Fair point.
I hope Arteta somehow finds ways to maximise Rice’s potential.
Well if we win trophies regardless, I don’t give a shit about Rice’s potential tbh.
Absolutely, but I think you can also likely do similar for Caicedo if you were inclined to, as in, looking at how he is tasked with responsibilities or functions in the Chelsea side that Rice isn’t in ours, like how Rice is tasked with taking our set pieces but Caicedo isn’t, and how this helps explain why Caicedo has the edge over Rice on certain statistical measures. I doubt they’d be as obvious as taking set pieces leading to chance creation, but I bet you could at least start to contextualise Caicedo’s stats in a similar fashion. Unfortunately I lack the time and knowledge to do so myself lol, I just don’t watch Chelsea enough to speak on the ins and outs Caicedo’s specific role.
Also, I think you have to acknowledge that Rice takes our set pieces because he is so good at it, and much better than Caicedo at that. If Caicedo had that quality, he’d likely be taking them too.
I do favour open play chance creation, and fair enough Caicedo almost certainly leads there, but set pieces are an important part of football and chances created from them rightly still count towards a player’s overall stats.
Ultimately, I’m just saying that there are some statistical measures that Rice beats Caicedo on (goals, assists, chances created, carries, progressive carries), because you did say that there was not a single statistic that helped support Rice’s case.
Anyway, given I might give Caicedo the edge over Rice, and I’m not even an avid Rice fan compared to some of our other players, I won’t spend any more time “arguing” with you lol
Definitely team Rice here but I do agree that currently it’s pretty close.
There was a point I would have agreed with “far better” but Caicedo has been a standout performer for Chelsea for a while now.
Btw, I think if we’re gonna beat Rice with a stick over how he does a #6(mainly for DLP standpoint) then the same should apply for Caicedo. I don’t recall the last time I’ve seen him play as a single pivot. He either plays further as an #8 or is forming a double pivot with one of Enzo, or Reece, and nowadays Santos too.
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I do, and I stand by this. Since he’s joined Arsenal, he has been one of our most important and consistent players. He has improved each season and I can only see him getting better. I said before and will say again that I think he will become the dominant midfielder in the Premier League, and he is rapidly becoming this. In Zubimendi, I think we have another transformational player.
As @Calum said above, in retrospect Rice may not be a ‘far better midfielder than Caicedo’, but I do think Rice is better and I love Caicedo. I had a meltdown when he signed for Chelsea because I really wanted him at Arsenal, along with Rice.
Exactly this!
Exactly this too!
@JakeyBoy I think you need to be regarded as the Official OA fact checker. I don’t mean this as a dig, but as a genuine compliment.
I don’t think you understand what it means to be a generational talent.
I agree with ‘transformational’ for the squad, but not for the club (that’s Saka + Gabriel for me) or generational.
Haaland, Ronaldinho, Henry - these are generational players, you only get very few of them every 20-yrs or so.
If Rice can do for us what Gerrard and Lampard did for Liverpool and Chelsea respectively, then a conversation can be had at being ‘transformational’ at club level.
He’s eons away from being generational though, I don’t think we even have any of that ilk in our squad, if I’m being honest. Maybe Saka can reach those heights if he keeps up his G/A record.
Declan only needs to work on his forward passes for me. But if the team is scoring & winning games then I don’t quite give a shit.
Caicedo < Rice.
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This is such an international football discussion right here.
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And only one of them nominated for league player of the year 
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Sure beats the time people were fighting in the Eze thread. Not even OA’s final form yet.
At least we’re not talking about Cristiano Ronaldo having botox in his genitals…
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Listen, you bought it up. I was sparing your blushes.
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@Stroller 's immediate reaction still cracks me up.
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Allot of this Caisedo praise is a bit over the top. Yes he’s very good but he especially stands out in a team full of average to below average players.
Moreover there’s this nostalgia for N’golo Kante where Chelsea and opposition fans see Caisedo as the heir to a highly praised players.
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Same. And I think the same actually applies to Rice too.
No disrespect to either but if these two are the best the league has to offer currently, there has been a clear drop-off in the PL.
Caicedo is nice, Declan is the better all-rounder though.