The Game

It’s nice to be “back” after a month and a half since my last article, the final chapter of last season’s three-part review. Having missed the first pre-season friendly of the new season, I made sure not to miss the second one as the Gunners flew to Austria for training and of course, to play Sturm Graz.

Personally, I consider the Emirates Cup as the first real game to assess the fitness level of the squad, especially the new players, but I must say that some of our players seem to be already on fire even if it is so early in the season.

The game started with the local side meaning business, pushing forward and putting pressure on the Arsenal back four but that didn’t last long as a superb Samir Nasri goal saw the Gunners opening their account and never look back as they went on to win the game by three goals to nil.

I have this funny feeling in rating players for a friendly game but it will help me to warm up for when the real business starts and that’s indeed at the the end of the month against the likes of A.C. Milan, Celtic and Lyon. To conclude, I wanted to wish Eduardo the best of luck as he starts a new adventure, in football and in life. All the best Dudu, we will never forget you.

Match Video Highlights

Match video highlights are available in the Videos section of our website. If not there yet, rest assured they will be up in a matter of hours.

Player Ratings

Fabianski and Szczesny: 6 – Had very little to do our goalkeepers although Lukasz produced a very fine save to deny Sturm Graz from leveling things up in the 33rd minute of the game. He did look uncomfortable in dealing with the resulting corner though.

Nordtveit: 6,5 – I was impressed by Håvard who was very calm and collected at the back and also made sure to make himself available when we were pushing forward. One to keep an eye on.

Djourou: 6 – Caught on the wrong foot a number of times in the first half but it was nice to see him produce a number of good tackles without any fear of suffering an injury.

Vermaelen: 6 – Like Johan, Thomas also had some bad moments at the back. He said it doesn’t matter who is alongside him at the centre of the defense but I believe he needs to work with both Johan and Laurent in the training as it is important for the centre backs to be on the same wavelength.

Koscielny: 6 – Like all those the defenders involved in the second half, there wasn’t much to do back there for him.

Traore: 5,5 – I’m always left with a “not good enough” feeling when I watch Armand play. He can be very good when pushing forward on the left but I’m afraid he’s still very poor in the defensive department. The way Sturm playing were storming past him was not nice to see.

Gibbs: 6 – Featured in the second half when Arsenal had almost nothing to worry about at the back. Good game, some nice runs as I believe he’s better-positioned than Traore as backup for Gael.

Wilshere: 6,5 – Another very good performance from Jack. That flick in the middle of the pitch in the first half was simply superb and you could see how determined he was to do well, he clearly wants Arsene Wenger to know that he’s ready for a regular place.

Frimpong: 6,5 – I can understand him getting caught in no man’s land sometimes, he’s still learning Emmanuel but having failed to see him against Barnet, I’m glad I did today, he can be indeed be a beast in midfield.

Nasri: 9 – Perfect. Not going to South Africa made sure he joined Arsenal’s pre-season in a brilliant shape as one can easily see how hungry he is to do well. And that’s nice to see. I was disappointed with his trophies are not everything comment at the end of last season so I’m very pleased with his pre-season hungriness.

Eastmond: 6 – Quiet game in midfield, didn’t have much to do as we were almost always on the offensive side in the second half.

Rosicky: 7 – Had a very good game Tomas. Just like Eduardo – who will not get a chance to do it – the Czech needs to show that he has fully recovered from all the injuries which damaged his career at Arsenal.

Arshavin: 6,5 – Good game for Andrey as well. What I really appreciated is the work done for the team, he was very unselfish and if my memory serves me right, he never tried to go for goal as he opted to always pass it to a team mate.

Lansbury: 7,5 – Featured in last season’s last game and you feel someone with a first name like that simply has to be good. Score a very fine goal and was involved in a lot of moves in the second half since coming on as a sub.

Walcott: 6 – So and so. I’m sorry to all the Theo fans out there – I’m one of them by the way – but I didn’t see any improvements when he is to deliver that so important, final ball.

Chamakh: 5,5 – Disappointed. He was involved in a number of good one-twos with his team mates but I still believe he is to be more active, making himself more available to the team …

Emmanuel-Thomas: 8,5 – … just like JET did in the second half. That was some second half performance from the 19-year old who so much deserved to score. Involved in almost all our moves and for being such a big boy, his footwork is top class. It seems Nicklas Bendtner has some serious competition for next season.