Joe Hart has claimed that Declan Rice was clearly struggling during England's World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina and 'left a void' in central midfield. The Three Lions suffered a dramatic 2-1 loss on Wednesday, with late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez sending the defending champions to Sunday's final.
England's early lead and defensive shift
Thomas Tuchel's side took the lead through Anthony Gordon, but a series of defensive substitutions as they sought to protect a narrow victory proved costly. Rice was one of the players replaced, making way for Nico O'Reilly as England switched to a 5-4-1 formation for the final ten minutes, ultimately in vain.
Rice entered the tournament with a lingering hamstring injury from a gruelling season with Arsenal and did not hit his usual levels for large parts of England's campaign. An illness left him bedbound for three days before the quarter-final with Norway, and he was eventually substituted at half-time after struggling in the intense Miami heat.
Hart's assessment of Rice's performance
Although passed fit to start the semi-final against Argentina, the 27-year-old appeared off the pace and failed to exert his usual influence on and off the ball alongside Elliot Anderson in central midfield. Former England goalkeeper Joe Hart believes Rice's lack of energy ultimately cost the team.
'He did struggle; he struggled in that central midfield,' Hart said on the BBC post-match. 'I think we took him for granted a little bit in terms of how we set the team up. 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.'
'But that is what happens at these tournaments: the best players – and I'm not knocking Declan for this because you can't help how you feel physically and with illness – but he's such an important player for England. 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,' Hart added.
Tuchel's tactics under scrutiny
Hart also questioned Thomas Tuchel's in-game management, suggesting the German had failed to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor Gareth Southgate. '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. 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,' Hart concluded.
