Paul Scholes has urged Thomas Tuchel to drop Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice from England’s World Cup team ahead of their last-32 clash against DR Congo on Wednesday evening. The Manchester United legend believes England should start only one holding midfielder and would prefer Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson over Rice.
England's Group Stage Performance
England topped Group L with seven points from a possible nine, opening with an impressive 4-2 win over Croatia. However, they struggled in subsequent matches, drawing 0-0 with Ghana and taking over an hour to break down Panama before winning 2-0. Tuchel, aiming to end 60 years of hurt at the tournament in the United States, has faced criticism for the team's lack of fluency.
Scholes' Criticism of Rice
Rice missed the Panama game partly due to an ongoing injury issue and because he was at risk of suspension after picking up a yellow card against Ghana. Despite being expected to return against DR Congo, Scholes argued on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast: 'England don’t need to play two sitting midfielders in the next game. No disrespect to Congo but in those type of games you play as many attackers as possible. I think it has to be a straight shootout between Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson, and I think I would just go with Anderson.'
Scholes added: 'I think he will pass it forward a bit more. Think about Rice with Arsenal… look, he’s a great player and a great leader, I get all that, and you’d rather him in your team than not most of the time. But Arsenal didn’t play great football last season either, did they? Rice couldn’t get [Martin] Odegaard in the game, so maybe that’s transferred a bit to England. I don’t think that happens with Anderson.'
Butt Backs Rice
Scholes’ former Manchester United and England teammate Nicky Butt also urged Tuchel to pick only one sitting midfielder but would start Rice over Anderson, who is set to join Manchester City in a deal worth £116 million. 'You can’t play two sitting midfielders against teams who aren’t going to have any of the possession,' Butt said. 'I’d definitely play Declan Rice in the next game so I would leave Elliot Anderson out. I think he’s been brilliant and is a top, top, top player which is why Man City have gone and paid £120m for him. I just don’t think you can leave Declan Rice out. He’s one of those players you just don’t leave out.'
England's World Cup Prospects
Discussing England’s overall performance, Scholes said: 'It wasn’t great, was it? Across the three games I don’t think I’ve seen a team that will win the World Cup. It hasn’t been great but look, they could get better and they’re winning games and I do think they’ve got match winners in the team. I just don’t think they’re at the level of France or Argentina yet.'
England’s last-32 opponents DR Congo finished third in Group K after beating Uzbekistan, drawing with Portugal, and losing to Colombia. The match is set for Wednesday evening as England aim to advance further in the tournament.
