Declan Rice showed maturity beyond his 19 years against Manchester United.
There are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about Declan Rice.
It’s hard not to get blown away by the Republic of Ireland qualified defender. He’s just 19 years old, yet he’s a starting centre-back in the Premier League. Not only that, he backs up his selection with the requisite performances.
Sure, he’s made mistakes this season, but that is to be expected for a prospect of his ilk. The important thing is that he learns from those errors and grows better because of them. From what we’ve seen so far, it appears as though he has done exactly that.
When Manchester United’s star-studded team arrived at London Stadium, Rice didn’t get spooked. He played his game and wasn’t startled by the names that he was facing. He put in a good old-fashioned defensive effort and helped himself to a clean sheet.
Not only did he not give United’s attack a sniff at goal, he also kept it remarkably tidy. He finished up with a 92% passing accuracy in the game. That’s the type of numbers you would expect from a seasoned defender, not one who isn’t old enough to remember what floppy disks were.
Rice did his job excellently on Thursday night and that didn’t go unnoticed. After the final whistle blew, he received rave reviews for his performance.
@FAIreland have a Deadly Defender in Declan Rice going on his performance tonight versus United for West Ham… Looks a right good baller
— Joe Faughnan (@faughnan_joe123) May 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/HargreavesMatty/status/994671917209616384
@_DeclanRice is an absolute baller, already ⚽⚒️ #whu #whumun
— Danny Miller ⚒ (@DannyMilz) May 10, 2018
Handful of times watching Declan Rice and he looks a decent little player!
— Sam Mc (@Sam_McDougall) May 10, 2018
@_DeclanRice bossing it once again. What a lad. This geezer should write himself in to Irons history. #WHUMUN
— Mike #GSBOUT Rylands ⚒ (@Swans_of_Never) May 10, 2018
@GNev2 you have not mentioned once how well @_DeclanRice has played so far. Been solid
— Elliott Green (@egreen1991) May 10, 2018
Good first half … west ham … i watch much quality Joao Lanzini and Arnie … Declan Rice perfect defender 😍😍😍 adrian san miguel is lion 😍😍😍 #WestHam
— Mohamed Amine (@MedAmine1010) May 10, 2018
