Declan Rice improving playmaking abilities would see him reach new heights

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West Ham United star Declan Rice produced another mature performance in England colours against Bulgaria on Saturday.

The Hammers youngster was given a full 90 minutes by Gareth Southgate and was steady in his usual holding midfield role alongside Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson.

According to FootballTalentScout, Rice made 100 passes in the game at a completion rate of 96%. He was also accurate with seven out of his eight attempted long passes.

Defensively he was strong, winning three tackles and making three interceptions as he screened the defence.

All in all, it was a great showing from the 20-year-old.

Rice is definitely progressing at an exciting rate, with the fundamentals of the holding midfield role coming fairly natural to him now.

Perhaps though, there is one thing Rice should seek to improve to help him become even better.

TBR’s view

Rice is very tidy in possession, but sometimes can be too safe.

He is great for when West Ham or England are just trying to retain the ball to wear down and stretch the opposition, but perhaps he can work on being a bit riskier.

Against Bulgaria, Raheem Sterling made a brilliant run from the right whilst Rice was in possession, but instead of clipping it over the top he held the ball and instead turned and went backwards.

The top holding midfielders in the Premier League, such as Fernandinho, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, and Tanguy Ndombele would likely all have sought to play Sterling in in the same situation.

The primary role of a ‘number 6’ is of course to provide protection for a defence and to set the tempo of games through short passing – but every now and then, for top players, there is call for that killer pass.

Rice is developing soundly. To become a top player in a few years though, he should definitely seek to be bolder – he has the ability to do it.