Ashley Cole told Sky Sports (15/11/20 at 9:55 pm) that West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice ‘didn’t see the danger’ when England suffered a 2-0 defeat to Belgium last night.
West Ham’s defensive rock played in a midfield two for his country, initially alongside Jordan Henderson before the Liverpool man was replaced by Harry Winks at half-time.
Youri Tielemans opened the scoring for the hosts after Eric Dier was at fault for his wayward pass into midfield before Dries Mertens doubled his side’s lead via a free-kick.
Former England left-back Cole felt that Rice’s didn’t sense danger when making his recovery run for the opening goal and he was attracted to the wrong player when defending that attacking phase.
“I think he got attracted more towards Lukaku [when defending England’s first goal],” said Cole. “I think that line [same one as the goalscorers] should have been his recovery run.
“Look where this ball ends up [at Tielemans feet] that would have been Declan running onto that [had he run in a straight line and into space when recovering rather than running towards Lukaku]. Now the ball has gone behind him and he’s chasing it. He doesn’t see where the danger is.
“If he had taken that straight run, he would have had Dier with Lukaku and then you have that little bit of balance on the opposite side of the box for any balls that are played off Lukaku.”
In truth, England’s midfield, including Rice, was hard done by last night because if it wasn’t for Dier’s under-pressure and wayward pass then Belgium don’t score that first goal.
Plus, Gareth Southgate isn’t helping players like Rice by playing the formation he is putting out because he needs to put more attack-minded players around the West Ham man.
Rather than looking at the players, the system should be blamed because it’s clearly not working and Southgate needs to either play a back four or bulk up the midfield.
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