Rice stats do plenty of talking

Declan Rice’s stats against Aston Villa tell the full story.

Sticks and stones, such as the defensive had to endure during international week, are one thing but his performance against the midlanders were tracked every inch of the way and no additional words are required.

It’s always far easier to criticise than praise but quite apart from his performance whilst the game was in play, the 20 year old made a point of applauding the Villa fans at the end despite them having taunted him throughout the 90 minutes.

At such tender years that kind of maturity is rare but it was all designed to create a mutual respect which is all too rare in the modern game.

Declan ran out second in the CandH fans’ player’s rating behind Lukasz Fabianski and the site followers appear to have got it spot on when one looks at the starts published at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/september/17-september/analysis-declan-rice-silences-critics-virtuoso-villa

The No41 made  a game-high six tackles, including a number of important interventions in and around his own penalty area, two interceptions and a clearance.

 

Declan Rice's battle with Jack Grealish was an enthralling spectacle

Declan Rice’s battle with Jack Grealish was an enthralling spectacle Courtesy www.whufc.com

 

On the ball, Rice was the most-accurate passer of any of the 22 players who started the game, completing 54 of his 56 pass attempts, including six of seven ‘long balls’ which travelled at least 20 metres across the immaculate Villa Park pitch.

He also had two shots on goal – one which was blocked by Grealish and the other deflected wide.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon