A good weekend of football and a great chance to see first hand how the Gunners are gearing up ahead of the new season, and the outcome was pretty positive overall. Here I will go through the winners and losers from the pre-season tournament.
Winners
Emmanuel Frimpong – Probably the biggest winner of the lot from this weekend. Wenger trusted the 18 year old with the holding role for both days, and the youngster played an incredible 160 minutes of football across the two days. Understandably he tired on the second day with several wayward passes but never stopped running making key tackles all over the pitch. It was the second half against AC Milan that really highlighted what he is capable of though, with a fantastic display against former Gunner Mathieu Flamini. I think he needs another defensive minded player alongside him to really perform but it seems he has done enough to become part of Wenger’s plans for this season.
Jack Wilshere – Inevitably Wilshere was the most talked about player from the Emirates Cup for the second year running. The only player to play every minute of both games is an incredible feat in itself and the teenager did play well in a more withdrawn midfield role. Not certain that this is his best position as it takes away his explosive ability to go past players as often as he can further forward but he showed exactly what the hype is all about with an unbelievable volley that smashed against the crossbar against Celtic.
Laurent Koscielny – It’s been diificult to gauge what the former FC Lorient player is all about until this weekend, but Saturday’s display against AC Milan did highlight why Wenger was so keen on bringing him to the Emirates this summer. Very aggressive, Koscielny always looks to win the ball as quickly as he can, especially if the ball is played into the striker’s feet. Looked decent in the air too, whilst on the ball he was extremely comfortable.
Marouane Chamakh – It came as no surprise to me that the Moroccan international looks to be a quality signing by Wenger. He has fantastic movement across the defensive line and his link up play with the midfielders, especially Nasri, is excellent. Anyone who saw the Bordeaux fans emotional goodbye to Chamakh will have wondered just why they were so fond of a striker who isn’t exactly prolific, but when you see just how much work he gets through for his team it starts to make sense.
Losers
Johan Djourou – Maybe saying anyone truly lost out during a pre-season tournament is harsh, but it’s the easiest way of categorising how everyone did over the weekend. And unfortunately there remains question marks over Johan Djourou at the back. It’s not his talent or ability on the ball, but concentration is key and he fails to inspire confidence. Having said that obviously he’s been out a long, long time and the form will return eventually.
Mark Randall – I was very surprised that Randall was involved at all at the weekend and I think that his cameo appearance may be the last we see of them at a senior level for Arsenal. Full of promise at 16, almost gone backwards since then. The groan of disappointment when he missed two easy chances against Milan symbolised his Arsenal career in many ways. There was potential but it hasn’t been fulfilled and a permanent move is surely around the corner.
Tomas Rosicky – Firstly, it’s not that he played particularly badly, but I am not convinced he helps our play as much as he hinders it at times. I lost count of the number of times on Saturday where there were great forward runs ahead of him by Nasri and Chamakh and instead Rosicky backed out of playing a through ball, turned a few times and found a defender. I think he’s still a good squad option but the player I loved when he arrived at the club I am not convinced has a key role to play any more.
