England got off to a wonderful start in their World Cup campaign with a 6-2 win over Iran – but Sky Sports have quite bizarrely handed West Ham United captain Declan Rice a 5/10 rating for his “nervous” performance in midfield.
Rice, 23, won his 34th cap for England on Monday as England got off to a brilliant start. Bukayo Saka nabbed a brace, while Raheem Sterling, Jude Bellingham, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish got their names on the score sheet.
A superb display, even if Porto striker Mehdi Taremi scored twice for Carlos Quieroz’s side. In the end, England go into Friday’s outing against USA with three points on the board and a goal difference of +4, at this early stage.
For England, it takes the pressure off going into those two fixtures and automatically strengthens their chances of finishing at the top of Group B. According to WhoScored, Rice produced a brilliant performance in terms of stats.
He enjoyed 104 touches, completed a huge 90 of 95 attempted passes including five out of seven long balls. He also made three interceptions and one tackle. According to Sky Sports, his performance was a “nervous” one, earning 5/10.
They said: “A nervous performance from a usually reliable player. Was easily beaten before an Iran break, and was unable to stop the assist for Iran’s first goal. Gave the ball away too much in midfield for a player of his calibre.”
Sky Sports hand West Ham star Rice a 5/10 rating for England display
From our point of view, Rice was solid. He did everything that will have been asked of him. Kept it simple, broke up any threat of an Iran counter attack, and fed his more-attacking players. Jude Bellingham was the star of the show.
Bukayo Saka was superb, Harry Kane got two assists, Raheem Sterling a goal and an assist. Harry Maguire answered critics. There were no properly bad displays – even Jordan Pickford made a top save to tip one on to the bar.
So, for Sky Sports to tear into Rice is somewhat harsh – especially when England had played so well. An interesting one but Rice will take confidence from his performance and should not lose any momentum ahead of Friday against USA.
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