Declan Rice reveals Arsenal boss Arteta didn’t like one thing Moyes asked him to do a lot at West Ham
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has admitted he had to almost completely un-learn something he was asked to do a lot under David Moyes at West Ham United.
Rice left the Hammers to join Arsenal in a big-money move last summer, and he’s flourished in his first season with the Gunners, who are still in with a chance of winning the Premier League title in an extremely close race with Manchester City.
The England international has been a key part of improving this Arsenal side, but it seems it wasn’t always easy for him to learn what Mikel Arteta wanted from him, with the 25-year-old recalling an early pre-season game against Manchester United proving difficult for him.
As well as that, Rice told The Athletic just how much Arteta doesn’t like long diagonal balls out to the flanks, even though it was one of the main passes he was tasked with playing under West Ham boss Moyes.
Rice has done well to change his playing style at Arsenal, showing just how much quality he has on the ball, and how intelligent he can be with the passing decisions he makes.
Rice explains Arteta doesn’t like his trademark move from West Ham days
“The manager doesn’t like diagonals, really,” Rice told The Athletic.
“He does like diagonals if you’re going to gain an advantage from it. But you see that one I’ve just played to Saka (against Brighton), people will go, ‘That’s a great ball’, but let me rewind the clip and pause it.
“Look, Saka doesn’t have anyone to play inside to and he’s got another Brighton player coming over.
“So if it’s there to hit and it gives you an advantage, you hit it, of course. But if it doesn’t, he’d rather you play short relationships, let them come onto you, and play around them to then create the space for him (the winger).”
He added: “At West Ham last year, I was playing so many passes long. But that was our style.
“Moyes loved me dropping into ‘false full-back’ (on the left) because I could then cut inside and hit the opposite side. And, as you can see (on the graph), loads of passes going out to that right side – that was a big theme for me and (Vladimir) Coufal, and (Jarrod) Bowen, having that relationship where, if I get it, for Coufal to go. I used to hit that zone a lot.”
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