Banned Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi has defended Declan Rice and warned his players about five West Ham stars.
Highly-rated Italian coach De Zerbi may be banned for Brighton’s clash with West Ham but that has not stopped him having his say on the Hammers.
Ahead of the game West Ham captain Rice has been in the headlines after being unfairly criticised yet again by pundits who should know better.
The likes of Roy Keane and Gary Neville have questioned his performances and valuation with the latter clarifying his comments on the Hammers skipper last night after being accused of having an “agenda” against him.
After three years of almost incessant praise, the narrative around Rice has changed dramatically recently.
Keane was particularly scathing of “over-hyped” Rice ahead of the midweek defeat to Man United.
Rice scored a wonderful goal in West Ham’s morale boosting 4-0 win over Forest last weekend.
And he will go some way to silencing the doubters if he can lead West Ham to a first win over bogey team Brighton in 12 attempts as the Hammers fight for Premier League survival.
Banned Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi defends Declan Rice and warns players about five West Ham stars
Ahead of the game Rice has found an ally from the opposition who believes he and several of his teammates are top quality players.
Banned Brighton boss De Zerbi defends Rice and warns his players about five West Ham stars.
The Italian manager singled out Rice, Lucas Paqueta, Danny Ings and compatriots Gianluca Scamacca and Angelo Ogbonna for praise.
“I watched the game in the FA Cup in Manchester and I think, in this moment, they are in good condition and in a good moment – they won the game 4-0 on Saturday against Nottingham,” De Zerbi said in his pre-West Ham press conference.
“They have great players – I like Paqueta, Rice, Ings, Scamacca, Ogbonna and for sure it will be a difficult game. But you know in the last two games in the Premier League we deserved more points, we are frustrated by this so we have to start strong with a victory.
“I don’t know how much better he (Rice) can become but for sure he is a great player – for the national team and for West Ham.
“I think he is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League…
“Scamacca has great potential and it is always difficult for Italian players to play in another country at first but if we are speaking about the potential and quality, he has great potential and he is a good guy… I knew very well the quality of Scamacca (at Sassuolo).”
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