Gary Neville says Arsenal star was a ‘massive problem’ for England at the World Cup

Gary Neville has explained why Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was a ‘massive problem’ for England at the World Cup.

England were dreaming of ending 60 years of hurt out in the United States but suffered a semi-final defeat to Argentina.

Thomas Tuchel’s side had one foot in the final after taking the lead against Argentina, only to concede two late goals in a heartbreaking defeat.

Tuchel has faced huge criticism for England’s approach in the semi-final, although he did lead the Three Lions to their best World Cup finish since 1966 after winning the third-place play-off against France.

Neville is wary of being too critical of England given he never expected the team to reach the final even before a ball was kicked.

The Manchester United legend also believes Tuchel was hamstrung as Rice, one of the most important members of his squad, was only half-fit and then suffered a bout of sickness in the knockout stages.

‘The biggest positive from England’s point of view was getting to a semi-final,’ Neville said on The Peter Crouch Podcast.

‘The reason I don’t think we should go overboard is if you told me before the tournament that England would get to the semi-final I would have snapped your hand off.

‘The squad he picked, I didn’t think it could get past the semi-finals and that’s what happened.

‘Jude [Bellingham] has been unbelievable, Harry’s [Kane] goalscoring the same. [Djed] Spence is a positive, he’s proven he can play at this level and defend one vs one.

‘For me, not having Declan Rice in the tournament which has effectively been the case… not having him is a massive problem.

‘Declan Rice fit and flying and running all over everybody… [Elliot] Anderson has been in there in that midfield pretty much on his own at times.

‘I love Declan to bits and he’s our best midfielder by a mile, but he’s been nowhere near it physically in the tournament.’

While ‘gutted’ about the semi-final defeat to Argentina, Rice insisted he was ‘proud’ of his England teammates after they secured a third-place finish at the World Cup.

The Premier League title winner said: ‘This is the best England group for a very long time. That’s a fact. No-one can take that away from us.

‘I think we can be proud as a group – we are just gutted we lost in that semi-final.

‘We’re tired of saying we’re proud of coming in semi-finals and quarter-finals – we want to win with England ultimately. But to come third in this tournament is a real achievement.

‘We’re so close, honestly. There’s been so much talk about this group over the last few years going out of tournaments. There’s been semi-final exits, quarter-finals, finals.

‘I think we need to keep going. I do think it’s close. It’s a game of small margins. It’s football and the other night we lost on margins and in the boxes.’

England’s semi-final opponents Argentina face Spain in the World Cup final after the European champions knocked out France.

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