Joe Hart has claimed that Declan Rice was clearly struggling during England's World Cup semi-final against Argentina and 'left a void' in central midfield, contributing to the 2-1 defeat. The defending champions came from behind to win with late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez on Wednesday, reaching Sunday's final.
Rice's Physical Struggles
Rice entered the tournament with a lingering hamstring injury from a gruelling season at Arsenal and failed to hit his usual levels throughout England's campaign. An illness left him bedbound for three days before the quarter-final against Norway, where he was substituted at half-time after struggling in the intense Miami heat.
Although declared fit for the semi-final, the 27-year-old appeared off the pace and lacked his typical influence alongside Elliot Anderson in central midfield. Hart, speaking on the BBC post-match, said: 'He did struggle; he struggled in that central midfield. I think we took him for granted a little bit in terms of how we set the team up.'
Impact on England's Performance
England went ahead through Anthony Gordon but paid the price for negative substitutions as they attempted to hold a narrow lead. Rice was replaced by Nico O'Reilly in the 80th minute as England shifted to a 5-4-1 formation, ultimately in vain. Hart explained: 'Declan Rice needed to be able to be top of the running stats, creation, taking free-kicks and corners and that long, hard season he had with Arsenal has caught up with him.'
Hart added: 'I'm sure Anderson did everything he could to fill that void that Rice left but there's no doubt that at the latter end of this tournament that Declan has struggled a little bit.'
Tuchel's Tactical Decisions Questioned
Hart also criticised Thomas Tuchel's in-game management, suggesting the German failed to learn from predecessor Gareth Southgate's mistakes. 'Gareth Southgate will be at home watching this game, and he took a lot of criticism when it came to big moments with England when they had the lead and shutting up shop but I don't see anything has changed in the big moment out there,' Hart said.
'For Thomas Tuchel, for all the praise we have given him, for him to change it as soon as he did. I think he realised he didn't believe in his team, he didn't believe they could land any more punches on Argentina.'
Hart noted that Argentina never panicked: 'Norway and Mexico panicked, they were just whipping balls into the box and Dan Burn was licking his lips. I didn't see one bit of panic from that Argentinian side. I saw belief, I saw them realising they could free up the great man Messi in the pocket, and they were running all over England.'
