Mark Noble
Mark Noble does not think Declan Rice has reached his peak and is continuing to push his vice-captain to greater heights. The West Ham skipper has seen Rice’s development over the 23-year-old’s career and said he always knew the Hammers had a special player on their hands. Noble believes that Rice has taken his game to another level this season but there is still more to come from the midfielder.
Mark Noble said: “I think he has gone from strength to strength. We have all seen how good he is, I have been saying that for years. People questioned about whether he passed forward enough but I think he has taken his game to the next level now and I think he proved that in the Euros, especially in the final, for 75 minutes he was the best player on the pitch. I have said it for a long time, I think he can get better. I think he can score more goals and I still think he can create more for the team. He does an incredible job for us sweeping up and [making] interceptions but he is also really good going forward. We see that in training, how good he is at finishing and how technically good he is so for me, and you can say this when you have played against or with good players, you can tell straight away if they are a little bit different and he has got everything.”
Noble expanded on where he thinks Rice has improved and why there are still more attacking outputs to come from his teammate.
Mark Noble added: “Especially in the last six months, he has improved his game where he drops his shoulder and drives past [players] and he just looks like he is on another planet when he does that because he is so physically strong and powerful so you can’t catch him. He does that so well when he gets outside the box because his striking of the ball is top-notch. He can score more goals and I am pretty sure he will bring that to his game because he keeps learning.”
Despite Rice’s improvement, Noble is not going to let the England international rest on his laurels as he pushes him to reach the very top of the game.
Mark Noble said: “He [Rice] said in an interview the other day that ‘Nobes is still on me in training’ but when I look at his game and watch him in training I did not have his strength or his legs, I didn’t have that, I could play but I did not have that power so for me watching on if he becomes, and I still think he is one of the best in the world at it, but if he becomes like Steven Gerrard where he gest 10-12 [goals] a season and assists as well then you are going on to be one of the best in world.”
