West Ham fans turned on captain Declan Rice over his post-match interview but comments have been misunderstood by some supporters.
West Ham were plunged back into crisis mode by a shocking 4-0 defeat to Brighton on Saturday.
Last week the Hammers saw off Forest by the same scoreline to breathe new life into their season and battle to beat the drop.
But that was all undone with a pathetic display at the Amex which saw West Ham’s hardcore travelling support turn on manager David Moyes.
While some performances were worse than others, not a single West Ham player could walk off that pitch with their head held high after the loss to Brighton.
Rice has carried West Ham on many occasion during his time in the team. But as captain his own performance left a lot to be desired.
He was seen constantly throwing his arms up at teammates and shaking his head and has been accused of a lack of true leaadership.
The skipper did front up to the cameras after the game and said he and the players had let the fans down. Other things he said have not gone down well at all with many Hammers supporters, though.
West Ham fans turned on captain Rice over his post-match interview but his comments have been misunderstood by some supporters.
It was put to Rice in the interview that Moyes would inevitably come under pressure to keep his job again following the defeat and was asked whether that was difficult for him and the players.
And it is fair to say Rice’s response, which you can see in the video post below, has triggered many in the West Ham fanbase.
“Na (it’s not difficult) it’s all noise, I don’t really listen to it, I don’t really listen to the opinions of other people because if they were experts they’d be playing on the pitch and they’re not,” Rice said.
“Look I just keep my head down, so do all the lads, we listen to ourselves, we listen to the people around us, we stick together as a group and we move on to the next one, we know it wasn’t good enough.”
West Ham fans are understandably furious right now.
But those who have been angered by Rice’s comments have got the wrong end of the stick.
They were not aimed at the supporters in any way. The way the interviewer phrased his question was to suggest the result would spark another round of noise outside the club – from the media and pundits – about the situation at West Ham.
Given that the travelling West Ham fans turned on manager David Moyes during the match, many have mistakenly taken Rice’s comments as a response to supporters.
But it is aimed solely at the media and pundits. Some West Ham fans think Rice’s comments are ill-advised regardless with the suggestion that perhaps he and his teammates could do with listening to the opinions of others.
In this particular section of the interview, though, Rice was not taking a pop at the fans. He had already apologised to supporters for letting them and the club down.
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