‘I was disappointed’: Pundit says he’s spotted a flaw in Declan Rice’s game at Arsenal already

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Declan Rice’s start to life at Arsenal has been absolutely perfect.

Two games, two wins, six points, what more do you want?

Of course, that isn’t how football works these days, every single player is analysed to the nth degree – especially when you’re costing £105m.

Rice hasn’t been Man of the Match in any of his games so far, and according to John Giles, speaking on The Stand with Eamon Dunphy, Rice isn’t looking that brilliant for Arsenal so far.

The pundit says that he’s been disappointed with Rice’s tendency to drift out to the left, claiming that he’s struggling to control games from that position and that he looked much better against Crystal Palace when he stuck to his role in the centre of the park.

Rice weakness highlighted

Giles shared his verdict on Rice.

“I would agree up to a point. I don’t think Declan controls the game as much as he could do. He covers ground great, and he’s fantastic when the opposition have the ball. He does ok when he has the ball, but he doesn’t score goals either. I was disappointed with him recently because he was playing on the left side of midfield, where you can’t do what Graeme Souness has said needs to be done. I noticed last night that he actually played in a central midfield position last night, and he played very well last night, but he’s not going to be the player Graeme Souness wants him to be,” Giles said.

Not his fault

Rice may not be commanding the middle of the pitch as you may expect him to due to the fact he’s been drifting out to the left at times, but, at the end of the day, that’s not necessarily his fault.

Player positioning is often down to manager instructions and team shape, and with Arsenal using inverted full-backs these days, Rice moving out to the left is likely a by-product of that tactical shift.

We’re yet to really figure out what sort of role Rice is going to have in this Arsenal team, but he certainly hasn’t looked out of his depth so far at the Emirates.