Declan Rice Shines as Right-Back in England's Tactical Shift

In the chaos of a frantic finish, the game tilted on an idea that didn’t even come from the man in charge.

Thomas Tuchel revealed after the match that the key tactical tweak – shifting Declan Rice to right-back – was the brainchild of his assistant, Anthony Barry. It was a subtle change on paper, but it transformed England’s right flank and the quality of their delivery from wide areas.

“Anthony Barry had a brilliant idea to put Declan there,” Tuchel admitted, as quoted by The Sun. “To have his quality from the side, to get more difficult crosses in there, more difficult to defend, more crosses and outswingers.

“Also have a bit more support for Bukayo [Saka] and with Ebs [Eze] we had a bit more of a connection on the right side that helped and opened it up. So full credit to my assistant.”

The switch did exactly what it was designed to do. England’s right side, previously predictable, suddenly carried menace. Rice’s passing from deeper and wider positions stretched the opposition, Saka found more space to isolate his marker, and Eberechi Eze finally had angles to combine rather than constantly receive under pressure.

The pressure finally told in the build-up to the equaliser, with Rice heavily involved. His composure and range, now coming from an unfamiliar corridor of the pitch, gave England a different rhythm at a moment when the game threatened to slip away from them.

For Rice, though, the move came with a cost.

“It was probably the hardest 12 minutes of the game having a stint at right back,” the Arsenal midfielder said afterwards. The match had descended into a wild, end-to-end contest, and he didn’t sugar-coat it.

“In games like that it was probably too much of a basketball match at times, back and forth, and we had to take the sting out of it because they have fast wingers.

“I think we made more hard work of it than we needed to. I have played there two or three times this season, I know the role, it is probably not my biggest strength but to do anything for the team and the manager. 12 minutes left I said I would do my best and I think I did well there. Let’s see what happens next game but hopefully I don’t have to be at right back.”

Those 12 minutes underlined both Rice’s versatility and England’s reliance on problem-solving on the fly. He isn’t a natural full-back, he doesn’t pretend to be, yet when the game turned into a sprint relay down the flanks, he absorbed the responsibility and steadied a side that had been dragged into a shootout.

Tuchel’s praise for Barry shone a light on the often unseen influence of assistants, the ones who spot a mismatch or a passing lane from a different angle on the touchline. On this occasion, that sharp eye dragged England back into control and gave their right side a structure it had sorely lacked.

Rice will hope his future minutes stay in midfield. After this, Tuchel and Barry know they have an emergency option waiting on the chalk of the touchline if the storm hits again.