Quite a few Arsenal fans weren’t happy with our loss to Sevilla in the Emirates Cup and seemed disgusted with our 3-0 loss to Chelsea a week earlier.

The response to this by the calmer fans was ‘it’s just pre-season, no need to get annoyed about these results’. Are these fans right to not worry about the results? Or should we be taking pre-season results more seriously?

For me it’s not even close, results should be one of the last things to worry about. Now don’t get me wrong, if Arsenal lost every single game, like to Sydney FC, then some questions would be asked about our team performance.

However, it’s never like that. Pre-season is predominantly to get the players match-fit and used to playing with teammates and form good link-ups. It’s the perfect time to experiment players in different positions, new formations and see the youngsters try and break through to the first-team.

The first player to catch the eye was Reiss-Nelson against Sydney FC. His pace and silky skills caught the eye of many Arsenal fans. It was his intelligence and link-up play that particularly impressed me.

He shone alongside Mesut Özil, showing that he could do more than a few step overs. His assist to Giroud at the Emirates Cup was a great way to end his pre-season.

I found the structure of the pre-season games to be beneficial to the players. By starting against weaker opposition – no offense to Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers – it allowed our players to get back into match fitness gradually, and for the youngsters to grow in confidence.

Reiss-Nelson was allowed more space and time on the ball in the Aussie tour, which helped to encourage him to take on the defence and show everyone what he can do. He maintained that confidence for the rest of the tour as seen against Benfica and hopefully into this season.

Pre-season also allowed us to tinker and trial new players in different positions. Elneny was a constant presence at CB, showing glimpses of what could come of that with his solid passing from the back to start attacks. His positioning wasn’t always right, but game time and practice is the only way he could improve there.

Lacazette also played just behind Giroud, which could be an option for Arsenal to play in this upcoming season. The former did play better up front, but if he and Giroud could link up like Giroud and Griezmann do for France, then it could give defences in the Premier League something to think about.

However, trying players in different positions isn’t always the right decision. At the start of the tour, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was one of the names many thoughts would get game time with the first-team. However, he was played out of position far too many times and struggled because of it, which knocked his confidence in my opinion.

New signings also got the chance to play in match positions, with Kolašinac getting a lot of the headlines against Benfica. His passing and awareness was impressive, not to mention his strength.

Personally, I would like to see more of him defensively, as he seemed exhausted halfway through the game against Benfica, and sometimes struggled to get back in position. Though that’s what pre-seasons for, getting match fit.

Lastly, many weren’t happy with the team having to travel all the way to Australia and China, including Wenger. Even he understood why the team had to travel across the globe, citing how he respected the contracts we signed with the sponsors. Not to mention the amazing opportunity so many fans got to see their team play live for the first time.

Judging from social media, there were a lot of emotional fans when they saw players like Özil for the first time in the flesh, and you can’t help but be happy for them. I like to focus on the positives.

There weren’t many negatives about the tour to begin with. We learnt more about our new signing, saw glimpses at what the youngsters could do, and we won two trophies!

My only worry was injuries and the team seemed to be unscathed. Sure, we lost to Chelsea, but we can get our revenge at the Community Shield on Sunday, which is a bit more important that the Emirates Cup.

Especially since a certain manager appears to have classed the shield as a proper trophy….Jose…..