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

Paul Scholes says Declan Rice has a tendency to be ‘too emotional’ in games and Arsenal may need more ‘calmness’ from their senior players if 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 both 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 end of the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Rice was largely to blame for Spurs’ equaliser after he was robbed of possession while trying to carry the ball away to safety on the edge 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, both Scholes and Nicky Butt agreed that Mikel Arteta’s side had laid down a significant marker with the win over their north London foes.

However, Butt argued that there remains a lack of old-school ‘leaders’ like Roy Keane or Martin Keane in the current Arsenal squad.

‘I would put a Roy Keane in there because I think they need a leader. They need some leaders on that pitch saying, “We can do this! We can get [over the line]”,’ the ex-Manchester United and England midfielder said.

‘If Martin Keown was in that team, I would be a lot more confident of them going on and winning the league because he’s a leader.

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

‘I’m pretty sure Declan Rice is a big leader, I’m pretty sure William Saliba is a leader but they just need someone to grab them by the short and curlies and go, “Lads, we can do this. We’re a good 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 know what Nicky is saying there. When Roy [Keane] was getting the team together and leading the team really well, there was a certain calmness about it.

‘When I look at Declan Rice, he almost looks too emotional. He’s lively, he’s, “Come on! Come on! Come on!”, and then he makes his mistake.

‘When you’re going for a league title, when you’ve got tough games, there has to be a calmness about you.

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

According to Scholes, there is always a place for ’emotion’ in the game – but it needs to be channeled in the right way to ensure 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 don’t want to take emotion out of the game. And of course we don’t, we want emotion but it has to be in the right way.

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

Though Butt did not disagree with Scholes, he named Rice as the one player in English football that he would most like to see at Manchester United.

‘I think he is a top leader,’ Butt said of the former West Ham star.

I get what Scholesy is saying, he [Rice] wants to win it so much 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 if there’s any player that I would take to Manchester United in the country, it would be Declan Rice right now.’

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

‘What rang a little alarm bell for me is not one Arsenal player had a go at him for the mistake,’ he went on.

‘If you rewind to Martin Keown’s days, Tony Adams’ days, Patrick Vieira’s days, Thierry Henry’s days, all these players, they would 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 would take you to the cleaners.

‘I’m like, who are the ones that are leading the team to try and get them over that line. That’s the concern for me.’

The Gunners will look to pick up where they left off when they return to Premier League action at home to another 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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