‘Anthony Barry had a brilliant idea’

Thomas Tuchel’s England staggered through a nightmare match against DR Congo earlier this evening, trailing 1-0 for most of the event.

In the end, the Three Lions prevailed through a Harry Kane brace, with a header in the 75th, then a thunderous right-footed strike into the roof of the net in the 86th.

Prior to that, Thomas Tuchel made a bizarre but brilliant position change with Declan Rice to right-back, but why?

Thomas Tuchel explains baffling but brilliant Declan Rice position change during England vs DR Congo, 2026 World Cup

In the 70th minute, the England boss substituted right-back Djed Spence for forward Eberechi Eze.

In doing so, Tuchel switched Rice from midfield to full-back, just five minutes before the Three Lions’ turnaround.

Speaking to ITV on the process behind the position change, Tuchel said: “Anthony Barry had a brilliant idea… to put Declan there.

“To have his quality from the side, get more difficult crosses [to defend] in there. To give more support to Bukayo… a bit more connection.

“Full credit to my assistant coach,” confessed the England manager, who then praised his team’s “commitment” in coming back from behind during a World Cup game for the first time since 1966.

Gary Neville expanded on the Arsenal man’s position change-up, as pundit for ITV during the post-match reaction.

The ex-England international and Manchester United man described how he was “crying out for it” in the second half vs DR Congo.

“He went to right-back for Arsenal in a game against West Ham a few months ago, and I thought it was the wrong decision from Mikel Arteta,” said Neville.

“I was actually crying out for it in the second half, to put him [at right-back]… what it did was make that little triangle, combination [thrive],” he continued.

A tight-angled cross from Rice was latched onto by Anthony Gordon, who put it back in for Kane’s first goal and equaliser.

Kedar Bayley is a trained journalist specialising in culture reporting. As a fan of Liverpool FC, he writes on the Reds often. Knowledgable about all things sports, cinema and television, you can find his words in Screen International, FourFourTwo, Manchester Evening News and more.