Arsenal: Matteo Guendouzi must find his strengths

Arsenal need consistent players, which Matteo Guendouzi isn’t yet. That’s no cause for concern at the moment, but can it please never be one?

Just about every Arsenal fan is just elated with what Matteo Guendouzi is becoming. He looks to be such a fantastic young player that is surprisingly ready for Premier League action long before we expected him.

From the off, he was the high-energy, no-fear midfielder that we so often fantasized about. He was the only bright spot against Manchester City and Chelsea and he looked to be a mainstay for years to come.

But he’s dropped off the charts a bit in recent matches. Not dropped off in that he’s become a liability, but dropped off in that he hasn’t been as good as he was in those first two matches. Then again, after those first two matches he was first in the Premier League in ball-winning plays. Hard to follow that up.

That being said, one thing that Guendouzi probably still needs to figure out is where his strengths lie, especially in relation to the new league that he is in.

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Through these first four matches, we have seen many moods of Matteo Guendouzi. As mentioned, the first two matches, he was a defensive masterclass, but he’s tried some shots, he’s tried creating chances. He’s tried sitting back and charging forward and, literally, doing everything.

Which is fine. There are those few midfielders out there that can do literally everything. But few of them mastered it all at once.

Guendouzi isn’t likely going to master everything before he turns 20, and it looks almost like he is trying to do way too much. Which is great, honestly, he’s got some kind of ambition to be the best player he can possibly be. But at the start, maybe nailing down his primary attributes would be beneficial in establishing his ‘base line,’ that bare minimum for when things go bad.

As it stands, it looks like his primary skills revolve around hounding the ball carrier, ignoring positional responsibilities and being a high-energy guy. So focus on those things and really nail them. I hate to sound overly critical, but his missing ball-winning in the past two games was, well, missed. It literally went from all to nothing.

Again, this is nothing to stress about, I just can’t wait to see him develop more.