Thomas Tuchel gives Declan Rice update after England star substituted at half-time

Thomas Tuchel admitted he sacrificed Declan Rice at half-time so England could be more attacking in the second half against Norway.

Rice and Noni Madueke were substituted at half-time in the 2-1 win against Norway in extra-time to book their place in the World Cup semi-final.

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Arsenal midfielder Rice has been struggling with illness and a hamstring injury throughout the tournament.

The 27-year-old missed training and was isolated from his teammates after being struck down with a sickness bug.

When asked why he took Madueke and Rice off at half-time, Tuchel told talkSPORT: “I wanted to have Bukayo on the field to finish it. I was not happy with Noni’s performance. 

“It was just a one-on-one and we wanted to get a bit more offensive. I took the decision when we were 1-0 down.

“I didn’t want to take it back just because of the goal. I wanted to send the signal that we become more offensive. So we needed to take one midfielder off. 

“We knew that Declan was struggling. He gave a green light to continue maybe until the next water break, but then I thought if we go 120 and I don’t have Elliot on the field, we will get into trouble in substitutions later.

“So we took a hard decision and took Declan off then, which paid off because Elliot could play the full 120, otherwise we would have been in trouble.”

In a later interview with reporters, Tuchel said Rice had spent most of the last three days in bed with his illness.

Tuchel verdict

Tuchel admitted he was not entirely happy with the performance from his Three Lions players.

England went 1-0 down in the first half thanks to a fortuitous goal from Andreas Schjelderup.

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Jude Bellingham brought the teams level before the break, before he grabbed his second and the winner in extra time.

Tuchel told talkSPORT: “A bit of mixed feelings [on the performance]. Part of me is incredibly proud of the players and the group and the mentality again and the team spirit to overcome adversity and so much switch of momentum in this match. 

“We never stopped believing and we never stopped believing and taking care of things. Substitutes again were fantastic with their impact.

“There’s another part at the moment that I thought the game was not on the highest level from both teams and I think we could have done better in many moments. 

“I have to find a balance for that because I don’t want to spoil the party of course and still a big part of me is a football coach. So I think it’s my right to not be 100 per cent happy with the performance.”

He added: “[We were] lucky in certain moments. I think lucky in the moment at the end of the first half where we had a crucial ball loss, we were 1-0 down. 

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That’s what I mean, lucky to not be 2-0 down suddenly. Then we were kind of lucky even if the decision was the correct decision.

“You need luck to have a goal overturned and taken away from the opponent. Those are crucial moments and we got lucky in these moments. That’s what I mean. I think there’s nothing wrong in admitting that.

“I still think that overall we deserved it, no doubt about it, but it took us a long way and we created quite some problems for ourselves.”

England face Argentina in the semi-final of the World Cup on Wednesday, with commentary live on talkSPORT.