OPINION
Manuel Pellegrini made a selection blunder when he opted to completely axe West Ham defender Declan Rice from his squad for the game against Bournemouth.
The Hammers submitted another woeful defensive display against the Cherries which saw them lose to them 2-1 at the London Stadium despite taking an early lead in that match.
Rice played no part in the Hammers’ latest defeat and didn’t even get the privileged of sitting on the bench for his side as a named substitute.
Hammers insider EXWHUemployee on Twitter has since revealed that Rice, along with Ryan Fredericks and Michail Antonio were all omitted from the Pellegrini’s squad for the Bournemouth game for tactical reasons.
Tactical, along with rice and Antonio. https://t.co/Aspn3z61NQ
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) August 18, 2018
Given that the Hammers’ defensive problems continued in their latest outing, it was clear that Pellegrini made a mistake binning Rice in the second game of the season.
The 6ft tall defender (Source: Transfermarkt) may have struggled in the role of defensive midfielder in his side’s opening day 4-0 defeat to Liverpool but should have been slotted back into the Hammers defence for the game against the Cherries.
Rice proved last season that he was one of the club’s more reliable centre-backs and easily would have done a better job than teammate Angelo Ogbonna did at keeping Eddie Howe’s side from scoring as the 30-year-old made several clumsy mistakes throughout the game.
It’s clear that Pellegrini needs to change his defence for his side’s next game against Arsenal otherwise another defeat will be on the cards.
Rice featured 26 times in the Premier League for the Hammers last season and has enough quality to handle playing as a centre-back against the Gunners side looking to get points on the board.
Therefore Pellegrini must hold his hands over his blunder to not play Rice against the Cherries and swiftly add the player back into his starting line-up for the game against Unai Emery’s side.