Is Declan Rice West Ham’s new penalty taker? David Moyes reaction and stats

THE CITY GROUND, NOTTINGHAM – David Moyes has refused to confirm whether Declan Rice is West Ham United’s permanent new penalty taker after the midfielder’s miss against Nottingham Forest.

The Irons suffered their second defeat of the season on a sweltering Sunday afternoon in the East Midlands as Forest clinched a 1-0 win in their first home Premier League game in 23 years.

Taiwo Awoniyi scored the winning goal, but an equally heroic contribution for the Reds came at the other end of the field in the form of Dean Henderson’s penalty save.

MORE: Nottingham Forest 1-0 West Ham full match report

In the second half, West Ham were awarded a penalty after a VAR check for a Scott McKenna handball. Said Benrahma – one of the few bright sparks from the visitors throughout the game – broke well down the left and made a perfect pass to Tomas Soucek, but the Czech’s attempt was blocked by McKenna’s arm.

Henderson would have pulled it off had the centre-back not intervened and eventually did it through Rice’s resulting effort. The talismanic central midfielder, who set the pace of the game after a bumpy opening 20 minutes, telegraphed his effort to the right side of the Manchester United loanee.

As well as taking over the captaincy from Mark Noble following the 35-year-old’s retirement this summer, it looked like Rice had also taken charge of the penalty shootout. However, Moyes is not so sure.

*Video only available in UK:

PENALTY SAVED!! 😮

Declan Rice has a chance to equalize from the point for the Hammers, but he can’t do it against Dean Henderson! ⛔ pic.twitter.com/qdLjVcsdNF

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 14, 2022

What did Moyes say about Rice’s penalty?

In his post-game press conference, the manager initially nodded when asked if Rice was now the Irons’ first pick. He then said: “Manuel Lanzini took penalties and scored them last season. We had Declan in mind today.”

Pushing it, however, left Moyes frustrated – understandably as the 32C heat was enough to defeat anyone, let alone an irate 59-year-old Glaswegian whose team is useless after two games.

He added: “No, that means not [he’ll be on them] all seasons. Declan was in a penalty shootout today.”

Is Rice West Ham’s best penalty taker?

During his legendary two-decade stint in West Ham’s first-team, Noble was known for his record from 12 yards. In the Premier League he scored 28/33 (84.8%) and had a perfect 12/12 in other competitions.

Lanzini, which Moyes mentioned, has a similarly strong yield. The Argentine has converted 5/6 (83.3%) in the Premier League, plus another 1/1 before joining West Ham.

However, Rice has only scored 1/3 penalties so far. He faced a trio of England goalkeepers: he missed Aaron Ramsdale in a win against Sheffield United in 2020/21, missed West Bromwich Albion’s Sam Johnstone in the same season and then Henderson here.