Andy Townsend makes Declan Rice demand after West Ham-Manchester United controversy
Andy Townsend suggests Declan Rice should have taken the West Ham penalty fiasco out of David Moyes’ hands against Manchester United on Sunday.
The Irons were defeated 2-1 by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side at the London Stadium, with captain Mark Noble seeing his late penalty saved after coming on specifically to score it.
Ex Republic of Ireland international Townsend was unhappy with that, as he shared on talkSPORT‘s Drive show on Monday [20/09/21].
“I can’t agree with that decision, I can’t see that decision at all for the life of me,” Townsend said.
“Declan should have picked the ball up, stuck it under his arm and walked to the spot before David Moyes has even finished talking to Mark Noble, that’s what I think should have happened.”
But host Adrian Durham questioned: “If you line up all the West Ham players in the squad that are available at that moment, and Mark Noble was available at that moment, and you’ve got to pick one of them for the best chance of scoring a penalty, you would pick Mark Noble, you would.”
Townsend: “I wouldn’t [you would], no I wouldn’t because he’s not on the field. He hadn’t even warmed up.
“I just don’t see how someone like him say there is better placed to walk out there and take a pen than another player who has been involved in the thick of it, whose heart is pumping at a serious rate of knots.
“Once David asked Nobes to take it, he isn’t going to say no.”
Baffling reaction
Has the football world gone mad? The hysteria that has greeted Moyes’ decision to introduce Noble into the action has been on another level.
It seems many have forgotten that Noble, the man who took the penalty, is the club’s designated spot-kick taker, and one of the best around in this field over the last 15 years.
His record is brilliant, and as an elder statesman of the group, is less likely to feel the pressures of a late penalty than his younger teammates.
Experience surely plays a huge role in these sorts of situations – Rice was next in line to take the penalty, but he has taken just two in his senior career, missing one of them last season.
So why has he suddenly turned into Matt Le Tissier?
Of course, one of the main arguments is that Noble wasn’t ready, he hadn’t kicked a ball competitively during the whole day.
Nonsense.
Does it not work the other way round? Shouldn’t Rice be feeling fatigued, and therefore unable to exert as much power into his kick after playing 90-plus minutes of high-intensity Premier League football?
People are just complaining for the sake of complaining. It was the right decision at the time. Get over it.
In other West Ham news, Charlie Nicholas claims David Moyes is livid after this recent Irons incident.
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