West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice has heaped praise on the Hammers’ Saturday star Robert Snodgrass after his performance against Sheffield United.
The recently retired Scotland international came back into the team at the London Stadium and grabbed his chance emphatically, scoring the home side’s goal in their 1-1 draw with the Blades.
Rice was blown away by his teammate: “I knew he was going to come in and play a blinder like he did,” he told the club’s official website. “The work rate he gives, and the deliveries from his left foot are special.
“He’s such a top pro and, yeah, I’m delighted for him today.”
OPINION
There’s no doubt that Snodgrass was West Ham’s best player on Saturday. The Scot hasn’t started very many Premier League games for Manuel Pellegrini’s side this season, but you wouldn’t have thought it based on his performance against Sheffield United. He was the form player, driving at the visitors constantly and producing a very strong finish past Dean Henderson to put the Hammers into the lead. The hosts ultimately weren’t able to hold onto the advantage he gave them, but that was through no fault of the 32-year-old’s. The statistics show that he was very much involved from the start to when he was bafflingly replaced after 85 minutes. As per WhoScored.com, Snodgrass had two shots on Saturday, one the goal and the other an effort which agonisingly hit the post. He also produced two key passes and a successful dribble. The Scot was fouled twice, as well, while he completed an impressive 87.5% of his passes. It’s little wonder that Rice was impressed by his teammate on Saturday.