maguire/Lindeloff together, United simply would never require two holding players in a big game and would be able to player a higher line in big games. Strengthening our midfield and attacking selections over instantly because we'd be able to field more of our attacking talents. i.e like having bruno, van de beek and pogba in the same line up, Even now without an actual right winger in the squad.

The everton away in the fa cup performance this season was a prime example.

Right now Upamecano would have been an excellent bet simply because he is a fitter version of Bailly and as good on the ball. A part from him I think Nikola Minekovic would do. I also like the look of Braga's David Carmo. But that's just in my view[/QUOTE]

 

[ovoxo]

With the news Lampard getting sacked today, it probably means he won’t be on Chelsea’s radar anymore. Hope we can pick him up. He’s a good player.

 

[Jericholyte2]

With the news Lampard getting sacked today, it probably means he won’t be on Chelsea’s radar anymore. Hope we can pick him up. He’s a good player.

You beat me to it! I doubt Tuchel would be looking at him as he'll have his own profile of player he'll want to bring in. Rice as our DM would be quality.

 

[theklr]

Rice is our Matic for the future. Progressive, shielding and physical.

 

[Floyd]

With the news Lampard getting sacked today, it probably means he won’t be on Chelsea’s radar anymore. Hope we can pick him up. He’s a good player.

I was thinking the same thing. Tuchel and Allegri have probably never heard of Rice.

They probably prefer bratwurst and pasta respectively. Sorry

 

[Denis' cuff]

Must say, I like this lad

 

[Floyd]

I don't know if I dare to say it, but he does remind me of a 32 year old Roy Keane, when he was no longer box-to-box. And I mean that in the best possible way.

We do need a top class DM and I think he ticks a lot of boxes, really like the look of him.

We need a new Matic. I like Fred but he can (should) rather easily be upgraded.

 

[davidmichael]

Just don’t get why some people wouldn’t want Rice as it’d mean we’d be able to play Fernandes and Pogba (providing he stays) consistently together with Rice’s job simply to cover those two, shield the defence and break up play.

With AWB and Shaw being great defensively we’d effectively have 5 attackers and 5 defenders which when clicking could literally blow other teams away, Rice alongside Pogba and Fernandes ahead of them is perfectly balanced in my opinion.

 

[RedorDead21]

Let’s see how he does at the Euro. He is young and don’t think any other club is in real hot pursuit (Frank May want him but not sure if he is going to be around in the summer). As such, we can wait and watch.

Personally I am not convinced he adds a lot as compared to what we already have. I would prefer to sign an elite level DM in the summer.

I agree. I think we are terrible in possession and I’d rather we get someone good with the ball against the press.