Declan Rice’s performance against Manchester United was precisely the kind that should have prompted Arsenal to push ahead with the signing of Eberechi Eze.
In a match where he was expected to bring his A-game, Rice unfortunately had an off day. The Gunner is widely known as an exceptional passer and ball carrier who also works hard to prevent opposition transitions.
Rice struggles at Old Trafford
However, against United, the £105 million man failed to deliver on his strengths. His struggles led to the Arsenal engine room being porous and easy to exploit.
Rice’s stats versus Manchester United
Minutes: 83
Ground Duels Won: 0/1 (0%)
Tackles: 0
Accurate Passes: 20/25 (80%)
Key Passes: 0
Touches: 32
Passes into Final Third: 2
Recoveries: 3
The Englishman struggled to showcase his best attributes. Had he been at his usual level, Arsenal might have controlled the game more convincingly and fully justified the win.
With Martin Zubimendi newly introduced and the pair yet to build chemistry, it may take time before they click. Against United, they were clearly not in sync. Mikel Arteta should consider reverting to a two-man midfield pivot with Rice and Zubimendi, allowing Martin Odegaard to operate as a number ten.
Why Arsenal must move for Eberechi Eze
If not, the Spaniard must be decisive and push for the Eze signing, a move that could finally solve Arsenal’s left-hand side struggles. In tight matches like the United clash, Eze could be the X-factor, a player capable of changing the game single-handedly.
The Crystal Palace midfielder’s arrival would bring another dynamic to Arsenal’s left central midfield, injecting much-needed creativity. But for that to happen, Arsenal must hijack his transfer with Eze reportedly close to joining Tottenham Hotspur.
If Arsenal succeed, Rice could start at left central midfield when Eze is benched, or play as a six when they start together and Zubimendi is rested. Either way, Rice was not at his best against United. Hopefully, he finds top form against Leeds because if he does, he, Odegaard and Zubimendi could still form the most potent midfield trio in the league.
Your thoughts welcome in the comments Gooners.
Daniel O
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Perhaps they could try Havertz instead of Rice, not necessarily as a second striker, but in the advanced midfield role that he’s good at, and we know that he can score good goals from there.
That would require us to get back to a previous game model which doesn’t quite suit our new striker. I’d rather we stick to the plan and let the players develop understanding. There will no doubt be teething issues but fluidity,sharpness & good execution can only come by getting the guys you want start playing regularly alongside each other.
Rice? Odegaard is the creator who created nothing. Losing the ball and very unproductive in the final third. He was supposed to find Gyokeres but did nothing of that.
“Why Arsenal must move for Eberechi Eze” – but only a couple of days ago another article on JA was saying that the whole “move” by Arsenal for Eze was really a clever ruse by Arsenal and they were never interested in him.
Bertie, and both articles written by Daniel O.😕And before that, another article by admin saying we found him too expensive.
Daniel O is really clever, isn’t he? 😂 I understand that the website needs to generate traffic with this kind of articles, but I wonder what does O stand for
Having said that, I think Arsenal will only buy Eze if they can sell Trossard first
Aside from that, we’ve already got too many players to compete with Rice for the left-sided AM role
Eze would also likely choose Spurs over Arsenal, because he’d be Spurs’ main left-sided AM, which is the role he excels in at Crystal Palace
If Eze moves to Arsenal, he’d have to rotate with Martinelli/ Odegaard and he must have more game time to be England’s main AM for the World Cup
GAI, You know you’re in a confusing place when you get such contradictory input😱.
Still, I suppose it all goes towards keeping that great football carousel revolving.
@Gai, sometimes I wonder if Arteta truly knows what Arsenal needs.
He delayed the signing of a CF until fans in their numbers, pundits and Club legends begin to talk.
I watched how EZE played for Palace against Chelsea and I wondered why Arteta isn’t after him. Apart from injuries EZE is guaranteed. a regular performance compared to Matinelli and Odegard last two seasons.
We don’t have any player like EZE apart from Jesus who can maneuver his ways through defence and probably get a penalty. And Jesus is injury prone. Such player help against team who play low block
I’ve just been reading that Trossard has been offered a new contract with salary increase.
Eze is performing at a very high level in almost every game . If there is any chance for Arsenal to get him, go for him asap. Class player and Premier League proven. He will do the job for Arsenal, and Eze really wants to play for Arsenal. It’s beyond me, that we haven”t got this transfer over the line long ago. Payment in 3 installments. Embarrassing if Arsenal let this chance pass.
