"It hurts, it's sickening" | Declan Rice's honest reflection on Arsenal's season

Summary

In a candid interview, Declan Rice opened up about the challenging season Arsenal is experiencing. Despite initial hopes, Arsenal's recent performances haven't been up to the mark, leading to disappointment within the team. Rice emphasized the need to finish the last three games strongly and carry momentum into next season. Acknowledging the successes of rivals like Liverpool, Rice reiterated the importance of mindset, resilience, and continued improvement. He discussed the painful "nearly team" tag and the determination to move beyond it. Although faced with setbacks, Rice remains optimistic about Arsenal's potential, stressing the significance of maintaining emotional strength, learning from past mistakes, and striving for consistency.

Highlights

• Declan Rice opens up about Arsenal's struggles and motivation to finish the season strong 💪.
• Turning setbacks into fuel to achieve success in future games 🔥.
• Rice acknowledges Liverpool's consistency and champions their success, yet remains hopeful for Arsenal's future 🌟.
• The importance of emotional strength and resilience in overcoming challenges ⚽.
• Learning from past mistakes is crucial for Arsenal's growth and consistency 🎯.
• Rice discusses his personal development and ambitions at Arsenal, highlighting his evolving role as a player 🏆.

Key Takeaways

• Declan Rice candidly discusses the emotional toll of Arsenal's season, aiming to turn disappointment into motivation 🔥.
• Finishing strong in the last three matches is crucial for Arsenal to build momentum for next season ⚽.
• Acknowledge the strength of rivals like Liverpool but remain focused on improving and achieving success 💪.
• Rice believes in Arsenal's potential to overcome the 'nearly team' tag and achieve greater consistency 🌟.
• Emphasizing emotional resilience and learning from setbacks to enhance future performances 🙌.
• Rice's personal growth is evident since joining Arsenal, valuing consistency and continual improvement 🌱.

Overview

Declan Rice's heartfelt discussion about Arsenal's challenging season sheds light on both the emotional and practical aspects the team faces. Despite the highs and lows, Rice emphasizes a collective determination to end the current season on a high note and maintain optimism for the future. The discourse on emotional resilience, consistency, and the drive to strive for better outcomes resonates deeply with fans and teammates alike.

Rice doesn't shy away from acknowledging the successes of other teams, particularly Liverpool, and uses this as motivation to enhance Arsenal's performance. The journey from being labeled as the 'nearly team' to potential champions is anchored in learning from experiences and fortifying the team's mentality. Arsenal's players are depicted as dedicated, focused, and ready to tackle new challenges head-on.

Individually, Rice reflects on his growth since joining Arsenal. His adaptability and improvements portray him as a pivotal player crucial to Arsenal's development. The candid insights into his ideals and ambitions reveal a player committed to evolving and pushing the boundaries. This upcoming phase for Arsenal, inspired by these reflections, promises a pursuit of excellence and resilience.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Current Feelings The chapter titled 'Introduction and Current Feelings' focuses on a discussion about the emotional state and motivation strategies of the speaker, particularly after a Premier League loss against Bournemouth. The speaker expresses the importance of converting emotions like anger into motivation for the remaining three crucial games of the season, acknowledging the recent poor performance in the league.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Upcoming Matches and Motivation The chapter discusses the team's reflections on a series of matches that resulted in too many draws despite some victories. As the season concludes with three significant matches, there's a strong emphasis from both the management and players on ending the season positively. The mindset and motivation of the players are highlighted as crucial factors in ensuring a strong performance, even though the team is no longer in contention for the title. The focus is on maintaining a determined attitude to carry forward a positive momentum into the next season.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Reflecting on Competitions and Future Goals The chapter reflects on the anticipation and preparation for an upcoming critical game at Anfield, emphasizing the importance of maintaining high energy and aiming to win. The narrative draws a comparison to the past achievements of Liverpool when they won the league, highlighting the involvement and excitement surrounding those events. It conveys a sense of nostalgia and anticipation for replicating that success in the forthcoming match.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Handling Disappointments and Staying Determined In this chapter, the focus is on dealing with disappointments and maintaining determination. The speaker acknowledges the success of another team, praising their consistency and high performance throughout the season. Despite falling short themselves, there is recognition of the opportunity to challenge the champions. Emphasizing belief in their own abilities, the speaker conveys confidence that they can overcome any opponent on a given day.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Emotional Stability and Learning from Mistakes The chapter discusses the emotional challenges and the pursuit of stability within a team aiming for success in competitive sports. The focus is on how a team can handle repeated disappointments of coming close to their goals, such as winning a Premier League, without achieving them. It emphasizes the importance of not being labeled as an 'almost team' or a team that nearly made it, and the relentless drive to overcome previous setbacks. The narrative conveys the difficulty and frustration of investing significant effort and progress only to fall short of ultimate victory, highlighting the emotional resilience required to persist in such a landscape.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Team Challenges and Availability The chapter discusses the challenges faced by a team in pursuit of winning the Premier League. Despite setbacks and seeing other teams succeed, the team remains focused on their dream. The narrative emphasizes the reality of facing 'small losses' as a part of the journey towards ultimate victory and fulfillment of dreams. It highlights the players' determination and belief, noting that many successful trophy-winning players experience losses before achieving greatness. The speaker mentions their age and the youthfulness of half the team, underscoring that current situations do not define their future potential.
• 05:30 - 06:30: Comparison with Liverpool and Importance of Finishing Strongly The chapter discusses the ongoing ambitions and determination of the football club, focusing on the necessity of winning titles to affirm their status. The sentiment is that while the club has been close to winning, the real recognition comes from securing trophies. The team remains motivated to continue striving and delivering strong performances for their supporters, emphasizing that despite current disappointments, there's a palpable sense of being on the brink of success.
• 06:30 - 07:30: Declan Rice's Role and Development In this chapter, Declan Rice opens up about his passion and commitment to football, specifically with Arsenal. He discusses the emotional impact of getting close to victory but not quite achieving it, describing the experience as 'sickening' due to his deep desire to win. Rice expresses his dedication to succeeding in the sport and conveys his aspirations to win something significant with Arsenal. Although he acknowledges that victory has not yet been achieved, he remains optimistic about the future, emphasizing his contractual commitment to the team for the next four to five years and his belief in eventual success.
• 07:30 - 08:30: Positional Preferences and Inspiration The chapter delves into the emotional challenges faced in competitive sports, emphasizing the acceptance of loss, especially when faced with a better opponent. It highlights the importance of acknowledging when another team, like Liverpool, deserves their victory. Furthermore, it discusses the necessity of managing emotions effectively and points out Arsenal's capability to perform well under pressure and seize big moments.
• 08:30 - 09:30: Future Aspirations The chapter discusses the team's emotional resilience as it navigates the challenges of a competitive league season. Despite experiencing setbacks, such as losing points in leading positions, the team is perceived as emotionally strong. The overall sentiment reflects a need for maintaining emotional stability and focus to sustain performance in the league.

