Arsenal midfielder Bruno Guimaraes has acknowledged that his trademark penalty technique is no longer effective.
The Brazilian faced criticism after his missed penalty led to a shocking exit for the team from the EFL Cup against Fleetwood Town. In an interview with ESPN Brasil, the player honestly discussed his struggles.
I have been taking my penalties a certain way. I tried it during the World Cup, and I have tried it here. Now it’s clear to me that it is no longer working.
The former Newcastle player has missed three of his last four penalties for club and country.
I have the humility to admit that I need to get better and change the way I take my shots. But one thing is for sure: this does not change who I am as a player or as a person. As I said, I have the humility to acknowledge that my recent penalties have not been very good. My performance before the World Cup was very strong, but recently I have not been able to perform at the same level. This is something I need to work on, I have to train differently.
The Brazilian has vowed to rectify the situation ahead of the important match against Liverpool in the Premier League.
Life doesn’t stop, and the challenges continue. This Sunday we have another match, and if I let this affect me, I will only go downhill. Or should I change everything? I need to grow from my mistakes and learn from them. I've already decided that I should not keep taking them the way I used to. I think the most important thing is not to be afraid of what might happen and to work hard in training so that I am ready when the moment comes.
Currently, the player is practising a new technique for penalties every day after training.
Now every single day I take at least three or four penalties; I want to be ready in case it happens again. I cannot let my teammates down, and I cannot let our fans down. We know such things can happen; we saw it at the World Cup when Messi missed a penalty, Mbappe missed, and many others missed as well. Obviously, this is a situation we would prefer to avoid, but I have the humility to recognise when things are not going well. All I need to do is work even harder so that when the next opportunity arises, I can step up and not let it go to waste.
