Declan Rice hasn’t looked himself at Euro 2024 (Photo: Getty)
Gary Neville believes Gareth Southgate must change Declan Rice’s position for England, just as Mikel Arteta did at Arsenal.
It comes after the Three Lions’ dismal 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday as their lacklustre Euro 2024 campaign continued in Frankfurt.
Few of England’s players are performing well, even those that have undroppable over the past few years, with Declan Rice looking completely out of shorts.
Considered one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, the £100million Arsenal star has looked a shadow of himself this tournament, but Neville has suggested that Arteta’s tactics may be having a negative impact on how he play for his country.
Rice notably went from more of a holding player or No.6 to a box-to-box No.8 under Arteta, but has always remained the deepest midfielder under Southgate.
‘I want to mention a player who we all love 100 per cent,’ former Manchester United and England defender Neville said on ITV.
‘Mikel Arteta moved Declan Rice out of that position [No.6] for the last 15 games of the season to bring in Jorginho and [Thomas] Partey, because he’s not that good at playing there.
Rice had a brilliant first season at Arsenal (Photo: Getty)
‘That’s the most nervous I’ve ever seen Declan Rice and he’s a brilliant player. I think he’s better further up the pitch.
‘If you think about what [Toni] Kroos, Rodri and Vitinha do, they’re players who get the team going. At Manchester United it was Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. It’s Jorginho at Arsenal.
‘We don’t seem to have this player. [Kobbie] Mainoo’s probably the one. [Adam] Wharton could do it. We have to resolve this problem and I’m not talking about Gareth in the next four days.
Mikel Arteta changed Rice’s game at Arsenal (Photo: Getty)
‘I’m just talking England generally. We’ve never been able to get out from the back properly in moments of pressure.
‘When he [Rice] receives the ball deep with his back to play, I think he’s quite basic at that. I don’t think he’s as good as the other players who play that position.
‘Where I think he’s brilliant is where he’s marauding forward, he’s on top of the game, he’s being aggressive. If you look at his touch map for Arsenal in the last part of the season, most of his touches were in the high-left channel.
Gareth Southgate has much to ponder (Photo: Getty)
‘I get that he’s got Jorginho, he might have [Oleksandar] Zinchenko and Partey in midfield. For some reason we don’t have that balance in midfield and that’s a massive problem.’
Fellow pundit and former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright disagreed that Rice can’t play as a No.6, suggesting he’s be forced to change his game due to the set-up at the Emirates.
‘With the way that Rice plays Arsenal, we’ve got progressive centre-halves, inverted full-backs…,’ he said.
‘Declan then has to move forward because there’s no space for him. That’s why he’s pushing up the field.’
Given the underwhelming performances, Southgate will likely make changes for the final group game against Slovenia, with Rice potentially getting a new midfield partner given the struggles of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The aforementioned Mainoo and Wharton could come in, though Conor Gallagher, who likes to play more advanced, seems a more likely bet.
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