By this time tomorrow, our pre-season tour of America will be over.

When I awake, it will be to either a victory over Barcelona or to loads of people losing their shit because we lost again.

The majority of our fans are sensible, though. They realise that pre-season is about fitness, integrating new players and new styles.

Earlier in the week I saw someone someone say “signing Gabriel Jesus and Olexsandr Zinchenko was a cheat code last season. They both knew how to play in our system so didn’t need time to learn”, and that goes some way to explaining how great we were 12 months ago.

Kai Havertz and Declan Rice have never played in a team like Arsenal, whilst Jurrien Timber has played at a less intensive level.

All 3 will take time to settle. Just like Dennis Bergkamp did, just like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and more.

Just because they might not have a great pre-season, or hit the ground running, does not mean they will not become great players.

If Pires came to Arsenal now, he would get the same criticism Fabio Vieira gets. “Too lightweight, not strong enough, not a Premier League player”.

And if Henry joined Arsenal in 2023 it would be “he is an average winger and a poor striker”. Fans would be saying “the experiment of playing him upfront has failed. We should have bought Trezeguet” after just a handful of games.

But those days did not have 24/7 media and twitter (or is it X now?) analysts who think they are experts on the game whilst sitting jobless in their mums basement.

In 2003/04, we lost our first pre-season game to Peterborough 1-0. We drew our next game 0-0 against Barnet. A certain Yaya Toure played and was awful.

Two games, no wins, no goals. Imagine if this happened now!

The team then flew to Austria to undergo pre-season training. This really was a different world where teams would training in peace and quiet in some Central European country under the mountains, playing local sides.

Our first game in Austria was against SC Ritzing. The game finished 2-2. We then went on a nice winning run.

We beat Austria Wein 2-0, before destroy Besiktas 1-0. I then ignore the win over St Albans as this was not part of our senior players pre-season.

A little tour of Scotland saw us draw 1-1 with Celtic and then beat Rangers 3-0. In between, those not let of the senior set up went to Belgium and drew with Beveren.

7 senior pre-season games

3 wins

3 draws

1 defeat

9 goals scored

4 goals conceded

Certainly not an impressive pre-season considering the oppositions.

Imagine if social media was around now to witness those friendlies.

So called fans would be calling for Arsene Wengers head and complaining that we had only bought a single senior player – an average German goalkeeper called Jens Lehman – and a bunch of kids.

As you all know, we would go on to win the league, unbeaten. That average German goalkeeper would become a cult hero.

And as for those kids from Spain, France and Switzerland. They would grow up to be Cesc, Gael, Phillippe and Johan.

I do wonder sometimes if teams put themselves under pressure during pre-season these days with the high profile friendlies.

Is playing an aggressive Man U team with a point to prove in front of 60,000 in New York really worth it?

Ok, you get a few million for taking part in these tours and “build the brand abroad”, but they are all financial benefits. Would it not be better to sacrifice that money for a more controlled pre-season out of the spotlight?

A poor pre-season risks being blown out of proportion. The pressure is on before a ball is kicked.

Fans expect too much. They don’t realise that teams might have had a hard training session the day before, or the move of, the game. The opposition might have had a rest day the previous day. Prepared for it like a proper game.

If you are playing in the foothills of Central Europe against mid-level Austrian or Swiss teams, the games are a little bit less competitive. The focus is kore on fitness. Is this not better for preparation?

Of course, you still want those competitive run outs. Arsenal’s last two games in 2003/04 were against Rangers and Celtic.

We could easily have stayed in Germany training. Playing local sides. Then returned to England for the game against Sevilla before the final friendly (and it is a friendly) against Man City.

Some might say “Keenos, you are only writing this because Arsenal lost and you are preparing to defend tonight’s loss”. I am not. I have always thought this.

Pre-season is about preparing for the season. Wins, draws or defeats do not matter.

Enjoy the game if you’re going to stay up and watch it. I will be asleep.

Keenos

Yes i have been sitting on the Rice tshirt designs for about 2 weeks !https://t.co/vlaHeBWIC8 pic.twitter.com/5VrrR9cbpV

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) July 15, 2023