Football
AAP 5y

Graham Arnold pleased with 'promising' debut as Australia manager

Graham Arnold got the statement win he wanted in his first match back in charge of the Socceroos as they brushed aside Kuwait 4-0.

But Australia's new boss concedes improvement must come as they prepare for sterner tests in the future.

Goals to Apostolos Giannou, Tom Rogic, debutant Awer Mabil and an early own goal helped the Socceroos skittle an ordinary Kuwait side at Kuwait Sports Club Stadium on Monday.

"We still need the icing in the cake which is the finishing," Arnold conceded.

"The execution will come. The performance was promising but we've still got a lot of work to do."

The Socceroos entered the match promising to win and a performance to please the new manager, who spent two international windows preparing his team for the occasion.

In a one-sided encounter, Australia denied Kuwait a shot on goal until the 50th minute.

Rogic was clearly best afield with the Celtic playmaker at the heart of everything positive for Arnold's side.

Massimo Luongo and Jackson Irvine controlled the tempo in midfield, Aziz Behich worked tirelessly on the left and Robbie Kruse returned to Socceroos form after his World Cup to forget.

The Socceroos out-shot the Kuwaitis 17-5 and should have bulged the net more often.

Arnold, who said he spent his time in camp working on attack to build on previous coach Bert van Marwijk's defensive platform, said he saw "a lot of positives."

"You can see they've worked hard on the rotations and on the penetration and pressing," he said.

"As a coach the most difficult thing is to get the ball into goal-scoring positions to score. We did that very well tonight.

"I can only judge the players' performance by what we practised at training and if I do that I give the boys a good mark.

"But we have a lot of work to do and I can't wait for the next camp."

Arnold made four changes from Australia's last outing -- a 2-0 defeat by Peru at the World Cup -- with Danny Vukovic, Massimo Luongo, Jackson Irvine and Giannou restored to the starting line-up.

Ibrahim began the rout when he headed Robbie Kruse's curling cross expertly into his own net.

On the 20-minute mark Giannou scored his first international goal with a smart finish following a defensive mix-up.

Whether it was the comfortable scoreline or the humidity, the Socceroos sat back on their lead before the introduction of substitutes Daniel Arzani and Tomi Juric on the hour added spark.

Luongo set up the third goal with a strong tackle, releasing Rogic to score his one-on-one chance.

With Mabil -- along with his great mate Thomas Deng -- thrown on late, there was just enough time left for the former Adelaide United winger to finish off a fine move and add some extra gloss to the scoreline.

Next for Australia are home ties against South Korea -- a rematch of the 2015 Asian Cup final -- and Lebanon next month.

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