Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice fell short of his usual standards when England drew 1-1 with Denmark at Euro 2024 on Thursday.
Declan Rice took his game to a whole new level at Arsenal last season.
The 25-year-old arrived at the Emirates Stadium last summer with a reputation as one of the best defensive-midfielders in the Premier League. However, under the guidance of Mikel Arteta, the former West Ham United man has shown that he has the capacity to provide far more than that.
Arteta encouraged Rice to take up a more advanced role at Arsenal. This ultimately resulted in the player establishing himself as a left-eight for the Gunners, rather than being the deepest-lying of the club’s midfield trio.
Rice is still able to put his defensive nous to good use for the North London club. However, many of his actions in this regard now take place higher up the pitch, where Arsenal can immediately be more dangerous if they win possession of the ball. Rice also has the energy and physicality to track back and recover ground if the Gunners’ advanced press is bypassed.
Whilst the 53-cap international has regularly impressed for England, he has a more conservative role in Gareth Southgate’s system. He is instructed to protect the back four and make the Three Lions tough to break down.
He can do this to great effect, and is an exemplary ball-winner and master of breaking up play. Rice was lauded by the press for his combative midfield display against Serbia in England’s first game at Euro 2024.
Even against Denmark, when he struggled to shine, Rice was praised for his tough tackling. Ultimately, though, this performance served to highlight the extent to which Southgate has failed to exploit the full range of Rice’s talents.
The difference between Declan Rice for Arsenal under Mikel Arteta and England under Gareth Southgate
Under Southgate, England have a habit of sitting deep and inviting pressure as soon as they have a lead to protect. The back four drop, Rice then follows suit, until ultimately practically the entire team is dragged into a low block.
This congests space, and does make the team hard to cut through or penetrate. In this environment, Rice can crunch into tackles and win the ball. Problems arise, though, once he has it at his feet.
The game is then so congested, there is no space or pathway for Rice to embark on one of his trademark marauding forward runs which can then drag his teammates forward with him. What’s more, as all of the other England players have retreated so deeply into their own territory, there is no outlet to aim for.
As such, England get caught in this stodgy, compressed mess of a game all too often, in a context that is too claustrophobic for Rice to express the full range of his capabilities.
This problem is avoided at Arsenal, as Arteta ensures the Gunners always have an out-ball, be it Kai Havertz operating as a target man, or the threat of Gabriel Martinelli’s pace in behind the opposition defence.
Until Southgate’s England side can find the conviction to play with greater attacking intent, leaving numbers up the field and stretching the game, then they will not benefit from the full extent of Rice’s talents.
Arsenal winners and losers at Euro 2024
In this week’s episode, Will Jones and Rahul Lakhani discussed the first few days of the European Championships. With Arsenal players such as Kai Havertz and Kieran Tierney experiencing mixed starts to the tournament, the pair assessed which Gunners were the winners and losers from the group stages so far.
There was some talk about transfers based off the Euros, with Arsenal-linked Amadou Onana’s display for Belgium discussed, whilst Leandro Trossard’s poor performance was analysed, and Bukayo Saka’s sensational England showing lauded.