It wasn’t that long ago when Declan Rice stood up to take a free kick against Real Madrid. He couldn’t have hit it better. Could he do it again when Arsenal were awarded a second free kick? You bet he could. It was a great night for him and Arsenal. Rice has to be up there with some of the best signings Arsenal Football Club has ever made.
Talking to Sky Sports, Rice spoke about tomorrow’s North London Derby:
“The north London derby is always special. I’ve been able to play in a few of them now and understand the rivalry, understand who you’re playing against and what it means.
“Sunday isn’t just going to be about football, it’s going to be about how much you want it as well. You’re going away to Spurs, they have a new manager, they’ve had loads of injuries, but it’s going to be a game both of us are going to want to win.
“But that day, it’s all in your mind – ‘how much do you really want it?’. You’ve got to fight for it and trust me, I want it.”
I think Rice wants to win every game and seldom disappoints. I don’t think it would matter which position he played in either as he’d just get on with it and what I really like about him other than his attitude is that he doesn’t go to ground unless he’s hurt. If the game was full of players like him, it would be so much better. Instead, football is full of dark arts which is dangerous in my opinion as one day a player will be rolling around on the floor seriously injured and the referee will wave play on, not realising that he’s really not crying wolf. Every club has players who try to con the referee, including Arsenal and I really don’t enjoy watching it.
Tomorrow’s North London Derby really is a must win game. A daft expression I know but today we’re up against “them” – it matters to the fans, it should matter to every player at the club, the manager, his staff and of course, our position in the league.
What was the dressing room like after Wednesday’s draw at Molineux?
“You see a lot of talk of ‘what’s it going to be like in the changing room? What are players going to be saying to each other?”
“Trust me, if you were in there the other night, you would see how much it means to us [as players]. That’s the level we need to be at, because if you want to win things, you need to be able to demand stuff of each other and say truths in the moment.”
Rice went on to say that after they’ve all vented, they shake hands and move on. I’d imagine Gabriel and Raya had a few words to say to each other! Rice is not the only one who has spoken about tomorrow’s game as Mikel Arteta held his press conference yesterday when he was asked many questions, including these two:
Why Norgaard hasn’t come in more to replace Zubimendi:
“We played with Christian, Declan [Rice] has played there as well. We have changed a lot of players in the team. So it’s dependent on the kind of game that we expect, who do we believe is in the best condition physically, mentally, technically and tactically to deliver what we require.
If people are losing perspective on where we are this season:
No, because I think everybody has their own opinion, and their perspective is the right one. I think we all have an individual book. I don’t know what your book would say. What you predicted three months ago, five, seven, eight, it would be very interesting to go through yours and understand how you predict it or how you see the season going. We have ourselves a very clear instruction. We have to live in the present. What we did in the past is great, but we have to live in the present, and the present is beautiful. We are exactly where we want to be in every competition, and what is there to play, for we need to earn it, like we’ve done in the last seven or eight months.
I don’t believe Arteta when he says the club are exactly where he wants it to be. Positionally yes but too many late goals conceded in games has seen our lead at the top shrink rapidly. We’d pretty much have one hand on the Premier League trophy had those late goals not gone in but, that’s football. Liverpool won the league last season by scoring very late goals in a number of games, I just hope conceding late goals doesn’t prevent us from winning it.
The title race is not over just because we’ve struggled since the turn of the year. There’s three months of fixtures to go yet and a lot of points on offer but, there really needs to be a lot of improvement from Arteta and his players if we’re to stay in this race.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico,
I like it when a player sticks his head over the parapet after a poor result and shows the guts to accept the criticism without the whinging and trotting out of excuses.
I also like the attitude expressed in the sentiment of everybody having their say, shaking hands and moving on.
Perhaps some fans could learn something from Declan’s words. Have your say by all means, but then get back in the boat and support your team.
Morning Cicero, I do too. Rice isn’t one of those who drops his standards. 100 Arsenal games for him tomorrow, shows how often he has played in such a short time.
“Perhaps some fans could learn something from Declan’s words. Have your say by all means, but then get back in the boat and support your team.” 👍🏻
a) I don’t understand why we changed our usual way of playing. We started kicking the ball forward instead of controlling it on the ground. I understand that teams press higher, especially when we get the ball out of the goalkeeper’s hands, but they also expose themselves more, become out of position, and tire more easily. Conducting a game focused on individual and aerial duels only gives the opponent an advantage.
b) As I posted before, in my opinion, these 3 away games would almost decide the title if we won them. Not that we would lose points, but they would give us a boost and a determination that is difficult to overcome.
c) I don’t think we have as deep a squad as they say. There are players who never play and who have lost their place (like Lewis Kelly). Making the same substitutions (and now there are 5) is equivalent to having 15-16 reliable players. It’s insufficient.
Villa drop two points..it must be catching. 😉
And Chelsea, with another red card. 😜
There are Jm but that’s only Arteta’s choice not to play them. Doesn’t mean they are not very good players.
I’m desperately trying to blank out the awful England performance against Ireland. Several of our starters will be having nightmares.
Awful wasn’t it. Two shockers in a row now.
If we don’t improve radically, the game against France will be a slaughter.
Scotland was much better
Almost all teams win at Brentford.
Just watched the Hammers vs Bournemouth game, finished 0 -0 but I like the look of Jiminez, the Bournemouth midfielder.
Agreed Cicero.
I like West Ham’s winger, Summerville I think his name is.
Not us though Jm.
City now only 2 points behind us, we must beat Tottenham otherwise we could be in a lot of trouble