Declan Rice has been singled out by Jamie Carragher for his stellar leadership after he calmed the situation surrounding Myles Lewis-Skelly after his strike for Arsenal
Jamie Carragher hailed Declan Rice’s leadership as he calmed the situation around Myles Lewis-Skelly on Sunday.
The Arsenal youngster, whose stock has continued to rise, scoring in the 5-1 demolition at the Emirates as the Gunners ran riot. His smart finish put the hosts 3-1 ahead as they took control of the contest before he pulled out Erling Haaland’s signature celebration.
The Norwegian was public enemy No.1 on Sunday after some issues in previous encounters against Arsenal and Lewis-Skelly chose to copy his famous celebration. As his Arsenal team-mates gathered round him, Rice was quick to pick the teenager up.
Carragher confessed he wasn’t a fan of the celebration antics, but was hugely impressed with how Arsenal’s midfielder dealt with him in the moments after. Rice got him back up and then continued to call on him to ensure he was in the right frame of mind.
He said on Sky Sports: “Listen I said about him having football arrogance on the pitch and I loved it, I didn’t liek this. He’s a young player, mimicking Haaland maybe taking the mic. We all get carried away as young player, but I think what Declan Rice did, he pulls him up.
“It’s a huge moment for him, but Declan Rice is telling him to get back into position. When I think about leaders in that dressing room, being a senior player, you look at Declan Rice telling him to get back into position, let’s not get carried away. Again, this is what senior pros should be doing to young players.”
Rice, now into his second season with Arsenal, has long been lauded for his leadership characteristics and again showed them on Sunday.
Gary Neville echoed Carragher’s sentiment as he called on Lewis-Skelly to remain grounded following an excellent start to his Arsenal career – especially with the distractions that potentially lie ahead.
“He’s got a long way to go, don’t get carried away, there are lots of pitfalls out there,” he said. “You’ll get money thrown at you, there’ll be distractions thrown at you, there’ll be lots of things that you’d like to do that you can’t do as a young football player.
“Forget it, you can do it when you’re 35 – you’ve got 15 years in front of you, concentrate for 15 years on doing this and doing it well. But watching him today, yeah it was brilliant, I think he’s a good defender. He’s got a real intent about him.”
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