"It hurts, it's sickening" | Declan Rice's honest reflection on Arsenal's season Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Tan. So I think the first question should be how are you? How are you feeling? Because after Bournemouth uh Mikuel mentioned that there was this anger and that you should turn that into fuel. So how do you make sure you turn these feelings into motivation for this final stretch? Yeah, I think it's obviously a massive uh final three games for us. Um obviously our Premier League run of late hasn't been the best. Obviously we lost against Bournemouth. There's been a few
• 00:30 - 01:00 wins in there, but also too many draws. Um, where we haven't seen the game out, but you know, three massive games to end the season. Um, and yeah, we want to go out on a high, you know, that's the message from the manager, that's the message from the players. Um, we want to feel finish with a, you know, a strong feeling going into next season. How do you make sure there isn't a deflation because you're not fighting for a title anymore? Well, that's down on us as players, you know, um, that's down on our mentality um, and how much we want it, you know. We're football players at the end of the
• 01:00 - 01:30 day. We can't just choose when to turn up. You know, it's it's it's a chance to go to Anfield, um, which is an amazing stadium to play at and put on a performance and hopefully win the game. You know, that's what we're going to set out to do. Like I said, three massive games to go and Liverpool being the first. So, we want to take a lot of energy there and uh do the best we can. But Liverpool when they won the the league, you guys were so involved in everything that was happening in Champions League. Do you do you feel like in a way this weekend's going to be that moment where you're going to look
• 01:30 - 02:00 and think, hm, that could have been us? Yeah, look, we've obviously seen um what they've done. Massive credit to them. Been the most consistent team throughout the season. Um you know, performed to a really high standard and ability. Um so yeah, you know, cannot knock them. Can't take anything away from them. You know, everyone else fell short and in the end, you know, they were probably the strongest team in it. But it's a great chance, you know, to challenge oursel against the champions and um you know, we believe on our day that we can beat anyone. So, uh yeah, we need to go to
• 02:00 - 02:30 Anfield and give it absolutely everything. It must be so frustrating to get so close and see the progress and not getting there uh lifting the trophy. How do you make sure you don't get that tag of the nearly team, the almost team? Yeah, obviously it's it's going to be what, three seasons in a row that we've we've come close to winning a Premier League. Um it's disappointing. It's really really tough to take, but you have to be
• 02:30 - 03:00 able to, you know, take it in to be able to move on. Um and it's hard to see other teams lift trophies when you've been in and around it and competing. And obviously that's the dream to win the Premier League. Um but like I said the other night after our game in PSG, you know, sometimes you have to suffer these small losses in life in order to win, you know. every top player who's won a trophy lost along the way and they've never stopped believing or dreaming. You know, I'm 26. Half of our players in our team are so so young. Um, you know, this doesn't define us now. You know, we've
• 03:00 - 03:30 got a whole career ahead of us to win stuff. So, we're going to keep pushing, keep setting out for more. Um, and this is what this club deserves. You know, we've been really, really close. Um, but until we actually get our hands on a trophy again and um, you know, start to win big things, I think then people will start to say Arsenal are back. you know, there's no point just being in and around it and not winning. Um, but yeah, I think we're really close. We can sense it. It's again, this year is, like I said, it's really, really disappointing, but we're not going to let our heads drop. We're going to keep trying to deliver for the fans and uh for
• 03:30 - 04:00 ourselves. How do you personally deal with it with the with getting so close cuz it it's so clear how much you guys want to win. Yeah, it hurts. Um, it's sickening, you know. I I really really care. It's a sport I love. Um, it's a sport that I want to succeed in. You know, winning something with Arsenal would be absolutely incredible and, you know, I've still got four or five years left on my contract here to do that. You know, so the time hasn't happened at the minute, but I fully believe in my time here that we will. Um, but yeah, look,
• 04:00 - 04:30 it's tough to take. Don't get me wrong. It is really tough when you lose anything in any sport. um you know if you have that winner mentality it's uh hard to digest but also you have to hold your hands up when other teams have been better than you and also deserve to win it and Liverpool have this year so I'm not one of them that will make excuses fair play to them um they fully deserved it we're here talking about emotions and how to deal with things and and Arsenal has shown that you guys can turn up on big occasions and and really step up but
• 04:30 - 05:00 also when you drop so many points in the league There there is th there are those questions of emotional stability. So, how do you see the team emotionally? Do do you feel like you you could be and you should be more stable emotionally? I think we're an emotionally really strong team. I think we've just been through patches this season where in the Premier League for sure, we've dropped way too many points and winning positions. took our foot off the gas, been one or two nil up in games and
• 05:00 - 05:30 let other teams back into it where it's where we need to have that killer instinct, you know, and kill the game off and don't be naive and um don't start to do things that we we don't train, you know, don't start to take loads and thousands of touches and do silly things on a football pitch that that can get the opposition back into the game. And I think too many times this season that's happened, whereas last season it didn't. Um but look, football's a learning curve, you know. Um, we're here to learn and I think next season again, even with the three games
