Bruno Guimaraes enjoyed the perfect start to life as an Arsenal player until last weekend, when he was seriously exposed by a relentless Brighton side. His difficult outing highlighted the challenges that can come with adapting to a new club, even for a player with an impressive reputation.
In truth, almost no Arsenal player came out of that game with much credit, but the performance showed that signing a top player from another Premier League club does not automatically mean that he will solve all of Arsenal’s problems. Guimaraes remains a terrific player, and over the years, he has proven that he can be one of the top midfielders in the game whenever he plays for his club or country.
At the World Cup, he stood out in a Brazil team that had several world-class players in every position, and that is one of the reasons Arsenal went all out to add him to their squad. His performances have demonstrated why the club were so determined to bring him in and why there are high expectations surrounding his role.
Guimaraes Still Has Time to Adapt
So far, the midfielder has done well, but a match like the Brighton game is when we would expect him to step up and make a difference for the team. Unfortunately for Arsenal, that never happened, and his display showed that even an established player can struggle when faced with a difficult tactical challenge.
That does not mean he is a bad signing; it simply means that he needs time as well. He will solve some problems for the club in difficult games like that, but the truth is that he has only just arrived and cannot perform magic immediately.
Arsenal Can Still Expect More
As he becomes more familiar with his teammates and more accustomed to the role the manager wants him to play, we should see the best of him. Building an understanding with those around him will take time, particularly when he is being asked to contribute in demanding matches.
When that understanding develops, Guimaraes should be better equipped to deal with complex puzzles like the one Brighton presented to the Gunners. One difficult performance should not define his Arsenal career, particularly when there is still plenty of time for him to adapt and show why the club wanted him so strongly.
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Guimarães is a terrific midfielder. I’m so happy we have him
Having a bad game happens to the best of them. And also it wasn’t like he was the only Arsenal player who had a bad game against Brighton.
Many times, a player has a bad game and some “fans” hammer that player, like he’s the worst footballer
I have lots of faith in him
Give him time.
He is a top quality player and he will show it. I’m 100% sure of that.
Early days, but not sure we are going to get the best years of Guimarez? I did say it when we bought him. I was not impressed at all with Zubimendi, who is not up to it. I didn’t think we needed Guimarez. We needed an athletic midfielder who can dominate and neither of those two do. Like I say, Guimarez has time to improve but, I think Newcastle have had the best version.
I feel like Bruno is too similar to Rice, they are basically carbon copies of each other.
We have “versatility” in terms of guys playing multiple positions, but we have only a little “versatility” between players in positions.
Even Zubimendi is more of the same like Merino, good technically, good in possession, but little pace, not good 1 v 1, and don’t look for them to beat their man and drive upfield, like we see MLS do on multiple occassions.
Arteta prefers a “type” for positions, and nothing wrong if that is his strategy and how he sets up his squad.
A problem area is in “Plan B,” which we don’t have. Sub off Rice/Bruno and replace with Zubi/Merino; not much change in terms different plan and their abilities.
I would call this a shortcoming, but hey it is not my team to build, or adapt to teams in the second half of games.
I don’t blame guimares for the Brighton debacle. I blame arteta for disrupting the structure with rice and skelly. In the first 5 minutes, I knew we were going to be in trouble with guimares bombing forward to lead the press with odegard.. wtf? You will never see skelly too far away from rice.. they both move in tandem. Guimares should play in place of rice and not with rice when rice needs a rest. His lack of awareness gave rice too much work to do all alone in midfield thereby forcing timber to step into midfield which ultimately isolated saka on the right for he had no outlet to ease pressure from opposition. I hope arteta has learned his lesson of not experimenting a new structure when the first 4 games had clearly showed how we control the games with rice and skelly.. you could see it on skelly’s face that he was not happy