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West Ham United: Declan Rice talks about how David Moyes has changed

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Image for West Ham United: Declan Rice talks about how David Moyes has changed

West Ham midfielder Declan Rice has delivered his verdict about how David Moyes has changed over the two stints at the club.

Rice was interviewed as part of The 2 Robbies podcast and the English midfielder was asked numerous questions involving West Ham’s season and Moyes. The 22-year-old was asked about how Moyes has changed over his two stints at the London Stadium-based club. Rice revealed that the former Everton and Man Utd boss knows players better now than he did before.

Moyes is the manager that Rice has played the most under in his career, making a total of 75 appearances for the Hammers with the Scot in the dugout. It was Slaven Bilic who handed him his debut back in the 2016/17 campaign but when Moyes took over in 2017, Rice’s role at the club became more prominent.

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Rice talked about Moyes, saying that the manager played some experienced players in his first stint but trusts players more now and he’s trusting him, too.

The 22-year-old stated: “I think he knows the players better probably the second time around. Obviously, the first time that he was here, I was actually only a youngster, I was only 17. So I’d only played a couple of games under him. I was speaking in the last interview saying maybe then he didn’t have as much trust or belief in me because I was a young player, you know, he was coming in, I think we were fighting relegation then as well. So he had to play the experienced heads.

“And now this time around, where he’s come in and I’ve had a load of games under my belt – I’ve obviously played for England, played so many games for West Ham now – he had the full trust and belief in me to go and play. So not only for me, but I think for loads of the players that were here the first time around, everyone’s so happy that he’s come again and we get to work with him again.”

TIF Thoughts on Moyes…

Back in the 2017/18 campaign, Moyes’ team had a very high average age of 30.2, which is the club’s second-highest average age in Premier League history (as per Transfermarkt).

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Nice easy one to start off with. How much do you think Declan Rice is worth?

In the current campaign, West Ham’s highest average age stands at 29.1, which suggests that Moyes has displayed the willingness to trust younger players more.

Considering that the Hammers are in a European battle, it can be said that Moyes has changed for the better.

In other news: Football chief shares potentially big worry at West Ham United

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European Football Writer. Contributed for FootballItalia, Manchester United, Manchester Evening News, Calciomercato, GFFN and more.