Jamie Carragher believes Declan Rice wasn’t a fan of Myles Lewis-Skelly’s antics during Arsenal’s 5-1 win over Manchester City. The 18-year-old defender played a key role in the Gunners’ victory at the Emirates Stadium last weekend, finding the net with a brilliant effort on the hour.
After giving Arsenal a two-goal lead, Lewis-Skelly performed Erling Haaland’s signature ‘meditation’ celebration in response to the 24-year-old striker’s ‘stay humble’ comment to Mikel Arteta at the start of the season when the two sides drew 2-2.
The Hale End graduate’s showmanship was well-received by many on social media, but Carragher wasn’t a fan – and he thinks Rice wasn’t either. Speaking on The Overlap US, the Sky Sports pundit said: “I don’t care that Haaland basically said to him in the first game, ‘who the f*** are you? You’re a young player!’
“I don’t think Lewis-Skelly is in a position to be taking the p*** out of Haaland, who has scored 250 goals and won every trophy under the sun. If that was a player at Liverpool and I was a senior pro, I would say, ‘listen, you’re doing amazing, nobody wants to knock your confidence, you’ve got great arrogance on the pitch, you want the ball in tight areas, so don’t get involved in that’.
“You’re not at the level yet of Haaland. I think Declan Rice was actually looking at him and thinking, ‘get yourself up’. Stop showboating in front of the crowd.”
Jamie O’Hara wasn’t a fan either. Speaking to Grosvenor Sport, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder said: “Don’t get me wrong, I like the banter and the back and forth – but not from Myles Lewis-Skelly! He’s a hugely talented young player, but he hasn’t scored 250 goals or won a trophy yet.
“Arsenal didn’t win a trophy against Manchester City; they won three points. On the other hand, if you can’t do a celebration, what’s the point in football? It’s the whole point of the moment; when you score, you’re in euphoria.
“I think everyone’s blowing the whole celebration incident out of proportion – it wasn’t that bad, let the lad celebrate. That said, if I was in that dressing room, I’d be saying, ‘calm down – we haven’t won anything yet.'”
Speaking to reporters after the game, Pep Guardiola delivered a typically sarcastic ‘that’s good’ when quizzed on the Hale End graduate’s thinly-veiled dig. Meanwhile, Gunners boss Arteta was keen to put the focus back on Lewis-Skelly’s impressive performance.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” said Arteta I was talking today with one of our staff members about that he needs to threaten more in the final third when he gets in this position. Riccy did it the other day against Wolves and he scored. Our full backs are now generating these kind of things.
“The same with Jurrien, he adds threat, he gave a different kind of problem to the opposition, so great. He’s been nurtured in the academy, he’s got it inside him, he feels it and he’s very good at expressing that as well.
“Some players struggle with that, he does it in every action, he does it with his body language, he does it with his facial expression, how he lives the game and with the ball he takes it, he wants to make things happen. He takes risks, he takes initiatives and at his age it’s not easy to see.”
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