Arsenal star Declan Rice has responded to Stuart Pearce’s claim that England are struggling with their identity under Lee Carsley, following their 3-1 win over Finland in the Nations League on Sunday.
The Three Lions bounced back after their midweek 2-1 defeat to Greece, but despite the victory, Pearce highlighted issues with their playing style and Carsley’s tactical approach.
The 50-year-old’s England selections have come under high scrutiny in recent weeks. He opted to play without a natural centre-forward in their shock loss at Wembley, then deployed Trent Alexander-Arnold at left-back and gave Dean Henderson his first start in goal since 2020 three days later.
On Sunday, Pearce also criticised Carsley’s tactics, suggesting that despite his possession-based approach, the Three Lions are playing ‘slowly and backwards’.
Rice, who got on the scoresheet in the 3-1 win in Helsinki, was quizzed on Pearce’s claim, but had a different view of England’s performance after their final test of the October international break.
Rice Hits Back at Stuart Pearce
‘Under Lee, we have an identity’
Speaking to talkSPORT after the match, Rice responded to Pearce’s comments by laughing and disagreeing with the Nottingham Forest icon’s view on England’s identity:
“I can’t really say too much but I think that’s wrong, I think we do have an identity. I think you’ve seen that under Lee. Under Gareth [Southgate] we had an identity on how we wanted to play and under Lee we have an identity.
“I think you can see we’re desperate to play out from the back, we want to pass the ball, we want to have short connections, we want to drop people low, we want to create overloads.
“I think we do have an identity and think it’s a good one because the fans are demanding we play this attacking, free flowing football.”
It remains to be seen how much longer Carsley will remain in charge of England, having revealed he has not formally applied for the senior team job yet.
The 50-year-old was appointed as the Three Lions’ interim head coach in the summer, replacing Gareth Southgate just weeks after the former boss stepped down, having led England to the Euro 2024 final.
After England’s 2-1 loss to Greece at Wembley, Carsley admitted he is hopeful of returning to the U21s after three senior team camps, despite being among the favourites to take the full-time role, alongside former Chelsea bosses Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
