Excellent positioning, intelligent, and impressive vision – Why West Ham wonderkid Declan Rice is wanted by Manchester United
marvelbet369.com get the lowdown on West Ham wonderkid Declan Rice from the exceptional Total Football Analysis
There is a very good chance that in the near future Declan Rice could be seen by Chelsea fans as the one that got away.
A part of the Blues' youth academy up until the age of 14 he was released and then eventually signed for West Ham. The rest is, as they say, history.
In the last game of the 2016/17 season Rice made his first-team debut. Since then the young midfielder has gone on to establish himself as a key player for his club as well as forcing his way into the senior England setup.
The 20-year-old is now established as a ‘6’ but he made his initial steps into first-team football as a central defender. This positional and tactical versatility makes him an extremely useful player to have in your squad. It is likely, however, that as he matures as a player he will stay in the ‘6’ position.
The purpose of this tactical analysis is to give an overview of the player with particular attention to his statistical and tactical performances so far this season.
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Statistical analysis
At the time of writing Rice has played 1358 minutes for West Ham. His numbers very much model out as a modern holding midfielder with 7.75 defensive duels per 90 minutes. This shows how active Rice is in the defensive phase when working against the ball.
He is strong in the air, as befits a player that can also play as a central defender, with 2.25 aerial duels per 90 and strong when engaging players on the ground as shown by his 1.19 tackles per 90 minutes.
More importantly, however, he is also averaging 4.57 interceptions per 90. This shows that Rice is able to read the game effectively.
As you can see from his heat map Rice is an all-action midfielder who contributes effectively both in the defensive and attacking phase.
Primarily right-footed he is comfortable receiving the ball on either side of the pitch either in space or under pressure.
Recovering possession
We have already discussed above that Rice reads the ball well and posts strong numbers in terms of his interceptions and defensive actions.
This ability to read the game and sense dangerous situations does not only apply when the ball is in front of him but when he is moving backwards and making recovery runs beyond his own defensive line.
Rice is deceptively quick and he uses this pace to recover ground when the opposition are moving quickly in their attacking phase.
We see an example of this in the above image as Spurs are in possession just outside the West Ham penalty area and the South Korean winger Heung-Min Son makes a run to support the man in possession.
As the through ball is played it seems to have released Son into the penalty area with space. We see that Rice is initially positioned centrally and behind the ball.
He sees the danger and makes a defensive run beyond the ball and is in position to challenge Son when he enters the penalty area. The challenge is clean and Rice is able to take the ball away comfortably.
A similar situation here as Marcus Rashford has been released down the left-hand side for Manchester United.
As the England striker makes to cut back inside to enter the penalty area it is once again Rice who is making a run from behind the ball to recover space and challenge for the ball.
These defensive actions and runs are a constant aspect of Rice’s game and they go a long way to explaining how such a young player has been able to become established at a first-team level so quickly.
Vision
It is of course not enough in the modern game for a midfielder to be purely defensive or destructive.
Even when playing as a ‘6’ a top-level midfielder has to be able to access all areas of the field with his passing range.
This ability is evident in Rice and he displays the vision to recognise and access the spaces on the pitch where his team have the greatest advantage.
He is right-footed and displays a tendency to always open out to the right side of the field, as most right-footed players do, but this is something that should become less of an issue as he gains more match experience.
This passing ability does not only apply to playing to wide areas and Rice is equally capable of passing through the lines of the opposition.
We see this ability to switch the play here. With Rice in possession of the ball the entire Crystal Palace defensive unit is compact centrally. This creates space for the right-back to advance to a higher line.
As Rice takes possession of the ball he opens up his body, to the right as usual, and then plays a pass in front of the full-back that he can advance on to.
Here we see Rice playing an intelligent through ball that splits through the defensive line of the opposition.
For a player with the ability to play as a central defender Rice is also very strong when carrying the ball forward through the thirds of the pitch. We see this here with Rice driving forward from a deeper position.
As he does so it allows the wide player to advance to the defensive line and then make an angled run in behind the opposition full-back. This run is then accessed by an intelligent and well-weighted pass from Rice to find the wide player.
Carrying through space
As we have just touched on above, Rice displays an ability to drive forward in possession of the ball carrying possession through the thirds of the field himself.
This is an interesting attribute for a player who plays as the ‘6’ as driving forwards from that position can create overloads in central areas that can be devastating to the opposition.
Here we see Rice playing against Manchester United. He originally picked up possession with the midfield like in front of him but he was positive in attacking the space and driving past them.
This then creates an immediate overload with the single United player isolated against two West Ham players. There are three forward runs being made off the ball and Rice has the quality and the vision to access any one of them.
A similar situation here as Rice carries the ball from deep inside his own half and looks to take the game to the opposition.
As he drives forward he accesses space in the opposition half and the striker looks to make a curved run off the shoulder of the far side defender and Rice times his pass to release the forward player through for a chance on goal.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Declan Rice is now firmly established as a key player for West Ham United.
The only concern now for Hammers fans is whether or not the club can hold on to him in the face of increasing interest from the likes of Manchester United.
Rice appears to be poised to take the next significant step in his career. This coming summer transfer window may well dictate where that next step takes place.
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