Declan Rice shares his true feelings on Mikel Arteta's touchline behaviour amid criticism

Declan Rice has insisted that he and his Arsenal teammates "love" Mikel Arteta's touchline behaviour - even though the Spaniard's antics have been widely criticised this season.

Arteta has become renowned for his passion on the touchline since returning to the Emirates as manager back in December 2019 and can often be seen bouncing around his technical area during matches. The Gunners chief has also developed a penchant for enthusiastic celebrations, too, but his conduct isn't appreciated by everyone.

On plenty of occasions already this term, Arteta's behaviour has been questioned by fans and pundits alike. But Rice, who joined the Londoners from West Ham in the summer, is a big fan of his manager's passion.

When he was asked for his opinion on Arteta's touchline conduct, Rice told 90min: “We love it. I think you see how passionate he is. He sometimes gets criticised for how he is on the sidelines, but he is living the game through us.

“He's so energetic and the way he speaks, he's like a teacher the way he is in the changing room with us and that really fires us up for the game and I think that's what he's really good at.”

While Rice and co may appreciate Arteta's approach, several pundits have chastised his behaviour. Arsenal legend Malcolm Macdonald became the latest person to speak out against Arteta at the weekend when he accused him of “re-writing the Arsenal handbook of standards” following his explosive rant about VAR last week.He said: “I couldn’t believe it when instead of trying to calm him down at games the Arsenal hierarchy actually backed him with that statement, supporting him on the VAR issue.

“I was surprised because that is not the Arsenal I and many others have known over the years. Standards always came first before anything else at Arsenal even if it meant to the detriment of the club, that they might lose out on something. You had to maintain standards at all times.

“Arteta appears to be rewriting the Arsenal handbook and getting away with it. When Denis Hill Wood and his son who followed him, Peter Hill-Wood, were chairmen it was very old school. The honour came before a win or a loss.

“Sooner or later the authorities will take action over Arteta, I am sure of that. They can’t allow officials to be bullied by a particular manager or by a particular club, the sort of things we are seeing from Arsenal.”