Declan Rice believes the Irons are at last on their way back to something like more acceptable form.
The defensive midfieler was again in great form as we earned a 1-1 draw against Everton which should probably have been more.
After four starts in the PL and FA Cup we have won two and lost and drawn one whilst scoring seven goals and conceding two.
Very early days under David Moyes but a pretty decent start and some sort of result against top three outfit Leicester City on Wednesday would give a major boost to the players and fans.
Rice is always upbeat – as is the case with most players called on for interviews – and the fact is there remains much room for improvement but it’s a start and at last there is hopw ehere under Pellegrini there was only abjecy despondency and pessimism.
Rice, in an after match interview at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/january/19-january/declan-rice-squad-can-feel-our-improvement. said: “I think you can see with us on the pitch we have improved.
“We’re defending better now, we’re in better shape, we’re moving the ball around better, we’re switching it better.
“Football’s all about confidence, to be honest, and I think the lads have got that back. It was tough to take at Sheffield [United], we should’ve won today – with those improvements today, we’ve just got to get going.”
Via www.whufc.com
The England midfielder, who turned 21 this week, cited the coaching methods of Moyes as a factor behind his own personal upturn in form.
He added: “When he first came in, he said I’ve been doing well, but I could be doing better, and that was the truth.
“We sat down, he showed me some clips where maybe I hadn’t been running hard enough and said ‘you need to run better, you need to run quicker, you need to get back into position better’.
“I have to say last three games, I’ve done that. It’s in my mind that if I don’t do that, he’s going to be on my case, so we’re doing that and we’re working together on the training pitch on my passing.
“He’s always encouraging me to play forward and switch the ball quickly, but he’s been really good not only for me, but for the other lads as well, because he says it how it is and wants everyone to improve.”
“With Alan [Irvine] too, his assistant [manager], they’ve both been excellent since coming in. The training’s been really good and the lads are really enjoying it.
“I know some fans will say that we should be winning these games at home with the position we’re in, but Everton are a good side with good players, and every point counts at the moment. We need to stay positive we’re going to get out of this.”
To quote Declan “We Should be winning these games”
But how are are we going to achieve this when some of the team are not up to it or look like they can’t wait to get out of here (Haller)
Time for the owners to address the situation but we all know that won’t happen
Yeah I agree, we do defend a little bit better. But I still notice our midfield gets bypassed so easily, even the commentators were saying that,
The sad thing I noticed is we had 5 defenders on the bench which is not good enough. We need some game changers to come in.
I was at the game yesterday. Yes we did look better defensively but looked awful when attacking. We wee so slow on the build ups it’ was so frustrating to see. Yes there was switching from left to right long balls but that was about it. To me it was so frustrating the crowd was quite there was a pitch invasion by a child don’t know what happened to him or her but my friend said that the child was escorted down the side tunnel by stewards away from the adults who he she was with. But as you say it’s early days but the team is going to struggle and my view is we could fall through the trap door as we have some very tough games ahead and if we lose them then heads will drop both players and supporters.
We don’t look great going forward because 3 of our attacking threats at out of the team and replaced by their poorer understudies.
Antonio, Anderson and Fredericks make a significant difference in terms of how we attack. Zabaleta, Lanzini and Snodgrass as replacements are reasonable but clearly lack the pace and explosiveness of the aforementioned players.
Once those 3 get back in, hopefully the defensive side stays as strong as it’s looking and the attacking side improves.
However, we most certainly need a midfielder and another forward in this window for both challenging the current incombants and for us being able to rest the likes of Noble at times.