• 05:30 - 06:00 to go, it's it's a great chance to go out and perform and put things right and then obviously going into next season, you know, is obviously massive pressure to deliver again. I imagine you've thought about it so many times and it's never just one thing when you get so close to winning a title uh in a row, but what is it about this season specifically that that you feel it was like the biggest learning curve in getting so close? Um I don't know really. Look, if
• 06:00 - 06:30 I it's it's it's not an excuse if you if you take your, you know, best four or five players out of any team in the world um and still try to compete, be in the semi-final of the Champions League, be second in the Premier League, not a lot of teams would be able to do it, you know, losing your best five players. And, you know, we've really um had to put that to the side and go out there as a group, whoever's been fit, and and try and deliver the best we can. and we have really really maximized oursel in terms of the players we've had available. Um
• 06:30 - 07:00 but I think yeah just learning in terms of the main thing is availability you know needing everyone fit needing everyone available. Um needing your strongest squad you know squad of 20 to compete in every competition and as you know that's how the Man cities the Liverpools have been able to compete because they've had their best players available. They've had amazing players in every position. Um they're able to push each other to make it competitive and um yeah, I think next season going into that I think we need to make sure that we're all way more available as a
• 07:00 - 07:30 group and that we can have our strongest 11 um out there to compete at all times. How do you see the difference and the distance between Arsenal and Liverpool right now? Not big at all. Do you think that the table doesn't reflect that? In my opinion, no. Um, look, it's it's a game of football. We played against Liverpool loads of times over the last well, in the times that I've been here, we've obviously won a couple. They've won a couple. I wouldn't say the distance is like that or like that. I say we're an evenly f
• 07:30 - 08:00 balanced uh sides between us. Um, but ultimately they've won the league and like I said, credit to them. Um, it's down to us to prove that we can do that and I'm sure that one day we will. How important is it to finish second? Yeah, it's massive. Um, no one wants to finish second. Of course, finishing first is the aim and the goal. But, um, with the season we've had and like I said, the numbers we've had available to finish second and to still be pushing up there. Um, we'll still be good. It's not what we want as a club because Arsenal, us,
• 08:00 - 08:30 the fans, the manager, we all deserve more and we're pushing for more. Um, we don't want to just be labeled as that club that always finishes second, you know, because we have the full belief and know we have the quality to to win stuff. Um but second is is what we want to achieve and you know we got three games to do that. So let's see how we can do and and finishing above Man City. Is it an extra few an extra element for you guys or you don't really No. Well look Man City have been on a really good run. They had a poor run throughout the season and they turned it around and
• 08:30 - 09:00 gone on a really good run and credit to them for doing that. But we're interested on what we can do and what we can control. And that's us playing our last three games and um hopefully winning all three to end the season on a high. And you've uh made it to 100 games for Arsenal against Bournemouth. It's been a long journey, but how different are you? Because when you were at West Ham, you already looked very composed, very mature. You were already a leader. So where do you see the differences since you arrived? Yeah, I think I think
• 09:00 - 09:30 I was doing all of this at West Ham. Um but maybe just not getting the credit, you know, because West Ham probably wasn't watched as much as as Arsenal were. Um I was playing really well for West Ham, really consistent week in week out, was the captain. Um obviously since I've come to Arsenal, there's probably more eyes, more people watching. Um it catches the eyes more of other people. So more people giving their opinions. Um I've just tried to go about my job and do the best that I can, you know. I think that's been my main thing is to to be consistent and lucky enough I've been
• 09:30 - 10:00 able to do that. There's obviously so many good players in the Premier League now. Um, so yeah, I know I've just got to keep playing well, keep playing consistently well, and keep pushing myself and good things will come. And and what about the layers on your game because you you're playing more as an eight, and do you have references to people that you look at as an eight and that that kind of inspire you or uh the the aspects of your game that you develop to feel so comfortable playing more more up front? Nah, not really to be honest with you. Obviously Frank Lampard was the best at arriving from
• 10:00 - 10:30 the box into mid um from midfield into the box scoring goals. Obviously I come here as a number six and then managers after a conversation with him has likes me more box to box which I really really love as well because I can show all different types of qualities. Um is it more fun? Yeah, it's more fun for sure. I like answering the critics. You know, a lot of people said he's got to score more. He's has to assist more. I think my numbers in 100 games for Arsenal in the Premier League has been really really good for a midfielder. Um, so
• 10:30 - 11:00 I've just got to keep improving, you know. I keep um keep improving, keep keep working hard, and yeah, I think there's still so much more to come from me, you know. I feel young, I feel fresh, fit. Just got to keep going and um demanding more of myself, which I'm doing. Well, good luck then for the next season for you. Thank you. Thank you.