Rice Doesn’t Show Up In Big Games Enough – Danny Murphy

Popular pundit Danny Murphy has hailed Declan Rice as the most complete midfielder in Europe. He, however, warned that the Arsenal midfielder still has one final hurdle to clear before he can be compared to Premier League icons Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.

According to him, even though Rice is a blessed footballer who stands out among his peers in Europe, he still does not decide the biggest football matches like Gerrard and Lampard.

Danny added that until Declan begins to show up against the best teams in the world, people will still consider him limited.

His words, “Yes, Declan Rice is the most complete midfielder in Europe at the moment. I think he has amazing versatility in being able to do nearly all aspects of the game.

I always watch him and think he’s the type of midfielder you’d hate to play against. Because when he’s bearing down on you to pressure, you know you’re in trouble. He does it with such discipline and such pace.

For Declan Rice to be spoken of in the same breath as a Gerrard or a Lampard, he needs to win the big ones, and he also needs to have the magic moments more often, like he did against Real Madrid.

When you think of Liverpool and Chelsea, and Lampard and Gerrard over the years, you can just pick moments – big games, big goals.

Lampard against Barcelona. Cup finals. Gerrard in cup finals, European finals. The best players produce those magic moments to get the team over the line.”

WOW.

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.

In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season. Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.