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)