Paul Scholes accuses Arsenal star of being ‘too emotional’ after derby win over Tottenham | Football

Paul Scholes says Declan Rice has a bent to be ‘too emotional’ in games and Arsenal might have more ‘calmness’ from their senior players in the event that they are to go on and win the Premier League title.

Arsenal bounced back from their midweek capitulation at Wolves to crush bitter rivals Spurs on Sunday, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres each scoring twice in a comprehensive 4-1 win.

The result ensured the Gunners finished the weekend with a five-point lead over second-placed Manchester City, who kept the pressure on with a 2-1 defeat of Newcastle 24 hours earlier.

Arsenal’s derby victory was not without its nervy moments, though, with Randal Kolo Muani immediately cancelling out Eze’s opening goal in a frantic period of play towards the top of the primary half on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Rice was largely in charge for Spurs’ equaliser after he was robbed of possession while attempting to carry the ball away to safety on the sting of Arsenal’s penalty area.

The England midfielder was quick to apologise to his team-mates following the lapse in concentration and, thankfully for the visitors, it mattered little come the full-time whistle as Eze and Gyokeres combined to torment Igor Tudor’s men in a dominant second-half display.

Discussing Arsenal’s performance on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, each Scholes and Nicky Butt agreed that Mikel Arteta’s side had laid down a big marker with the win over their north London foes.

Nonetheless, Butt argued that there stays an absence of old-school ‘leaders’ like Roy Keane or Martin Keane in the present Arsenal squad.

‘I’d put a Roy Keane in there because I feel they need a pacesetter. They need some leaders on that pitch saying, “We are able to do that! We are able to get [over the line]”,’ the ex-Manchester United and England midfielder said.

‘If Martin Keown was in that team, I can be loads more confident of them occurring and winning the league because he’s a pacesetter.

‘I don’t know, perhaps nowadays in modern football you don’t have leaders like that.

‘I’m pretty sure Declan Rice is an enormous leader, I’m pretty sure William Saliba is a pacesetter but they simply need someone to grab them by the short and curlies and go, “Lads, we will do that. We’re a great team!”

‘They proved that yesterday and, I get it, Tottenham weren’t unbelievable, they were bad. But they’ve won 4-1.’

In response to Butt’s comments, Scholes replied: ‘I do know what Nicky is saying there. When Roy [Keane] was getting the team together and leading the team rather well, there was a certain calmness about it.

‘Once I have a look at Declan Rice, he almost looks too emotional. He’s full of life, he’s, “Come on! Come on! Come on!”, after which he makes his mistake.

‘If you’re going for a league title, once you’ve got tough games, there needs to be a calmness about you.

‘I feel potentially [he’s a captain]. It’s just once I have a look at him now, he’s so emotional.’

In keeping with Scholes, there may be all the time a spot for ’emotion’ in the sport – but it surely must be channeled in the precise strategy to ensure one of the best possible results.

‘I don’t like all that [Rice geeing up the crowd just moments before Kolo Muani’s goal]. I don’t like people being so emotional like that,’ the 11-time Premier League winner added.

‘People will call me a miserable bastard and say that you simply don’t wish to take emotion out of the sport. And naturally we don’t, we would like emotion but it surely needs to be in the precise way.

‘Scoring goals and celebrating, that’s great. But game-management in game situations, there must be a calmness.’

Though Butt didn’t disagree with Scholes, he named Rice because the one player in English football that he would most prefer to see at Manchester United.

‘I feel he’s a top leader,’ Butt said of the previous West Ham star.

I get what Scholesy is saying, he [Rice] desires to win it a lot and he made that mistake yesterday. I just think they some calmness in that team.

‘Scholesy is 100 per cent right, I’m not disagreeing with you, but when there’s any player that I’d take to Manchester United within the country, it might be Declan Rice at once.’

Butt was ‘concerned’ that Rice wasn’t lambasted by any of his Arsenal team-mates within the immediate aftermath of his mistake for Kolo Muani’s goal.

‘What rang slightly alarm bell for me isn’t one Arsenal player had a go at him for the error,’ he went on.

‘If you happen to rewind to Martin Keown’s days, Tony Adams’ days, Patrick Vieira’s days, Thierry Henry’s days, all these players, they might have [torn into Rice].

‘With us, if it was a Steve Bruce or a Bryan Robson or a Mark Hughes or an Eric Cantona, they might take you to the cleaners.

‘I’m like, who’re those which can be leading the team to attempt to get them over that line. That’s the priority for me.’

The Gunners will look to select up where they left off after they return to Premier League motion at home to a different of their biggest rivals, Chelsea, this weekend.

Liam Rosenior’s side will still be hurting after dropping points in a 1-1 draw with lowly Burnley at Stamford Bridge.

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