Rice was often chastised for not scoring enough goals from midfield, but has added that element to his game.
The Englishman spoke about his role in the team and the importance of popping up with vital strikes.
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"No, not really," Rice said speaking to The Athletic about the criticism being unfair.
"Because Roy Keane, (Graeme) Souness, (Jamie) Redknapp, people that talk about my goalscoring ability, if you looked at their goals, they didn't score hundreds in their career.
"But they're remembered for what they did as midfield players: Roy Keane breaking up play, being a hard-tackling midfielder, won loads of titles for United.
"The same with Souness. So I don't know why when it comes to me it's all about goals, because it's never been my game. Since I've been scoring, no one has said anything!"