Declan Rice on ‘average’ World Cup, managing minutes and Graeme Souness criticism: ‘Football’s way different now’

As Declan Rice is discussing how he had an “average World Cup”, and talks at length about the challenges modern players have in ensuring prime fitness, a seemingly more trivial topic comes up: the punditry of Graeme Souness . The former Liverpool captain has in recent weeks criticised Rice for playing “old man’s football” and “cheating” in his midfield role, while insisting he’s a “centre-back”. Rice, of course, handles it diplomatically – “there would be no disrespect there, I’d shake his hand, I’d chat with him” – but with some edge, too. The England vice-captain asserts this is what the modern game demands, and it’s completely different to Souness’ time. “My numbers since I joined Arsenal speak for themselves,” Rice laughs, with a record of 15 goals and 25 assists in 129 Premier League appearances. “To be a top-class centre-back getting those numbers I’m delighted with that! The positioning, the ‘old man’s football’... look at Harry Kane . We played him the other week [ a 2-2 Arsenal draw at Bayern Munich ]. He dropped next to the centre-backs 20 to 30 times in the game to pick up the ball. The game’s different now. Rice has returned to the England midfield ahead of Sunday’s Nations League decider against Spain (Getty) “It's what the game demands, to get away from your man, to get away from who's marking you, to go into different areas to create overloads, to create two-v-ones, to progress the ball up the pitch. Football's way different. You're always trying to look for tactical advantages.” Rice is essentially touching on a total transformation in football. Whereas “midfield generals” like Souness and even Roy Keane were able to fully impose themselves on a more loosely structured sport, their modern counterparts are now operating in a fully systemised game. And yet the issue of movement, and even “old man’s football”, also touches on something that is a bit raw – literally. Rice admits he is still “building up to being a 100 per cent” following the World Cup, and that only comes after a necessary intervention involving Thomas Tuchel . The 27-year-old missed England’s last camp after coming off in Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat to Brighton – their only dropped points this season – and admitting he “did not feel right at all on the pitch”. That came after a World Cup where he constantly suffered from hamstring pain, that radiated into his lower back, following a half-decade of constant football at the top level. “He [Tuchel] said, ‘Take some time, get yourself ready’,” Rice reveals. “It was using that time well to prepare to come back fitter, to come back stronger. It was always in my mind to be back ready for this camp. I am really happy and I am in a good place.” Totally different to the World Cup, too, where Rice admits he was “annoyed” he couldn’t physically reach his best levels after a 69-game season for club and country, where he went from winning the Premier League and playing in a Champions League final to going straight into a World Cup. “I think by my standards it was an average,” he says. “It's annoying I couldn't perform how I did at Arsenal at the back end of the season.” That is now the major challenge for players - and especially midfielders - of Rice’s level. They must balance having to play almost all the time, at a very intensive pace, with performance at elite level. That is not the easiest equation to solve, especially when you have numbers like an average of 64 games a season over five years. Rice says he knew he he wasn’t ‘going to be at my best’ at the World Cup (Getty) “It is a tough one,” Rice acknowledges. “Last year I probably felt it more than anything in terms of the amount of games and the toll it takes on your body. I am realising as you get older you have to take the recovery side of it a lot more seriously. When you are 21, 22 and 23 you can get up and gallop around the golf course the next day. Even now I am young at 27, the demands of the game and all the competitions. You get up after a game and you feel your legs. “It is not just the physical side, it is also the mental side. The pressure of delivering for a big club like Arsenal and being in every competition is the goal and we have built a squad where we can rotate but when you are playing well you don’t want to be dropped.” Declan Rice has started all 10 Premier League games for Arsenal so far this season (Getty) Despite the workload, Rice doesn’t want to miss England camps, although one positive to being out of the last one was that he got to enjoy attending a first England game with his son, that 3-2 defeat to Spain . But the issue has become a theme over Tuchel’s time, as the coach has been big on commitment . That, nevertheless, is something the German would never question about Rice. “I’ve always respected that,” he says. “I think, 82 caps, I’ve probably missed three camps in my time with England over an eight, nine-year period now. Last camp, if I didn’t speak to the manager about it, I wouldn’t have done it [dropped out]. But he gave me his word and we had a really honest chat about it, so I was in a better place mentally knowing that he authorised it.” Declan Rice contacted Thomas Tuchel to explain his withdrawal from September’s England squad (PA Wire) Rice’s respect for Tuchel is clear, to the point of making a huge claim: “Thomas is one of, if not the best man manager I've probably played under,” he says. “Just how he manages players, how he talks to players, how you can talk to him not just as a coach, but just as a person.” Rice is happy to be back and England will need their vice-captain at his best if they are to beat the world champions Spain and qualify for the Nations League quarter-finals as group winners. “To beat Spain, as the away team, would be a massive thing for us,” he says. “The mindset is in a really good place, the manager’s messaging has been really good, so we need to go there and put on a performance.” Perhaps Souness would approve, but Rice has his own high standards to meet.