DOMINIC KING: Declan Rice huffs and puffs but struggles to make an impact at Anfield

A penny to Gareth Southgate’s thoughts: 33 days before the English World Cup crusade kicks off, the head coach was on Merseyside for an important scouting trip.

Joe Gomez, thanks to his outstanding performance against Manchester City, was high on Southgate’s list to watch with so many concerns about the state of his defence; Trent Alexander-Arnold had to be seen too, given the injury that destroyed Reece James’ dreams.

Jordan Henderson was another Southgate who would have liked to see the ball bounce around with class and conviction. This was encouraging as it was the 32-year-old’s best performance so far of the season, in full control of the pace.

It wasn’t just about Liverpool, though. West Ham will be represented on the plane to Qatar and quite significant. Declan Rice is one of the first names on a Southgate team sheet and if England go deep into the tournament his role will be huge.

Rice was fantastic during Euro 2020. There are always moments when the top players cement their reputations and the relentless way he patrolled midfield with Kalvin Phillips saw him grow up, the sort of displays that justified colossal figures being called about his worth. .

The quality of the 23-year-old is not in question.

If West Ham wanted to cause a stir in East London tomorrow by saying they would accept offers for him, every club in the Premier League would knock and many would be interested in Europe too.

The midfielder admitted that he feels the effects of a lot of football in a short time

But the reason Rice would have been so interesting for Southgate on Wednesday night was the way he started the season – scratchy, if we’re friendly would be the best description – and comments he made two weeks ago.

“I played from June 2021 to June 2022, I played 68 games — that’s an obscene amount,” Rice said. “Every race I run away, I’m broken.”

There has been no delay this time either. He played in 14 of West Ham’s 17 games and played every minute of the frenetic 3-3 draw with Germany at Wembley, but there’s a reason David Moyes and Southgate keep turning to him. Here he showed why.

Like his team, Rice took a while to find a rhythm, but as the game progressed and West Ham started to make Liverpool more and more uncomfortable, he was always there – taking the ball, passing the ball and doing his very best to equalize. to help find .

England boss Gareth Southgate was an interested spectator at Anfield on Wednesday night

“If you didn’t see it, he was the best player on the field – by a mile,” Moyes said. ‘Great player. He could play for any club, he’s that good – and I mean that. He was at his best again; for long periods he was fantastic, big parts of the game in how he dominated.

“I think it’s (an important step up from where he’s been). That’s how he gets back to his level. For the people who don’t see us that often, last season he played just about every game. He was so good. I thought he was a star tonight, especially as the game progressed.’

That much was true. Some of Rice’s distribution in the second period was glorious, such as a 58th minute substitution to Gianluca Scamacca and an 81st minute punched chip with backspin to Michail Antonio who was as precise as a sand wedge to the 18th green.

At the final whistle, however, he cringed again – the effects of a firm tackle on Mo Salah as the Egyptian formed to shoot.

At times he looked like a player with a lot of yards in his legs: Southgate hopes this return to form will bring renewed freshness.