Graeme Souness Critiques Declan Rice: 'Old Man's Football'
Graeme Souness has launched a scathing assessment of Declan Rice, accusing Arsenal’s £105 million midfielder of “cheating” his position and insisting he does not belong among Europe’s elite holding midfielders.
Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored show after Arsenal’s 2-1 win over title rivals Chelsea, the former Liverpool captain homed in on Rice’s role in the build-up and his habit of dropping into the back line.
Souness claimed Rice spends too much time acting as an auxiliary defender rather than dictating play from midfield.
“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball?” Souness asked. “In the build-up, he’s last man. He’s sitting between two centre-halves or between the centre-half and the full-back. He’s last man. A lot of the time, he doesn’t play in midfield.”
For Souness, that positioning is not modern sophistication. It is a cop-out.
“In my second or third home game (of my career), I went into the back four like all midfield players do today. It’s old man’s football. It’s cheating. An old man’s way of playing midfield. You get the ball under no pressure and you play it out to the full-back.”
He did still label Rice the best defensive midfielder in England, praising his ability to “smell danger”. But that was where the compliments stopped.
“He plays too deep to affect the game,” Souness continued. “I don’t think he’s got enough football. Let me tell you what he can do. He’s the best defensive midfielder in the country right now, he smells danger. But then again, he’s back there all the time.”
The criticism went beyond positioning. Souness openly questioned whether Rice should even be considered a midfielder.
“He’s not a midfield player then is he? I think he may be a centre-half. The ball travels faster than you do. I see him run with the ball 30 yards and pass it square. He’s a lovely kicker of the ball and opens his body up well, there’s nothing to dislike about him. But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn’t fall easily on these (players’) shoulders. He isn’t the complete midfield player.”
When the conversation turned to Rice’s supposed world-class status, Souness dismissed the idea outright. No hesitation. No softening of the blow.
“I’m not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City,” he said. “If you want the best in that position, City had two of them – Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield. Next time, please watch him. He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways.”
Souness then widened the lens to the international stage and pointed the finger at Rice for England’s World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina in the summer.
“When England went one-nil up against Argentina, they s*** themselves. ‘Oh, what do we do now?’ And I put that down to Declan Rice and [Elliot] Anderson as the central midfield players in the engine room,” he claimed. “They didn’t get them playing. They went back in held hands with the back four.”
For Souness, the picture is clear: Rice can shield, he can tackle, he can read danger. But until he steps higher, takes the ball under pressure and truly runs games from midfield, he will remain, in the eyes of one of the game’s most demanding midfield judges, something short of the standard Arsenal paid for – and well short of the company he’s often placed in.
