Tottenham Hotspur legend Graham Roberts defends West Ham midfielder Declan Rice
Tottenham Hotspur legend Graham Roberts has leapt to the defence of Declan Rice after a recent report rubbished the West Ham midfielder.
Despite helping England to their first major tournament final since 1966 on Wednesday night, Rice was subjected to severe criticism on the Liverpool Echo website, after a journalist gave the 22-year-old a rating of five for his performance versus Denmark.
Former Spurs and England defender Roberts defended Rice on his personal Twitter profile after an image showing Rice’s rating. He said: “Rice has been superb all tournament, from a Spurs fan through and through.”
Roberts then sent a follow-up tweet to add to his praise for the Irons star.
“Seems a top man as well,” he wrote.
Odd
The comments to justify the rating were rather strange, as Rice was accused of being “poor” as he “struggled to protect the England defence”. It was also suggested that he was lucky to still be in the side ahead of Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Now, there is no denying Henderson’s qualities as a player and leader, and he surely would have been a starter for England at Euro 2020, were it not for his wretched injury record that saw him fail to play for four months at the end of the season.
However, it was Leeds United midfielder Kalvin Phillips who profited from his demise, not Rice who has been cemented in the starting XI for a long time now.
Furthermore, why would he be shipped out of a side that has made it to the final of a major tournament, conceding just once along the way?
Indeed, on Wednesday night at Wembley, Denmark were restricted to just five shots in the initial 90 minutes, with just three on target. One of those was a free-kick conceded by Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw.
It’s absurd to suggest Rice should be omitted from any England XI.
In other West Ham news, Paolo Di Canio has admitted that this Irons star has blown him away amid a near ‘Impossible’ mission.
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