Gary Lineker has made a suggestion to Thomas Tuchel about how to get the best out of Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice for England next summer.
Rice is enjoying an exceptional season for the Gunners, with Saturday afternoon’s man of the match display against Burnley his most eye-catching performance yet.
That said, the 26-year-old hasn’t always been able to thrive in a dysfunctional Three Lions team.
Lineker is convinced that he’s found the solution, pitching a specific three-man midfield which he believes Tuchel should deploy at the World Cup.
Gary Lineker’s Declan Rice suggestion for Thomas Tuchel
At Euro 2024, Rice was deployed as England’s deepest midfielder.
Despite Gareth Southgate’s side reaching the final of the competition, they were berated throughout and Rice faced the brunt of the national frustration.
While Mikel Arteta has been able to perfectly build a system which maximises the former West Ham man’s strengths, England have not yet managed this.
The likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Trent Alexander-Arnold were both used alongside Rice at the Euros, but neither are likely to fill this role at the World Cup.
Instead, Lineker believes that Arsenal’s midfield stalwart and Jude Bellingham should be used as box-to-box number eights, with either Elliot Anderson or Adam Wharton sitting deep.
“If I were Thomas Tuchel, which I’m not, and it’s very easy just to be on the sidelines as we all know,” the presenter said on the Rest is Football Podcast.
“But I would look at England and I would go, imagine having as your two eights, Bellingham, Rice up and down, and then a holding player, whether it be Anderson or Wharton or whoever it is, it’s that kind of player and then three up.
“If you’ve got those two, the amount of ground that Rice covers, and also the way he advances with the ball, I mean, he’s such a mover, isn’t he?”
Declan Rice can still play as a lone six for England and Arsenal
Lineker’s suggestion might be the preferred solution against some of the better teams England will face.
However, against lesser sides, both Tuchel and Arteta ought to be slightly more aggressive by deploying Rice as a lone six, to fit an extra offensively-minded player in.
Arteta did this in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over West Ham in October, starting Rice behind Eberechi Eze and Martin Odegaard in a three-man midfield.
For England, this could allow Tuchel to fit Bellingham and Cole Palmer into the same team, against opposition that will cede possession.
A lot of Rice’s best work against Burnley came when he dropped deep and sat alongside Martin Zubimendi. A narrative seems to have been forged that the £100 million man is all of a sudden not able to play as a six, but this is clearly wide of the mark, as Arteta has actually dropped him deeper this season.
He needs to be trusted in this role more often by both of his managers.
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