Declan Rice says he savoured Sunday’s challenge against Manchester United, and despite being disappointed with the result has vowed to help ‘put things right’ against Southampton this weekend.
The young Irishman was the stand-out player for Slaven Bilic’s side in the 4-0 defeat at the weekend, making an impressive half-an-hour cameo after being substituted on for club captain Mark Noble on the hour mark.
Despite being only 18, Rice managed to effectively hold his own against the likes of Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic in midfield, an experience which the teenager believes is invaluable as a young player.
“I thought it was a very good challenge for me, coming on after my experiences with the U23s last year, it is my aim to play in the Premier League and I felt I did OK on the ball when I came on.” said Rice on whufc.com.
“When you play against those players, you know you have got to be so good to compete against them every single week. The pace of the game was frightening and Manchester United have got a very, very good side, but so have we and it just wasn’t our day on Sunday.”
West Ham, and indeed Rice, will be hoping for better this weekend as the Hammers travel to Southampton, and the Republic of Ireland U19 international hopes his side can secure a much needed victory.
“Personally, I’ve got to learn from this result and do what I can to help us put it right at Southampton, where we will do all we can to get three points on the table.
“We’ve got a few players coming back who will massively strengthen the side and knowing they are on their way is a major boost for us. We’ve got to go out and put things right again.”
