Declan Rice once again let loose with some colorful language, expressing his frustration after Arsenal ended their match against Nottingham Forest with a goalless draw.
The England midfielder had already become a talking point earlier in the week when he had a heated exchange with Arsenal coach Albert Stuivenberg during halftime of their 3-2 victory over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
This time, however, Rice turned his disappointment inward, upset over Arsenal’s missed chance to extend their lead over Manchester City. City had just suffered a 2-0 defeat against Manchester United.
Arsenal’s last two Premier League fixtures have ended in draws, leaving them just shy of a potential 11-point gap over City. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s team is struggling, having not won any of their last four league matches.
Expressing support for Rice’s fiery attitude, Piers Morgan took to social media, stating, “He’s spot on! This is why Rice should be our captain.”
Declan Rice swore to himself after Arsenal’s 0-0 draw at Nottingham Forest on Saturday
Arsenal are seven points clear of Manchester City but could have been nine ahead with a win
Earlier this week, Rice got into a tunnel row with one of Arsenal’s coaching staff
Morgan added, “We lacked real leadership today. If we want to clinch the title, we need this winning mindset—an unwillingness to settle for subpar performances.”
Rice is widely seen by the public as a genial and good-natured character but in the past week he has shown the darker side which many associate with a winning mentality.
In his clash with Mikel Arteta’s assistant Stuivenberg, known as ‘AirPod Albert’, he claimed the coach ‘doesn’t know what the hell he’s on about’ in an expletive-laden rant.
Gabriel Magalhaes intervened between the pair, placing himself in the middle of them, though Rice continued to shout and gesticulate.
A camera pointing down the tunnel captured the argument and an expert lip-reader, Jeremy Freeman, revealed to the Daily Mail what was said during the clip.
Rice begins the sequence by saying ‘just go,’ and Gabriel steps in to say to Stuivenberg: ‘Stop, please stop, please stop’.
Then, according to Freeman, Rice blurts out: ‘Oh for f***’s sake’, at which point Gabriel asks him to be ‘calm’.
Then comes Rice’s insult: ‘He doesn’t know what the hell he is on about?’
Gabriel Magalhaes had to come between him and assistant Albert Stuivenberg to try and defuse the tunnel argument
The video ends with Gabriel saying: ‘Calm, hey stop, hey calm.’
Arsenal were 1-0 up at the time thanks to Ben White’s opener. Viktor Gyokeres and Martin Zubimendi scored in the second half, but Alejandro Garnacho netted twice to keep Chelsea in the tie.
Stuivenberg has been one of Arteta’s most trusted lieutenants since 2019. He is known as ‘AirPod Albert’ as he is regularly seen wearing the wireless earpieces.
Arteta and Stuivenberg struck up a rapport when studying for their UEFA A coaching licenses in Cardiff with the Football Association of Wales.
His credentials as a coach go back to his native Holland after a cruciate ligament injury ended his playing career in 1989, putting wheels in motion for a key role to come on the other side of the white lines.
He worked at Feyenoord for 13 years, helping to bring through talents such as Robin van Persie, who would become an Emirates favourite. Stuivenberg progressed to work with the Dutch national youth teams and Manchester United, where he was under Louis van Gaal. Stints at Belgian side Genk and Wales followed before he joined Arsenal.
In January 2022 he took charge of Arsenal against Manchester City while Arteta had to isolate after contracting Covid-19.
Confrontations are not necessarily a sign of a team in poor health. Thierry Henry has previously spoken about the aggressiveness that was rampant in the Invincibles side of 2003-04.
Stuivenberg joined Arsenal in 2019 alongside Mikel Arteta and is known as ‘AirPod Albert’
‘I keep on saying to everybody we were competitors, wanting to win and would do anything to win, competing against Man United but the hardest thing ever was to train,’ Henry told The Football Show.
‘The training session, you saw what we did and what we didn’t do. All you are facing is Sol Campbell, [Martin] Keown, Kolo [Toure], every morning, that is what I had to deal with every morning and they had to deal with us.
‘It was so hard in training. Sometimes we would fight in training, battle. It makes me laugh when you hear “oh we argued” but it was meant to happen.’
‘You don’t win things without having that mentality,’ Henry revealed. ‘That ego, that respect for the team. And yes, battles happen… when you have players around you that demand excellence, that is what you are going to bring.
‘Those guys demand excellence, that is what I became. We had to clash because we had the same attitude and the same will to win.’
