Tim Sherwood has claimed that he would have given West Ham’s saved spot-kick against Manchester United to Declan Rice, as he told Premier League Productions (19/09/21 at 4:00 pm).
In a drama-filled game at the London Stadium on Sunday, David Moyes decided to bring Mark Noble off the bench to take a stoppage-time penalty.
It was awarded after Luke Shaw was punished for a handball, and rather than any one of the West Ham players on the pitch taking the late penalty, it was Noble, in his last season in Claret and Blue colours, handed the responsibility.
Jarrod Bowen was the one who made way for Noble, he used to take penalties when at Hull, so he was more than capable.
Then there’s someone with the calmness of Thomas Soucek or Aaron Cresswell, who has outstanding qualities from dead-ball situations.
But Sherwood made it clear that he would have handed Rice the ball and he should have been the one to take the kick.
“Now, he’s going to get criticised for that,” said Sherwood. “He’s cold. He’s not ready. He’s not up to the tempo of the game.
“Yes, it’s a spot-kick. But, for me, you need to be in the rhythm of the game and feel the emotion. When you are sitting on the side then you are never, ever in the game until you are on the pitch.
“It was an extraordinary decision from David Moyes, such an experienced man. But if he scores he’s the hero.
“Declan Rice was still on the pitch. He scored a penalty. For me, I would have given the ball to Declan and said ‘put that into the back of the net, son’.”
In the end, that moment cost West Ham one point because Manchester United went on to secure a 2-1 win.
It just had to be Jesse Lingard who was the one to come off the bench to score a stunning winning goal.
Moyes has made a number of right calls during his time in East London and he will be forgiven for his actions on Sunday, but it will be interesting to see if he would do it again if that same scenario was put in front of him.
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