Side by Side, Rice v Anderson

Well the international break is over and its back to the bread and butter of the Premier League. I was fascinated by the midfield partnership of Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson in the England games, so I decided to delve into their club perfomances this year (up to game week 7). Do they compliment each other with different MOs or are they two of the same?

First off they have played the same number of games although Rice came on as a sub in one. Rice’s actual goals plus assists to Anderson’s is 3:1, suggesting Rice is more attack minded. But Anderson just edges it on Expected Metrics. So its not for the want of trying, Anderson appears just as attack minded as Rice.

Anderson puts himself about a bit more though. The two yellow cards looks like he is not shy at commiting to the tackles but maybe a bit too much. If they both go to the World Cup next year Thomas Tuchel will not want Anderson carrying cards into the final stage of the comp. Come on… I can hear you! Of course England will get to the latter stages.

The shooting stats again show Anderson is not afraid to have a go and is 5.5% better at getting his shots on target. However both have a average shooting distance well outside the box, although that is what you would expect from a midfielder even if shots from 20+ yards a generally a low percentage shot as far a scoring a goal goes

In this metric there is nothing really to seperate them. The passing accuracy (Cmp%) for both drops off when attempting passes over 30 yards. These stats are per 90 mins and on average they are both attempting (Att) around 11 passes of 30 yards+ but completing (Cmp) just less than half of those. It would suggest both are tempted to bypass midfield with their passing if they see the need or opportunity

Defensively Anderson definately puts himself about more per game, whether its in the defensive third, midfield or the attacking third, although Rice’s shot blocking is almost 4 times better than Anderson’s

The possession stats tend to overwrite my hot-take about Anderson being more defensive minded. Rice has more touches in the defensive box than Anderson, but Anderson has more touches per game in the attacking box than Rice.

Anderson definately appears to be more adventourous with the ball but way down on Rice when it comes to those take-ons being successful or getting tackled

Anderson shades Rice on the carries but not by much.

And just to explain the terminology. Progressive Carries are:
Carries that move the ball towards the opponent's goal line at least 10 yards from its furthest point in the last six passes, or any carry into the penalty area. Excludes carries which end in the defending 50% of the pitch

Anderson appears to make himself more availble than Rice for receiving passes. I think this is a key metric for a midfielder who wants to run the game, finding space to receive, effectively looking for the ball, rather than waiting for it. Not saying Rice is a ‘waiter’ (there is a joke in there somewhere) just that Anderson is possibly a bit better at finding the space when not on the ball.

Andersson is the slightly busier of the two and maybe just the bit more defensive minded. Having watched both play I feel Rice is more inclined than Anderson to get into the forward line and make himself available for a shooting chance.

So…they are not really chalk and cheese but altough they do have slightly different MOs, they are more like the ‘peas in a pod’. In this respect I think they do compliment each other when on the park together for England.

Could this be a match made in heaven for England come World Cup time? Lets see…

All stats for this analysis are provided by FBref