Declan Rice has expressed admiration for his teammate Jorginho, a move that contrasts with earlier criticisms from Rio Ferdinand.
Arsenal’s Declan Rice has praised his fellow midfielder, Jorginho. This comes after notable pundits like Rio Ferdinand previously critiqued the Italian player’s performance.
Speaking to Joe Cole on Channel 4, Rice said: “The one that surprised me so much, well not surprise me as I knew he was such a good player anyway, but playing with him everyday in training and seeing how he is because he’s not the biggest is Jorginho.
“He is like, his brain, the way it works as a holding midfielder – I have just been trying to pick up little things off of him because he is always in position, he always knows when to pass, always creates time for himself – he is an outstanding trainer and I’ve been trying to take bits from his game as well.”
Having previously played for Chelsea and won the Champions League with them, Jorginho moved to Arsenal in January.
Since his transfer, one of the most cited criticisms of the midfielder came from Rio Ferdinand after Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Arsenal.
Ferdinand commented on BT Sport, “How many assists has he got this season? 2000 passes, no assists. He’s not a great defender, once the game gets like this against big teams he gets overrun in midfield. He can’t run, so he doesn’t give you anything defensively and he doesn’t give you anything at the other end of the pitch.”
Arsenal fans, like Rice, however, know Ferdinand’s comments are nonsense. Recently, the 31-year-old has been deployed to close out tight games to exceptional effect with his experience and control of the ball integral.
As for assists, that isn’t what he is in the side for. Complaining about the lack of them is like complaining a defender isn’t scoring enough.
And, for the record, Jorginho does indeed have an Arsenal assist to his name from the 2-0 win over Newcastle at St. James’ Park last season.
In addition, during 11 minutes against Crystal Palace, as Arsenal hung on to a 1-0 lead, Jorginho played four passes into the final third while not losing the ball once.
Other Ferdinand proclamations
2021
“I still think Arsenal need a top centre half, all the problems stem from that,” Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel. “You’ve got a great nucleus of young players, there’s seven or eight young players there who everyone is talking about.
“But you’ve got to put the pieces around them and that’s the big problem. That’s been the big problem with recruitment at Arsenal for so long.
“Saliba, what’s happened with him? It’s a waste of money it seems at the minute. I don’t know what’s happened.”