This is not on Gareth, insists Rice
DECLAN Rice insists England’s World Cup quarter-final exit at the hands of France is not the fault of Gareth Southgate and backed the manager to stay in charge.
Les Bleus held on to continue their quest to retain the World Cup, while the inquest into England’s exit began on the fulltime whistle.
It will undoubtedly include speculation as to whether Southgate should remain in the job despite taking the nation to the semi-finals four years ago in Russia and to the Euro 2020 final last summer.
Southgate, whose contract runs until 2024, said after the loss he will take time to decide what his immediate future holds but Rice was unequivocal when asked whether he wanted the 52-year-old to remain in the post.
“He said he’s so proud of us and so did Steve (Holland),” the West Ham captain said of Southgate’s post-match chat.
“If you guys could come in and see how well everyone’s been on it, you would have thought we would have gone the whole way as a collective but for me, personally, I hope he stays.
“Obviously, I don’t know. There’s a lot of talk around that. I think he’s been brilliant for us. I think there’s a lot of criticism that’s not deserved. I think he’s taken us so, so far. Further than what people can expect.
“He got everything spot on again, it’s not on him. It’s not on him at all – the tactics were right, we played the right way.
“I really hope he stays because the core group that we’ve got and what he’s made for us, it’s so special to be a part of, I love playing under him and I love playing for England.”
Rice also believes England have altered the expectations heading into major tournaments and has backed a youthful squad to recover from the setback.
“I think you can see on my face right now I’m distraught because we really believe this year that it could be a year,” he added.
“We obviously got to a Euros final, we’ve really progressed well as a team.”