I feel like the same could be said for us as well. Losing the Xhaka/Ode/Partey midfield obviously hurt us, but I feel like the addition of Rice makes up for whatever we lost. Obviously with our new midfield we will have some growing pains but I think we are better off overall, despite our performances looking not as good
Rice played the full 90 plus against North Macedonia. Both he and Bukayo seemed intact, afterwards.
Honestly, England’s midfield is really good right now. Problem is, there is like, no depth in it. The replacement for Rice is Phillips, who while decent, is not quite the same level. Bellingham’s backup is… Henderson? Maybe? Or Gallagher? Nowhere near. Also TAA’s backup is another mystery, though I assume the answer would probably be play Bellingham deeper and put Foden or Rashford in there or something. I think it also shows in how Southgate always experiments in the games that don’t matter. It’s quite difficult to figure out how to best play England’s talents — especially in case of injury to the likes of Kane, Rice, or Shaw (who while not being the best player in the world is quite irreplaceable simply because England has no decent LB)
