He lacked sharpness, looked way short of match fitness and fluffed a hat-trick of decent opportunities. But Eduardo da Silva, the man charged with the mission impossible of replacing the unreplaceable, showed in his first start for Arsenal last night that he is capable of providing the predatory spark that was so often missing for the Gunners last season.
In cricketing parlance, the Croatia striker will be disappointed not to have bothered the scorers but his mobility, movement and instinct for taking up goalscoring positions caught the eye at the 31,000 sell-out Bulls Arena.
Arsene Wenger reckoned his biggest summer signing could have scored four goals, including what the Arsenal manager claimed was an obvious penalty when Eduardo's feet were dragged from under him just when he was about to pull the trigger.
“There was a penalty and some clearcut chances and he always looked very dangerous,” said Wenger. “He worked very hard and has shown that he is top quality. But it is his first game.”
The former Dinamo Zagreb forward, who will cost £16million over the duration of his four-year deal, played the whole game after making his debut as a second-half substitute against Genclerbirligi last week, partnering Robin van Persie in the first period and Nicklas Bendtner after the break.
The 600 Arsenal fans crammed into one corner of this refurbished but still tightly-packed stadium, which will host two fixtures at Euro 2008, will have noted Eduardo's willingness to run the channels and pull the Salzburg defenders out of their comfort zone.
That style of play should allow the midfielders more chances to find the space to score the goals they didn't — Gilberto apart — last season.
In the few weeks since his promotion from a mid-ranking league to one which likes to think it is the very best, Eduardo has impressed his new team-mates.
“Eduardo is really quick,” said Gael Clichy. “In training he seems to be someone who is good at finding space.
"He can score amazing goals and is a quality player who we're looking forward to seeing in action in the new season. There is a difference between pre-season and the real competition.”
The Arsenal players are having to get used to life after Thierry Henry, although his decision to leave did not surprise his fellow Frenchman.
Clichy said: “The guy has played 10 years for Arsenal, is a world-class player and you can understand his decision. Everyone has to do the best for himself.
"Thierry maybe thought it was the time to leave so I don't think wrongly of that. When you spend such a long time in a club you need a new challenge. I don't see anything wrong with that so I wish him all the best.”
Vladimir Janocko's winner 15 minutes from time ensured Wenger's men ended their nine-day Austrian training camp — they were fling back today — on a losing note but he was satisfied with his team's performance against a side who are three league games into the new Austrian season and managed by former Italy boss Giovanni Trapattoni.
Wenger said: "We don't come especially for the result. We worked very hard and I'm very happy with the way we played. They changed five or six players in the last 20 minutes and we knew with the amount of work we had done that the last 20-25 minutes would be difficult for us.
“We played against a team who played very deep and defensive, which is the situation we face in our league. But we created good chances and some of the things we have worked on went well.
“Of course, we are not sharp at the moment. Butwe created chances against a team who played a cup final tonight. The intensitywas there. We should have scored five as well. Apart from the result everything was right.”
Interestingly, William Gallas was handed the captain's armband ahead of Kolo Toure, although that was perhaps because the Ivory Coast defender was a late replacement for Johan Djourou, who withdrew shortly before the start with a hamstring injury.
Wenger said: “He [Gallas] has all the ingredients to be captain. He has a lot of experience and centre-back is the best position to captain the team because you see everything on the pitch.”
The Arsenal boss might also have added that by thrusting this extra responsibility on Gallas's shoulders, it could persuade the outspoken player that publicly questioning the manager's recruitment policy during the off-season is not necessarily in the team's best interests.
Gilberto, who is expected to be named Henry's successor as club captain, will not return to Arsenal until “the 6th or 7th of August”, according to Wenger, following his Copa America exertions, which will rule the Brazilian out of the opening weeks of the season and could pave the way for Gallas to lead the team instead.
Wenger also confirmed there was no long-term damage to the injury-prone Tomas Rosicky, who had looked sharp last night before limping off after 32 minutes.
“It's a tight hamstring but we don't think it's serious. We don't want to take a gamble at all,” he said.
Hmm,a star? i really hope so~ and gallas captain? =S wtf? Toure leh?