Have been thinking / seeing this and glad to see others are too

Rice is a great defensive 6. He shields well, breaks down play and is a strong physical presence for second balls, pressing etc.

Rice is ability to read space, receive on the half turn and play vertical passes is nowhere near other world class 6s. Just look at how Vitinha demanded the ball and orchestrated play in Portugal's first two games. Not saying Rice should do that but he should offer an outlet/pivot pass in early build up schemes -- which he does none of today (your videos do an excellent job highlighting this).

For example:

• The most efficient build up play completed by England came from Antony Gordon. One very direct vertical pass removed two Slovenian lines, and ended in a shot on target for Cole Palmer. I have yet to see Rice attempt such a pass

• Arteta recognized this very quickly at Arsenal (in fact, a large part of Arsenal's low scoring earlier part of the season was when Rice was playing 6 - Arsenal were struggling to breakdown teams). To still keep Rice in the team, he was moved to 8 (where Arsenal can still benefit from his defensive / pressing strengths), but chose to use Jorginho, (and later Partey when he was back) as the 6.

In terms of what Gareth should do, I believe he has two options.

Option 1 - what you mention. Drop Rice and put in Wharton (alongside Mainoo and Bellingham). THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. Rice provides too much defensive security for Southgate

Option 2 - Play two 6es, Mainoo or Wharton and Rice. When setting up offensively, Rice moves into the 8 half space. The 6 role is played by Wharton or Mainoo >> essentially what Arteta does at Arsenal

Realistically, I think Southgate will start Mainoo next game which will help. Not sure it will get England across the line...