West Ham opinion: Declan Rice at fault for goal, but season is still success

Declan Rice made a huge error against Arsenal this weekend. But all defenders do this occasionally, and this shouldn’t change West Ham’s opinion of the young centreback.

West Ham haven’t had much to shout about this season. In fact they could still get relegated. But one thing that has shown promise is the development of some young players. Declan Rice has made 11 starts for the club this season, playing 22 times in total. For most of that he has looked every inch the Premier League defender.

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However on Sunday came his worst moment of the season. With the game balanced at 1-1, he committed a cardinal sin of defending. Tracking a run and the ball back into the six yard box, he left the ball. At this stage Joe Hart was left with no chance to react, and the ball buried itself in the bottom corner.

David Moyes was harsh in his criticism of Rice in the post match interview, and I think it ‘s possibly the wrong direction to go. Rice is young, and improving every day. He knows better than anyone he made a mistake, he doesn’t need it rubbing in. To be honest, he’s been one of the most consistent performers this season, and he’s 19.

Sink or swim?

His season has been a resounding success, and the most Moyes has said about it is this mistake. It’s a shame that defenders are only really in the headlines for bad reasons. I hope that Moyes is more conciliatory behind closed doors, because it can’t help a young mans confidence to only be noticed for reasons he would rather just learn from and move on.

Next: Moyes mindset costing Hammers points

Declan Rice will make many more mistakes in his career, but he will have many more good games than bad. Hopefully they will be for West Ham. This mistake will not define him and his season, but he will improve from it. David Moyes just needs to be sure he helps youngsters like Rice, not hinder them.