Green Street Hammers
Fansided

Fans must let up on criticism of West Ham’s Declan Rice

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 25: West Ham defender Declan Rice reacts during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Wembley Stadium on October 25, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 25: West Ham defender Declan Rice reacts during the Carabao Cup Fourth Round match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Wembley Stadium on October 25, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

West Ham are not in a great situation at the moment. And they’ll continue to fall further if they don’t let young players grow.

In the past West Ham have produced some top talents. They were even known as the academy of football for some time. However there is a big issue at the moment with the ability to let players grow to a good standard. After all, there aren’t many finished articles at 18 years old.

Declan Rice is a very good young player. For a centre back he has shown a huge amount of maturity at a young age and after being thrown into some tough matches he has excelled. However after some mistakes and being dropped, he seems to have become an easy target for some fans.

More from Green Street Hammers - West Ham

Potential vs Now

There’s always an issue with when to play youngsters, because a manager has to balance success in the current match vs success for seasons to come. And in this world of increasingly short term managers, why would a manager worry about long term? And so the youth team players get pushed to the back, with only proven talents used. But there must be some breathing room.

Declan Rice is one of West Ham’s brightest talents but he has made some mistakes. Under Bilic he was guilty of poor play against Newcastle that lead directly to goals. But at the young age he is, we have to allow for that. Given our ‘experienced’ players like Ogbonna have literally fallen over the ball in the box Rice should be allowed that. And he’s only going to improve. Against City the young Irishman made mistakes, but who wouldn’t? This is one of the world’s best attacks. The best defences in the league have looked far worse than Rice did.

Next: West Ham must refind fight to trouble Chelsea

Rice is definitely one for the future. He’s come through at a young age and I think he could well be a future captain. Given that he’s involved in his national setup at such an age, and such an important position as well, we have to let him mature. If not we could well be kissing goodbye to a top future player. And it would be a huge shame to see him flourish anywhere except East London.