Garth Crooks names one West Ham player in TOTW after win v Sheff Utd
Garth Crooks has hailed Declan Rice’s performance for West Ham in their win against Sheffield United as he named the Hammers midfielder in his BBC Sport team of the week.
The Hammers produced a professional performance as they defeated the Blades in a 1-0 win courtesy of a Sebastien Haller strike.
Rice was exceptional and Crooks credited the Irons’ quality performance to the work of the England international.
He said, “There was no Michail Antonio to spearhead the attack but that didn’t seem to matter. This was a spirited all-round team performance and, on this occasion, led by Rice.
“Rice has had a good week, having played in Belgium and scored against Iceland while on international duty with England. To return to club football and perform the way he did says a lot about the player.”
It is perhaps an understatement for Crooks to label Rice’s last week as ‘good’, we think exceptional might be more appropriate.
Scoring your first international goal is no small feat and to follow that up with a man of the match performance in the Premier League speaks volumes about Rice’s ability and mentality.
If it was unclear to anyone how important Rice is to West Ham then Sunday’s win showed it.
According to Wyscout, Rice registered a 90% pass accuracy against the Blades and he won 100% of his aerial duels as he dominated in the midfield for the Irons.
Rumours over Rice’s future are sure to pick up in the next few weeks as we approach the winter transfer window and if he keeps performing at this high standard then the Hammers will have a hard job keeping hold of their star man.
In other West Ham news, Fabian Balbuena has credited one of his teammates after last weekend’s win against the Blades.