Barry's Bold Call: Declan Rice at Right-Back for England

When the game began to fray and England’s structure started to wobble, the key adjustment didn’t come from the man in the spotlight on the touchline, but from the assistant at his shoulder.

Thomas Tuchel revealed after the match that it was Anthony Barry who spotted the opening and pushed for the switch that changed the rhythm of England’s right flank: Declan Rice, briefly, as a makeshift right-back.

“Anthony Barry had a brilliant idea to put Declan there,” Tuchel admitted, crediting his assistant for the tweak that sharpened England’s threat from wide areas and shored up a vulnerable side of the pitch. The logic was simple but ruthless: move Rice into a channel where his delivery and engine could hurt the opposition and protect Bukayo Saka at the same time.

From that moment, England’s right side carried a different edge. Rice’s presence out wide meant more awkward, outswinging crosses, the kind defenders hate to judge. It also tightened the connection with Eberechi Eze, who began to find pockets and angles that hadn’t been there before. Saka suddenly had help, not isolation. England had balance, not chaos.

“To have his quality from the side, to get more difficult crosses in there, more difficult to defend, more crosses and outswingers,” Tuchel explained. “Also have a bit more support for Bukayo and with Ebs 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 tactical win was clear from the dugout. On the pitch, though, it felt very different.

Rice, usually the anchor in midfield, found himself dragged into a role that demands constant sprints, one‑v‑one duels in space and relentless concentration. He played a crucial part in the build-up to England’s equaliser, but the job came at a cost.

“It was probably the hardest 12 minutes of the game having a stint at right back,” the Arsenal midfielder admitted afterwards. The match had turned wild, end to end, exactly the kind of open-court chaos that exposes a stand‑in full-back. “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.”

England eventually wrestled some control, but Rice was blunt about how much of that late anxiety was self‑inflicted. “I think we made more hard work of it than we needed to,” he said. He has covered the role a handful of times for Arsenal this season, enough to understand the demands, not enough to feel entirely at home there. “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.”

That last line summed up his shift. Twelve minutes to go, the game stretched, the flanks exposed, and Rice stepping into unfamiliar territory because the bench saw a weakness and trusted his versatility to plug it.

“12 minutes left I said I would do my best and I think I did well there,” he reflected. The job was done, the danger managed, the tactical gamble justified. But he allowed himself one honest hope about what comes next.

“Let’s see what happens next game but hopefully I don’t have to be at right back.”