"Not that good at playing there" - Gary Neville urges Southgate to use England star in different position after his 'nervous' showing against Denmark
Gary Neville believes England boss Gareth Southgate has been playing Declan Rice out of position. The pundit feels Rice's performance against Denmark on Thursday (20 June) showed why Southgate needs to use the midfielder differently.
The Three Lions drew 1-1 against Denmark at the Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt. Harry Kane opened the scoring for England in the 18th minute before Morten Hjulmand found the equalizer with an extraordinary long-range finish in the first half (34').
Speaking after the draw to ITV, Neville claimed that Rice can offer more going forward. He believes the Arsenal star mustn't be held back as a holding midfielder and should be given more freedom to move up the pitch.
Neville highlighted Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta's use of the midfielder and said (as quoted by The Mirror):
"Mikel Arteta moved Declan Rice out of that position [No.6] for the last 15 games of the season to bring Jorginho and [Thomas] Partey in because he's not that good at playing there. Today is the most nervous I've seen Declan Rice and he's a brilliant player."
He added:
"I think he's better moving up the pitch. If you think about what [Toni] Kroos and Rodri and Vitinha does for Portugal, these players who get the team playing... at Manchester United it was Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and it's Jorginho for Arsenal."
"Every team that's really great has this type of player nowadays. We don't seem to have that. Mainoo's probably the one, Wharton could maybe do it. We have to resolve that problem and I'm talking England generally."
England will next face Slovenia in the 2024 European Championships on 25 June.
"I think he's quite basic at that" - Gary Neville claims Declan Rice is 'not as good' as other England players in his usual position
Gary Neville feels England have other players who are better suited for the holding midfield role. The pundit insists that Rice is rather average at receiving the ball as a deep-lying midfielder.
He said:
"We've never been able to get out from the back properly in moments of pressure. When he goes to receive 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."
Explaining the England international's strengths as a midfielder, Neville added:
"Where I think he's brilliant is when he's marauding forward, he's up on top of the game and he's aggressive. If you look at his touch map for Arsenal in the last part of the season, most of his touches were in that high left channel."
Neville concluded:
"For some reason we don't have that balance in midfield and it's a massive problem."
Rice played a key role in Arsenal's title charge in the Premier League last season. The midfielder registered 38 league appearances last term, coming off the bench in only one of them.
He scored seven goals and provided nine assists in the English top tier for the Gunners last campaign.