Declan Rice

You can bet your house on Rice starting in front of a back four. While he will play the role of Glenn Whelan, and we will see him primarily disrupt opposition attacks, unlike Whelan, his ability on the ball should bear fruit when it comes to initiating attacks from what will be a deep lying position.  A cracking player to have if you're looking to play a counter attacking game. His ability to break up attacks and play the simple pass but with an urgency and purpose that could make the difference. Haven't seen someone with this specific ability since Roy Keane.

I know many on here have their reservations about Harry Arter, but a midfield trio of made up of Rice, Arter and McCarthy would be comfortable in possession, while also being physically strong. It would be the type of midfield that wouldn’t allow Christian Eriksen the time and space to do as he pleased. 

Of course going forward this midfield would lack creativity. But let’s be honest we’ve haven’t possessed a top class midfielder in years, so why don’t we resort to something we are traditionally good at, in making our attacking chances from the wings? 

Would such a midfield not be able to lay the ball off to the likes of Brady on the left wing, and O’Dowda or perhaps Callum Robinson on the right? On paper, which is of course not always a great indiciator, a midfield with defensively aware, but technically half decent midfielders with pace on the wings would probably be a tactic we’d find useful. 

I think Rice would be best deployed in the following team: 

——————Randolph—————

Coleman—Duffy—Long—Ward*

—-McCarthy——Rice—-Arter—

O’Dowda* —-Long*———Brady

*Ward to be swapped out with Cunningham if he can prove himself in Premier League. I personally believe Robinson is a better player than O’Dowda but won’t be thrown in at the deep end for a while. Maguire and Hogan are probably better strikers than Long, but if we were to be whipping balls into the box regularly I think Long is good in the air and might do well in such a scenario. 

You’d play Kevin Long and Shane Duffy because they’re both giants who would threaten from set pieces. The football wouldn’t be great to watch as per usual but at least we’d be a bit more structured and at least playing to some of our strengths. 

I think this speaks to Rice’s prominence in Pelligrini’s thinking.