Graeme Souness Critiques Declan Rice's Role: 'Old Man's Football'

Graeme Souness has launched a scathing assessment of Declan Rice’s game, accusing the Arsenal star of “cheating” his position and insisting he is closer to a centre-half than an elite modern midfielder.

Fresh from Arsenal’s 2-1 win over title rivals Chelsea, the former Liverpool captain used an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Football Uncensored to pick apart Rice’s role in Mikel Arteta’s system, homing in on his tendency to drop into the back line during build-up.

Souness’ verdict was brutal.

“Old man’s football”

“How many times do you see him as the last man with the ball?” Souness asked. “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.”

From there, the 71-year-old drew on his own playing days to underline the point.

“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.”

For Souness, Rice’s habit of collecting the ball unchallenged off his defenders turns a £105 million midfielder into an auxiliary centre-back, not the heartbeat of a side chasing the biggest prizes.

Praise with a sting

Souness did not deny Rice’s defensive prowess. In fact, he called him the standout in England in that specific role.

“He (Rice) plays too deep to affect the game,” he said. “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.”

That, in Souness’ eyes, is the crux of the problem. Rice, he believes, excels at reading danger because he is constantly stationed in it, welded to his back four rather than patrolling and dictating higher up the pitch.

“He may be a centre-half”

The criticism went a step further as Souness openly questioned Rice’s position.

“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.”

The former Scotland international then turned his fire on what he sees as a modern dressing-room culture less willing to absorb hard truths.

“But modern players are a bit precious. Criticism doesn't fall easily on these (players') shoulders. He isn't the complete midfield player.”

For Souness, the technical polish is there. The range of passing, the clean strike, the ability to open his body and switch play. What’s missing, he argues, is the full midfield package at the very highest level.

Not world-class? Souness doesn’t hesitate

When asked outright whether Rice belongs among the world’s elite holding midfielders, Souness did not hesitate.

“I'm not sure if he gets in Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City,” he said. “If you want the best in that position, City had two of them - Fernandinho and Rodri. They played in midfield.”

The comparison was deliberate. Souness sees Fernandinho and Rodri as reference points: players who hold their position in midfield, take the ball under pressure, and dictate the game from central areas rather than stepping back into the defensive line.

“Next time, please watch him,” Souness added. “He goes in and gets it cheap under no pressure, a 10-yard pass off Gabriel, and passes it sideways.”

To Souness, those safe, sideways passes from deep are the hallmark of a player avoiding the real heat of midfield, not embracing it.

Blame for England’s World Cup exit

Souness even traced his concerns back to the international stage, pinning a share of England’s World Cup semi-final collapse against Argentina on Rice and his midfield partner Elliot Anderson.

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

In that moment, Souness believes, England’s midfield retreated instead of taking control. For him, it was another example of Rice defaulting into the back line when the game demanded a commanding presence higher up the pitch.

Rice remains central to Arsenal’s title ambitions and England’s hopes on the biggest stages. But with a voice as experienced and uncompromising as Souness branding his style “old man’s football” and questioning whether he truly belongs in midfield, the debate around his role is only going to grow louder.