West Ham United: Chief football writer highlights ‘massive’ Antoine Greizmann test for Declan Rice
The Times’ chief football writer Jonathan Northcroft has suggested Declan Rice hasn’t had to face a player like Antoine Griezmann as the West Ham captain gears up for England’s World Cup clash against France.
The midfielder is currently out of training with The Times suggesting (8 December) that the 23-year-old is currently being monitored by England’s doctors.
If he is deemed fit to play, Northcroft believes his matchup against Griezmann could be crucial in deciding the outcome of the quarter-final.
“That’s a massive test for Declan Rice [facing Griezmann], who has been great this tournament and he hasn’t really had a player to play against like that,” said Northcroft (The Game Podcast, 39:00, 8 December).
“Maybe the solution is keeping the fullbacks in a much more defensive mode.”
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A lot of the talk this week has been about how England stop Kylian Mbappe, with Kyle Walker the man who is set to be tasked with stopping the PSG superstar. However, it’s easy to take an eye off a number of the other threat France have in their ranks.
Olivier Giroud is a machine on the international stage, Ousmane Dembele could cause Luke Shaw more problems than Mbappe does to Walker, and Griezmann will find pockets of space and dictate play. If Rice is fit, how he deals with the Atletico Madrid attacker will be absolutely crucial. If the 23-year-old can restrict him, then it could result in Mbappe and Dembele seeing far less of the ball, which would be a positive for England.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein revealed (via Twitter, 7 December) that there was hope the West Ham midfielder would be available for the game on Saturday evening. Luckily for Gareth Southgate, he has plenty of midfield players at his disposal, but Rice is currently an indispensable option for the England boss.