Arsenal: Okay, so maybe Matteo Guendouzi isn’t perfect… yet

Arsenal’s midfield utterly collapsed against Everton, and half of that falls on Matteo Guendouz. Which just means that he isn’t perfect… yet.

Matteo Guendouzi has been one of the consistently bright spots of this Arsenal season, which has often taken on a bit of a gloomy feel, only finding optimism in large doses lately. But especially early on, fans were going nuts about Guendouzi, and lately, we’ve seen more of what mades us fall in love in the first place.

That wasn’t the case against Everton. Against Everton, the 19-year-old was completely directionless, like he had absolutely no clue where he was supposed to be. Worse actually, like he didn’t care where he was supposed to be.

It’s been the biggest question mark about Guendouzi’s early career – can he figure out how to be a positionally responsible midfielder, or is he going to be more of an Aaron Ramsey type, who has the freedom to roam?

It’s been looking a lot like the intention is to count on him to stay at home and do a job, because that is what is primarily being asked of him this year. And that is exactly what he didn’t do against Everton.

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The match itself was more or less a free for all for the Gunners, but Guendouzi was having his own free for all right in the middle of the pitch, not doing much of anything to establish any sort of foundation while also not staying at home, not keeping track of the ball and diving into challenges like it’s the only thing he wanted to do.

What did we learn about Guendouzi from this match? Nothing. Should we be concerned about Guendouzi after this match? Absolutely not. Growing pains are a real thing, and the perfect player isn’t. Especially when you’re only 19. Guendouzi’s season is a rousing success and one shabby away performance isn’t going to mar the tremendous impact that he has had, both now and moving into the future.

It also wasn’t helped by the fact that he was paired with the scarecrow, Mohamed Elneny, who’s primary strength has and always will be his effort, because he really doesn’t have any other strengths.

I, for one, will never be concerned about Guendouzi, because he’s proven too much this year to bother with being worried about. Chalk it up as growing pains if you have to chalk it up as anything, but you really don’t have to chalk it up at all.