Simon Jordan takes aim at Declan Rice for performance in West Ham United defeat v Tottenham Hotspur
Simon Jordan has taken aim at Declan Rice for his performance in the West Ham defeat to Tottenham on Sunday (19 February) while live on talkSPORT.
The Hammers fell into the relegation zone following the loss, with 13 defeats in the Premier League so far this season already.
And speaking about the game live on talkSPORT (20 February, 10:09am), Jordan singled out captain Rice for his performance in the game and said he wasn’t “at it” and needs to step up as the leader of the team.
“There were a number of players on that pitch, specifically Declan Rice, who weren’t at it yesterday and weren’t good enough in that game.
“But I do think that West Ham will get themselves out of it but either which way, finishing fourth or fifth from bottom and not finishing in the bottom three, is by no way a reflection of where the quality of manager and that team should be.
“We’ve had this argument previously about some of the bigger players who have been carrying them not doing their jobs. But you can’t have it now. Bowen’s up and at it again, Soucek’s better, so now you’re looking at it and it is what it is, this is a poor side at the moment.”
“He [Rice] just wasn’t the Declan Rice I’ve been used to seeing. It was surprising because in games like that you need your leaders to stand up and he is their leader, isn’t he?
“I said he wasn’t at it. That could mean his performance level wasn’t at it.
“But if you also pick at the bones from the last few games, in fairness to West Ham, Newcastle, Chelsea and Tottenham are not easy games, albeit Chelsea are all over the place, the next game at home to Nottingham Forest is the one they have to focus on winning. That’s huge.
“If they lose that game they’ve then got Man City coming down the line, and other teams around the top six that are going to give them trouble.”
Not enough
It’s absolutely a fact that West Ham have struggled this season and Declan Rice hasn’t been good enough this season considering the levels we’ve seen him reach previously.
Now it’s possible that the teammates around him are pulling him down and he’s struggling to reach that optimum level himself, however he should be doing better still.
With that said, Rice alone simply isn’t enough to help West Ham get out of this situation and everyone needs to step up to help get this team out of trouble.
Rice has been good, but just not as good as the level we’ve seen him reach in the last two seasons. Singling him out for a bad performance fro the entire team is unfair of Jordan.
He is right that the game against Nottingham Forest now is absolutely huge, and with The Telegraph reporting that it could be make or break it’s time for everyone to step up and pull their finger out.