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 been 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.
‘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.
‘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.
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