A few years ago, Declan Rice said he would pass. Now, however, the £105m man accepted responsibility, shot and, through a deflection from Jonny Evans, gave Arsenal 96th-minute lead against Manchester United. As Gabriel Jesus scored even the late goal, it wasn’t technically the winner. But Rice is the scorer of the de facto decider in the kind of game that can define seasons and build reputations.
Perhaps especially for the central midfielders, as this is a fixture that evokes memories of Patrick Vieira against Roy Keane. Vieira scored the winning penalty in the FA Cup final shootout against United; Keane scored a disproportionate number of his United goals – five, almost 10 per cent – against Arsenal. Rice’s first in Arsenal colors came at United’s expense. The most expensive Englishman can show a throwback player: called a defensive midfielder, but usually an all-rounder, in the way that the Frenchman and the Irishman.
His post-match interview was followed by Keane who, like Graeme Souness, an equally dominant and brilliant midfielder and another whose punditry can focus more on personalities than tactics, subscribed to the famous man who historical theory: as a good footballing himself, he tends to argue that matches are determined by the determination of individuals, by the readiness to seize the opportunity, by winning a personal battle. He deserves to argue that games are won by fighters, not formations involving inverted full-backs or box midfields.
Football has become more complex, the tactical intricacies of managers like Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola diminish the importance of mano a mano with the opposition’s alpha male. And yet, at the age of the £100m midfielder, perhaps Rice has the responsibility of being more than just a cog in the wheel, to be the game-winner at least once in a while. If it is simple to ask for a tangible impact that always matches his price tag for a player whose contribution goes beyond goals and assists, he is nevertheless charged with improving Arsenal. Making one point into three and winning a game against opponents is one way to do that.
And if philosophies and systems seem to reduce individual confidence, there is evidence in the midfields of Arteta and Guardiola that football can still fall to great players who do great things in great moments.
Ilkay Gundogan spent the first half of his Manchester City career as a neat passer. In the second half, he became the man for the big occasion, the top scorer who could use his football intelligence to find space and his technique to finish. This is, in part, why he became a captain; during his FA Cup final brace, he felt more for Roy at Rovers than Sergio Busquets.
As a defensive midfielder, Rodri’s main responsibility is to engineer perpetual possession and cut off counter-attacks. But as the Spaniard grew in size, he tended to give important contributions: most obviously the Champions League final winner and the most recent the best late decider at Sheffield United but a pre -Rice Arsenal may remember and regret his injury-time winner. at the Emirates Stadium on New Year’s Day 2022: if the meaning is that managers like Guardiola and Arteta want their midfielders to be elegantly robotic, executing a strategy with practiced efficiency, the importance of individual interventions is still evident.
Rice only needs to look at Arsenal’s midfield to see. Martin Odegaard shares some similarities with Gundogan: apparently an assured passer, he has established himself as an accomplished scorer as well as regular skipper. The Norwegian’s two goals this season, a nerveless penalty at Crystal Palace and a swift equalizer against United, are signs of his wealth, of a capacity to deliver when it matters.
Declan Rice may be the missing piece at Arsenal this season
(Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
That Rice felt good too. He spent the kind of money that used to be reserved for attackers. Chelsea did the £100m midfielder and now have two of them, a £222m double act. That could be a product of a change in mindset, recognizing the importance of dictating a game. But it still needs to be decided. Enzo Fernandez showed his brutal passing while he became more creative: that he had only two assists in their colors is partly a reflection of the poor finishing of others. But the Argentinian had a solitary goal of his own, and that was against AFC Wimbledon in League Two, while he was penalized at West Ham.
Moises Caicedo’s Chelsea career lasted just 205 minutes on the pitch and, while Fernandez has been used as a No 10 of late, the Ecuadorian’s deeper role means he may score fewer goals than the winner of World Cup or Rice. However, with such a large amount, each one is bought to make a difference. And when, deep into extra time, it seemed that Arsenal would drop two points, Rice.