Every season we lose a pre-season friendly I find myself writing the same thing. THE RESULTS DO NOT MATTER.

Pre-season is all about slowly increasing your fitness back to a proper match level.

The thing with pre-season is you are often at a different stage of your preparation in comparison to your opponents. And it this can be further exaggerated if playing a foreign side.

For all intents and purposes, Hibernian were 2 weeks ahead of Arsenal when it came to match fitness.

The SPL begins on 31st July, whilst the Premier League does not start until 2 weeks later – Arsenal’s first game being on 13th August.

Hibs returned to pre-season training on 28th. Arsenal players on July 7th.

So you have a Hibs side who have been back for over 2 weeks, whilst Arsenal have been back for just 5.

This was also Hibs 4th pre-season game against Arsenal’s first.

And it was not really a bad performance by Arsenal.

A mistake from the kid in goal for their first (que the bellends abusing him already) and their second was offside.

We then missed a penalty before a late consolation.

They certainly looked more “up for it” and were quicker to the ball and harder in the tackle. A few naughty ones left on Arsenal players highlighted that this was a big game for them, and a training run out for Arsenal.

Ultimately it was a good run out for the lads and the result really does not matter.

Keenos