Souness brands Arsenal hero a ‘cheat’ playing ‘old man football’ – ‘He’s not a midfield player’ | OneFootball

Graeme Souness has accused Declan Rice of “cheating” as a supposed midfielder and claims the Arsenal star wouldn’t get into the best teams in world football.

Rice has been widely lauded for his impact at Arsenal since his £100m move from West Ham in the summer of 2023 and played a key role in helping the Gunners to their first Premier League title in 22 years and the Champions League final last term.

But Liverpool legend Souness – one of the great midfielders of his generation – isn’t having him.

“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball,” Souness told Piers Morgan on Football Uncensored. “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.

“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 (Rice) plays too deep to affect the game. 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.

“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.”

In response to Morgan’s claim that Rice is a world class midfielder, Souness added: “I’m not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City. 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 also blamed Rice for his role in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in July.

“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 said.

“They didn’t get them playing. They went back in held hands with the back four.”