Declan Rice explains how Arsenal dressing room reacted to late Porto winner
Declan Rice has warned Arsenal cannot be expected to blow every team away by “five and six” goals.
But Rice insists that Arsenal remain full of confidence in the title race and will improve from their steep learning curve in Europe. Arsenal return to Premier League action on Saturday when they face Newcastle in what has become a huge crunch game for the Gunners as they look to turn up the heat on rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
But after smashing 21 goals in their last five Premier League games, they drew a blank in the Champions League in Porto after failing to even register a shot on target and now they will have to turn around a 1-0 defeat in next month’s return leg.
Rice admitted that even the Arsenal players were bemused in the dressing room as to how they could go from scoring goals for fun to a dismal defeat. Gunners midfielder Rice said: “We just said that. Not every game is going to be fives and sixes. You are going to come up against teams who are watching us and seeing what they can do to stop us.
“I don’t think we had a shot on target in Porto, so it is tough to take, it is tough to hear that. But we are really positive still, there is a real positivity around the place at the minute.
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“We are going to keep our heads held high and go again on Saturday and give it everything against Newcastle. Coming into it as a new player, I have seen how many leaders there are in the team that drive it on and really want the best for each other.
“That is so good that there is an honest speaking group. If you want to win things and go far in things, you need that. We said some stuff in there, positive stuff, and it’s about Saturday now. We have to park what happened in Porto and revisit it in two weeks.
“There is a real positivity around the group at the minute, around the club. We have had such a good start to 2024, we take the positives from this game, but also see where we can improve. It is going to be a big game in two weeks’ time and we will be ready for it.”
Arsenal now have a one-goal deficit to overturn in the second leg (Getty Images)Arsenal will be fired up for Newcastle as, not only do they want to stake their claim in the title race, they also endured a bitter defeat at St James’s Park amid VAR and refereeing controversy over Anthony Gordon’s winning goal. There was anger flying around afterwards, club statements, Mikel Arteta ’s post-match rant and they will have to get themselves back into the right frame of mind after a long trip to Portugal in midweek.
But those are the demands on clubs in the Champions League and Rice admits that, for some of the squad, they do lack experience on the European stage. This is Arsenal’s first season back in Europe’s top competition in seven years.
Porto boasted a Champions League winner in veteran Pepe compared to Arsenal’s rookies and that was not lost on Rice as he said they will have to learn quickly. Rice added: “Conceding in the last minute is probably a bit of inexperience. Just probably having a bit more savviness.
"If you can’t win, definitely don’t lose - especially in a knockout game. But look, we are still positive. It is half-time in a two-leg tie and we will be ready for the next leg.
“You look on the pitch at a load of their players, you look at Pepe especially, with the experience he has got in these types of ties. You look at our team, we are such a young group.
“Some of us have not played in the Champions League before [this season], so it is all about learning on the job. But we have to play better than we did in Porto. They made it really tough, but in the second leg we will be ready to go and give it everything.
"From my behalf, I have played in European ties before so there wasn’t any nerves from me. Obviously getting booked early on was a real kick in the teeth, because that can change your mindset a little bit.
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"But it is good to have nerves if other players had nerves. You get that experience and you need that to play in the biggest games. Whether there is nerves or no nerves, these are the type of games we need to learn from on the way and it is going to make us better overall.”
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