Sabri Guendouz, Hearts' £850,000 summer signing from Belgian side Beerschot, showed flashes of quality in a 2-1 friendly win over Arbroath on Tuesday night. However, manager Wouter Vrancken is already demanding more end product from the French playmaker as the club gears up for a Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz.
Vrancken's Verdict on Guendouz
Vrancken acknowledged Guendouz's technical ability but stressed the need for improvement in physical battles and statistical output. "Sabri's a good football player. His touches are good. For his own development it's also good to play in this league because there's a lot of physical contacts for him," Vrancken said. "He has to get better in those situations, loose balls, those things. He can improve there. But of course he has qualities on the ball."
The Hearts boss emphasised the importance of team contribution over individual flair. "For me it's more about doing the job of the team and show your qualities within the team plan. And get the stats because you can play as nice as you want, but it's all about stats and goals and assists. For us but also for the player himself," Vrancken added.
Guendouz's Performance Against Arbroath
The 26-year-old played the full 90 minutes at Gayfield, floating in the number 10 role and creating chances. Despite missing a few opportunities, Vrancken praised his work rate. "He played 90 minutes but you didn't see him drop in effort or yards or metres. So from his nature, he has volume. This is a good thing. So he can stay on the same level all 90 minutes," Vrancken noted.
Guendouz recorded three goals and seven assists for Beerschot last season. Vrancken believes he can increase those numbers by making more runs off the ball. "To have more stats, he can have more runs off the ball instead of on the ball. Then you come in positions that you can score or give assists. Okay, he missed a few against Arbroath," he said.
Other Performances and Team Updates
Landry Kabore boosted his chances of featuring against Sturm Graz with a clinical angled header from Calvin Miller's corner to open the scoring. Alexandros Kyziridis doubled the lead in the second half after converting a pass from Sabah Kerjota. Arbroath pulled one back through Andy Winter following a Yan Dhanda error.
Blair Spittal impressed in midfield alongside Oisin McEntee, while Miller was lively on the right flank. Vrancken acknowledged the difficult conditions on a dry pitch but stressed the need to adapt. "Difficult circumstances with the dry pitch, especially when you want to play football and you see the guys who like to play in combination and sometimes dribble. But it's very important that you be above the circumstances because you get other circumstances, maybe next week a full stadium, hostile atmosphere or something," he said.
Preparations for Sturm Graz
Friday's friendly against Rayo Vallecano at Tynecastle will be the final test before the Champions League qualifier. Claudio Braga and Stuart Findlay got 30 minutes off the bench against Arbroath, while others like Tomas Magnusson were rested. Vrancken plans to give those rested players significant minutes against Rayo Vallecano. "We'll see how many minutes but we're sure they will play against Rayo Vallecano. Those who weren't at Arbroath trained very hard in the morning. So I don't see the purpose of putting them there for 10 minutes or so. I think the best is to play 90 minutes. Five or six players, 90 minutes. And then we manage the minutes for some other guys like Kabore and Claudio. So it's still a little bit of a puzzle to put there. So that everybody is as fit as possible against Sturm Graz," Vrancken explained.
