Quote Originally Posted by Mac76 View Post
Your views on Rice continue to defy those of pretty much everyone else who watches him and yes I'm going to talk again about people who go to the game

Partey can be good but is unreliable and injury-prone

as for the comments on Odegaard / Martinelli yes I agree, but I think Havertz was getting in Martinelli's way a bit

As I've said before, it's not just about Havertz' position, overall he is slow to get to the ball and slow to react when he receives it, he looks like he's lost whatever pace he had, it happens sometimes

As for Odegaard, he looks really pissed off these days, it's pure conjecture on my part but I wonder whether, now Arteta's got his new toys in Havertz and Rice, maybe Odegaard feels sidelined, I don't know, we've already seen him and Rice arguing on the pitch and I wonder whether Rice as former West Ham captain is throwing his weight around on the training ground also

And I’ve said most football fans are morons, they see a player running around a lot like he’s Frank Lampard and therefore they make the mistaken assumption that they are seeing someone who is actually contributing. What they are failing to see is how Rice slows down our attacks because the ball is coming to him and he lacks either the pace or the range of passing to set things up quickly, so instead he does these little Hollywood bursts and shoots on goal for a keeper to make an equally Hollywood save, it’s all very impressive but it doesn’t actually achieve anything.

Odegaard is unhappy because Rice despite his footballing limitations is a better leader on the pitch than him. No one who isnt suffering from blunt force trauma or psychosis would ever think to have made him captain to begin with. As for Havertz, If you were playing central midfield despite being an attacker you’d be slow as well because your brain is trying to orientate you on whether you need to pass the ball or move forward with it. Like I say it’s easy to blame one player for the feeble performances of others.

Partey can be unreliable and injury prone. But in terms of raw ability, it’s not just that he’s better than Rice…it’s that they aren’t even in the same league. Rice is Elneny with a bit more athleticism, but not enough or anywhere enough technical ability to be useful to us.
He hasn’t had a bad game for us, because he’s a hard worker. But hard work on its own will not bridge the gap when there’s a yawning chasm of talent between him and Jorginho let alone him and Partey. Simpleton fans see the price tag and the Hollywood cameos and they probably think he’s world class