West Ham United star Declan Rice has revealed what the club’s target was before the season started.
An interview with Rice featured on the latest episode of The 2 Robbies podcast and he chatted about numerous things involving West Ham, David Moyes and the England national team.
He was asked about the club’s current league position and what their target was before the season started. Rice revealed that in a team meeting, it was decided the target would be a finish in the top half of the table.
The Hammers have scored 45 goals in the Premier League this season – more than Chelsea, Everton and Arsenal. They’ve let in 35 goals, which is a better tally than Liverpool. Moyes’ men, as a result, are fifth in the table and they are only two points behind fourth.
Will West Ham earn a Champions League spot this season?
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Rice revealed that the target was a top-half finish but after the loss to Newcastle early in the season, the team was in panic.
Speaking to Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe, the midfielder said: “I think as players we knew last year, I think, you know as a player that when you’re on the pitch, and you’re not getting the results and things aren’t going well, that it’s not good enough. I think as players, we have to have a chat and have a meeting like we always do at the start of the season.
“And we set ourselves targets and that target this year was to finish in the top half. And I’ve got to say after we lost the first one against Newcastle 2-0, we were all really panicking! But then look, we turned it around again and went on a great run from there.”
TIF Thoughts on West Ham’s season…
The Hammers have generated an Expected Goals (xG) difference of 6.5 this season, which is more than the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham and that is in the top half of the table. They’ve generated an xG of 40.3 and that too is a top-half tally. Moyes’ men have an xG against tally of 33.8, which is the fifth-best in the league (as per FBRef).
Those are very positive numbers for Moyes’ side and it shows that they’d deserve to finish inside the top half of the table, thus achieving their objective.
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