Its a forlorn hope.Despite Eze being exactly who and what Arsenal need he will end up going to Spurs and offer them the chance to compete in a way they wouldn’t otherwise.
How on Earth have Arsenal sanctioned the purchase of Madueke in preference to Eze.Yes Madueke can act as backup to Saka.But so can Nwaneri.Madueke might offer a better attacking option on the left flank than Martinelli but not the same level of defensive cover.Eze could have solved our left side attacking problem.Not by blindly running down the left wing without any real end product.But by enabling the left side of the team to move the ball forward with the same fluidity that we do on the right side.In addition he could step into Odergaards role if required when the opposition are playing the double defensive block or when our Captain is having yet another “off day”…
I could go on..but as I said.This is pointless as Arsenal have presumably decided against his purchase.Our stagnant performance against United was a continuation of our Pre-season and truth be told most of last Season as well.If we fail to create we will struggle to win enough matches to truly compete for titles
Yeah, we could have put the big money on Eze and only then looked at Madueke.
too late, eze has expressed a willingness to go to the other side of north london & with the move almost complete & personal terms agreed, i fear this is a player that might come back to haunt Arteta
It was one bad game from Rice, in a game where most of our players were below their usual standards. Still,this would only be a course for concern if it happened regularly. For all we know, he might have been ill or something like that.
Whatever the case, Eze is not really the player you’d consider an option to Rice. Rice plays deeper now, in our new set up. He’s a central midfielder which Eze is not.
I think Merino is an option, although I would pick Norgaard to partner Zubimendi before I consider Merino. It just so happened that Norgaard was injured- I think he would have come on for Rice,who was clearly struggling and rightly subbed off.
As for Eze, I would love him at Arsenal but as an option in attacking midfield/left wing.
The £68m release clause has expired and Spurs are looking at price of £55m plus bonuses. If we want him we need to show more interest otherwise we’ll lose the opportunity. Apparently his agency has close ties to Levy and Tottenham so we might lose our anyway. Great player, Premiership hardened and would fit like a glove and not dissimilar to Elise who is lighting up the Bundesliga with Bayern. He played for us as a kid!!
I don’t think we will sign another attacking player because we have Trossard, Havertz. I think if we sell Trossard then we will sign EZE or someone similar
Why Arsenal have no interest in the Crystal Palace Man is beyond me, strangely it would appear both Berta and the gaffer is on agreement with this one.
Surely, there must be something about this player that we aren’t aware of why Arsenal not interested, this crap about his valuation, am not buying it.
It’s a mystery to me. MA apparently has never been in for him for whatever reason. Sad that he now goes to Spuds.
I can only gain solace from recent times in that I also felt somewhat similarly about Maddison when he was available from Leicester; but, we didn’t go that route either and assuming his injury problems would have also occurred with us, it turned out to be a landmine avoided. I certainly don’t wish Eze any injury but the point is that you can never predict with certainty who is or is not going to be a beneficial transfer.
So Rice had a not so brilliant game for once and all of a sudden we need Eze! Talk about fickle…SMFH.
To be fair, we’ve needed Eze since last season. Fans wanting Arsenal to sign Eze has been a chorus on here and other platforms before, during and after the preseason. It did not just surface as a result of one game.
I agree but the article calling for Rice’s head is a real head wobbler.
I acknowledge that Arsenal did not play well but I am really surprised at how negative the reaction has been after beating Man U at Old Trafford and keeping a clean sheet. The overall level was so low that I am willing to argue that perhaps we need to just accept that NO ONE was in the right place at the right time pretty much the whole game. How can VG excel when he didn’t get service, how can Rice make passes in the midfield when no one is where he expects them. There was just dysfunction everywhere and they still kept a clean sheet and won….
Now, I am not saying that a left wing upgrade isn’t warranted, but it appears that Arsenal is once again having a problem with their outgoings. Perhaps Berta is trying to re-calculate the Arsenal narrative to get better outgoing money, surely Kiwior, Trossard and Zinchenko have some value, but Arsenal is running out of time.
What we fail to recognize and mention is the elephant no longer in the room , Thomas Partey. His contribution to the team enabled players like Declan Rice and Martin Odergaard to shine. TP did what McAllister does with Liverpool now; Rodri with City; and Kante with Chelsea previously – breaking up play , turning defense to attack, controlling the tempo of the game, reading the game. First game for Zubimendi, but hopefully he can take up the mantle
👍Timberwolf, but I believe Zubimendi will likely be a quality addition.🤞