Video has emerged showing Declan Rice becoming a real leader as he gives Pablo Fornals specific orders in the tunnel before West Ham win.
It well and truly marked the end of an era when West Ham captain Mark Noble retired in May.
Noble brought the curtain down on his near two decade Hammers career at the end of last season amid emotional scenes.
He will be back of course in January after being appointed to a new role as West Ham’s sporting director.
But within the team dynamic Rice has picked up the baton as West Ham’s new overall club captain proper following Noble’s departure.
David Moyes revealed earlier in the summer that elder statesmen Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and Lukasz Fabianski will act as vice-captains for Rice.
After a rocky start to the season, some West Ham fans had questioned whether Rice had it in him to take on the responsibility to leading the Hammers.
Others felt their star man was showing signs of pressure from the new weight of expectation on his shoulders on and off the pitch.
Video shows Declan Rice becoming a real leader as he gives Pablo Fornals specific orders in tunnel before West Ham win
But a new video shows Declan Rice becoming a real leader as he gives Pablo Fornals specific orders in the tunnel before the West Ham win over Fulham.
Behind the scenes footage from the London Stadium tunnel ahead of the 3-1 victory shows Rice instructing Fornals how he wants him to play his position in the game.
“Pabs, get right up, aggressive yea,” Rice tells Fornals in the tunnel (West Ham’s YouTube channel on 2mins).
“You don’t need to sink too much in, only if we need to, stay up, stay up with Gianluca (Scamacca), keep the play really tight.”
We are actually seeing Rice grow into the captaincy right before our eyes with every passing game.
Credit to West Ham and the media team too. This type of content is fantastic for fans to see and really helps foster that connection between the supporters and the players.
It is fascinating to see behind the scenes like this. If Rice develops as quickly as a captain as he has as a player then he will be some leader – for club and country.
You can see the full video below.
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