England fans agree with James McClean's harsh assessment of Declan Rice's performance

England supporters have conceded that James McClean's criticism of Declan Rice as 'overrated' and 'over-hyped' was justified. Rice, who represented Ireland three times before pledging his allegiance to England in 2019, had a challenging game against Denmark, playing alongside Trent Alexander Arnold in the midfield.

The English team managed to scrape a draw, but both the result and their performance have been widely criticised by fans. Prior to the match with Denmark, McClean had criticised Rice on RTE, and he reiterated his views at half-time, criticising Rice for his tendency to play sideways and backwards passes.

Commenting on Rice's performance, McClean said: "For a £100m player I want to see more than five-yard sideways and backwards passes." He had previously labelled Rice as "overrated".

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Upon hearing McClean's remarks, several England fans took to social media to agree with the Wrexham player and demand better from Rice: "James McClean was right all the time," one fan admitted. Another commented: "Insane hating I have to respect it!", reports the Irish Mirror.

"Spot on and if anyone disagrees, you live in a world of delusion," agreed another fan. A fourth added: "Yes, James. Next time call him a long Mark Noble."

England's midfield has been under intense scrutiny this Euros, and Gary Neville didn't hold back in his assessment while speaking to ITV: "Arteta moved Declan Rice out of that position for the last 15 games of the season because he's not that good at playing there.

"Today is the most nervous I've seen Declan Rice. I think he's better moving up the pitch. Think about what Kroos and Rodri and Vitinha does for Portugal, these players who get the team playing.

"Every team that's great has this type of player. We don't have that, Mainoo maybe, Wharton? We have to resolve that problem. I'm talking England generally. We've never been able to get out from the back in moments of pressure.

"When he goes to receive the ball deep with his back to play, I think he's quite basic at that. I don't think he's as good as the other players who play that position. When he's brilliant, he's marauding forward, he's up on top of the game, he's aggressive. Most of his touches were in that high left channel. For some reason we don't have that balance in midfield and it's a massive problem."

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