By Hughie Southon
Declan Rice produced a decent performance as England scored a thumping 6-2 victory over a poor Iran side in their opening World Cup game.
The Hammers captain was used very much as the holding defensive player in front of a back line which allowed his partner Jude Bellingham to get forward and indeed score a fine first goal with a superb header inn what was a sensational performance.
That may offer another hint to David Moyes in terms of how to use Declan who is clearly more effective in such a role rather than sometimes being used as an attacking midfielder.
In reality Dec had little do during a game which they obviously dominated from start to finish and in rating terms probably earned himself a six or seven out of ten although he lost possession to set up a dangerous Iran second half attack:
England scorers:
- Bellingham (35′minutes),
- Saka (43′minutes, 62′minutes),
- Sterling (45’+1minutes),
- Rashford (71′minutes),
- Grealish (89′minutes)