Tomas Soucek sat down to speak exclusively to the club’s official website and shared what he told Declan Rice about scoring goals.
Rice, 23, has been immense for the Hammers over the past two or three years. He seems to have reached a new level entirely this season though.
Dec has transformed into a box-to-box midfield player and all of out best play goes through him. However, it could be argued that the England’s international’s transformation has been to the determinant of Soucek’s play.
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The Czech Republic international scored 10 Premier League goals last season and was a huge factor for us in the final third. He only has three goals to his name this term and has mostly been used as an out-and-out defensive midfielder.
The debate shouldn’t be who is better in what role but whether or not we are a better team with Rice having transformed into an all-action Bryan Robson type midfielder.
The answer to that isn’t entirely clear but one thing’s for sure, if Dec is going to become that type of player, then he really does need to start adding more goals and assists to his game.
Tomas Soucek shares what he told Declan Rice about scoring goals
Rice has bagged four goals and four assists in 29 games for West Ham this season (Transfermarkt).
He certainly has the technical ability and physical attributes needed to be a consistent goalscorer and assist provider.
And Soucek shared with WHUFC.com what he told the 23-year-old about his goalscoring ability:
“Declan scored a great goal and he saved us, because it was right at the end. They were very close to going through, but he showed how good he is. The day before the game he scored maybe 15 goals from 17 shots in training and I told him, ‘Why don’t you have 15 or 20 goals per season when you have these goals every day?’ and he told me it’s different from the training goal to the match, but it’s the best feeling when you do score. I look forward to seeing how many goals he can score, and he showed me in the next game, with an immediate impact! I hope he adds many goals in the future.”
David Moyes has made the decision to give Dec more license to roam this season.
The 23-year-old has been truly brilliant for West Ham and at times, he has carried us single-handedly – Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Kidderminster was the perfect case in point.
Rice undoubtedly should be scoring more goals considering the ability he has though. And if he can bag 8-10 goals per season, his transformation into more of a driving, box-to-box midfielder will be justified.
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