Arsenal Find Pleasantly Misunderstood Fan Favorite in 45 Minutes

CARDIFF, Wales — “I’m a warrior,” was the reasoning Bruno Guimarães scrambled for when tasked with justifying his $101 million move to Arsenal earlier this summer. It was a sentiment which caught the ear of Mikel Arteta.

“I think he describes himself as a warrior,” the Spanish coach smiled. “I think he’s going to push everybody inside the team as well and that’s the type of player that we need.”

That battling intangible helped instantly endear Guimarães to a new fanbase on his (semi-)competitive debut in Sunday’s Community Shield victory against Manchester City. Loud barks of “Bruno! Bruno!” greeted every tackle and trip from his blockade at the base of midfield.

Yet, Guimarães’s 45-minute triumph was laced with more subtle moments of guile that should overshadow any amount of grit.

Guimaraes Banishes Arsenal Demons

Bruno Guimarães on the ball. — Without being perfect, Bruno Guimarães did everything Arsenal needed. | David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

The last time the Gunners faced City in a match which ended with a trophy presentation, they were convincingly played off the park. Last season’s Carabao Cup final dismantling was a ruthless example of how few Arsenal players can actually pass the ball with an opponent in the same ZIP Code.

When Arteta, an excellent technician during his own playing days after being honed in Barcelona’s academy, admitted Arsenal “need to bring more skill and quality to the squad,” that chastening afternoon at Wembley Stadium must have been playing on his mind.

Enzo Maresca gambled with a four-man press of his own for City on Sunday, but this time Arsenal had a valve to release the pressure: Guimarães.

There was an undercurrent of arrogance to the way the Brazilian tiptoed around the Principality Stadium pitch. On a hot day made all the more uncomfortable by the air conditioning unit in Arsenal’s locker room breaking ahead of kickoff, Guimarães kept his cool. Utterly unfazed by the scurrying sky blue shirts, the team’s new No. 39 was as comfortable flicking a first-time pass around the corner as resting his studs on the ball, baiting a forward dart from a City player only to exploit the space they had just vacated.

Guimarães untangled City’s press with far more ease than the poor stewards, who lost their wrestling match with the piece of fabric draped across the center circle prematch. Even his decision to play the ball back to goalkeeper David Raya from his own half elicited a polite round of applause from a rapidly enraptured public—this, lest anyone forget, is the same set of fans who met any show of caution with vicious vitriol during the tense conclusion to last season. They have a new favorite.

For all Declan Rice’s abundant qualities, comfort in small spaces has never been one of them. He’s a claustrophobic player. The buccaneering England international struggled desperately to offer any impact when faced with a high press in the final third of last season as multiple teams copied City’s approach of unsettling Arsenal. Martín Zubimendi is a player who should theoretically be good at picking his way through some pressure but, much like Rice, had his sharpness blunted by an endless torrent of matches last term. Guimarães could also help with that.

Arteta Given Comfort Blanket

Bruno Guimarães (left) and Declan Rice. — Bruno Guimarães (left) and Declan Rice could be fighting for minutes. | Eddie Keogh/The FA/Getty Images

Had Arsenal gone into any fixture last season, let alone a trophy match against Manchester City, without at least one of Rice or Zubimendi in midfield, there would have been mass panic. It certainly wouldn’t have been voluntary.

The signing of Guimarães, a World Cup starter for Brazil with more than 150 Premier League appearances already under his belt, gives fans and even Arteta a safety net to rest and rotate. The emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly as another superb midfield option also helps.

Arteta was typically defensive about his blatant over-reliance upon Rice. However, when confronted with the staggering fact that the 27-year-old racked up 69 appearances for club and country last season, the demanding coach reluctantly accepted: “Hopefully he doesn’t need to do it that consistently.”

Although, Arteta argued that he may have to convince Rice: “He [would] probably say the opposite, that he needs to play 70.”

If Guimarães maintains the same standard throughout the rest of the season, Rice could be the only one lamenting how much rest he is given. Yet, as the Community Shield has proven before, that “if” is doing some heavy lifting.

Can Guimaraes Swerve Community Shield Curse?

Darwin Núñez holding up the Community Shield. — The Community Shield is abound with cautionary tales. | Harriet Lander/Copa/Getty Images

The traditional curtain-raising fixture of the competitive top-flight English season has seen more false dawns than The Truman Show. The most potent recent example of misplaced faith in a new signing came in 2022.

Darwin Núñez capped off a comfortable Community Shield win for Liverpool with a debut goal. Jürgen Klopp hailed an “exceptional” performance. “And he will get better with time,” the German boss promised. That cameo would arguably prove to be the high point of Núñez’s consistently inconsistent career on Merseyside. By the same token, it marked the low point for Erling Haaland, who spurned three clear chances on his Manchester City debut to emphatically come out second best in the head-to-head of new strikers.

Remarkably, Pep Guardiola was asked if he was worried about the costly new recruit. “I am absolutely not concerned,” the Catalan curtly shot back.

Núñez was the master of ceremonies as Liverpool hoisted aloft the silver plate served up to Community Shield winners, liberally dishing out the champagne. Guimarães reveled in his own trophy moment on Sunday, trotting up to collect his medal to the soundtrack of his own chant from a new adoring public. They had more reason to celebrate than many could have imagined.

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