Unai Emery says he’s very pleased to have Freddie Ljungberg as one of his assistants this year and praised the Swede’s spirit.
Having enjoyed a successful season coaching the club’s under-23s, the Swede was promoted to first team duty in the summer with a view to facilitating the transition of young players from the Academy to senior football.
Often seen in deep conversation on the bench and cutting a more animated figure than Steve Bould, with whom he swapped places, Ljungberg appears to have embraced the responsibility of his new role.
“He [Freddie] worked last year with the U23s, we were very close, speaking about the club and young players,” Emery told press after the 2-1 against Burnley.
“The club decided to change with Steve Bould as a coach of the U23s and Freddie with us.
“It’s perfect. He helps me a lot. His spirit is very good. He’s a Gunner! We are very happy with him.
“He is an assistant like Carcedo, Pablo Villanueva, like another. Usually tactically and technically we are working as a four.
“With the young players he has an advantage because he knows them. The communication with them is through me and also through Freddie. We have communicated a lot with him.”
While Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock were already known to Emery before this summer, the Spaniard has previously mentioned that Ljungberg’s in-depth knowledge of the club’s other teenage prospects, including midfielder Robbie Burton, proved very useful when picking sides in pre-season.
It’s Freddie Ljungberg again…… pushed out by Barthez……..Wiltooooooooooooord!
One of the first Arsenal games i watched and been a fan ever since.. Still on the lookout for that Gold – Sega away shirt with Wiltord or Ljungberg on it at the back..
Just re-watched the goal, great times indeed, I almost wanna get in my car and drive from Sweden to Mr Wenger to say thx for all the great moments he brought us – and bring some fresh snus to Freddie
That team had phenomenal firepower, scoring in every match of the 2001-2002 season enroute to the title
I can swe a future manager + assistants make up of freddie, henry, vieira and wiltoooooooord! CL final. Drawing 2-2. 90th min. Manager tells his 3 assistants to warm up. Subs on. Scores late winner. Guess who scores the winner? Yup, you got that right. It’s wiltoooooord!
So unai has 3 assistants and 5 captains? He’s like the Head of Department that joins a company and builds a big team.
Yes, we’re apparently suffering from inflation in some areas. Emery can address the “5 Captains” nonsense at any time – such as right now. As to assistants, I guess it’s down to how many are really needed, and gainfully employed. A small, but interesting, point to note when Emery says: “The club decided to change with Steve Bould as a coach of the U23s and Freddie with us.”, so it wasn’t him. Emery brought in his own team of people (as is usually the case) but it looks like all subsequent appointments, such as the Ljungberg/Bould swap are not within… Read more »
I wouldn’t read to much into how he formulates decisions made by club or him, or a group of managers. No doubt, he has a say on the assistants working with him, and Freddie makes sense also for Emery I am sure
The difference from the Wenger era is that Wenger had control over almost every aspect of the club, not just the “playing” side – that’s well documented and generally accepted. This story aside, Emery obviously doesn’t, even on the playing side – in respect of transfer policy for example and while this isn’t unusual at other clubs it’s an obvious change at Arsenal. I still don’t think Emery chose his words poorly here – “The club decided…”.). If so, it’s an interesting (albeit minor) pointer on who decides what about various aspects of the running of the club – and… Read more »
Massive game coming up this weekend. Let’s be honest: we’ve had a nice easy start to the season. Newcastle were pretty awful last Sunday and we should always beat Burnley at home. But Liverpool away is a different matter. Last season’s performance was an embarrassment: we could have easily conceded 10 goals. I’m certain we’ll score at Anfield but it’s our defence that will make the difference. Now we’ll see if Sideshow Bob, Chambers and AMN are good enough to keep out Salah, Mane and Firmino. If we leave Liverpool with at least a point then it will be a… Read more »
Perfectly reasonable comment. The downvote so far is probably just because it was Fatgooner.
Agreed. People will look back at wanking themselves over a decent performance at Newcastle with a little embarrassment, I think (boy did I get slated for suggesting that two weeks ago!). Real season begins this weekend.
QED upvote/downvote balance… tossers lol
Fortunately the Arsenal players understood that the season started with Newcastle away. With your attitude we would have lost the first two games of the season.
Yes, you’re quite right in my opinion. The facts (and I know some people don’t like them) are there for all to see. If we’d picked two teams, one away and the other home, to start with we couldn’t have done much better than Newcastle and Burnley. Contrast that with the opening couple of games last season when we certainly wouldn’t have chosen City and Chelsea, and ended up with no points! Liverpool are going for their 12th consecutive Premiership win and it will take a better all round team performance from us than we’ve seen to date to stop… Read more »
Sorry but the only mess Emery got from Wenger was bad contract situations. Wenger left players like Auba, Laca and players who were supposed to be great like Ozil and Mikhi. In defence he left Kos, Holding and Bellerin.
That might be the only mess, but it’s a huge one. It affects building the team he wants in a huge way. You can’t get rid of players on huge contracts very easily, which affects new purchases.
one thing that is important is, if we do not leave the scousers with a point or more, that we’ll still be firmly behind the team. the last thing we’d need now would be to fall into the abyss of negativity again due to a single game. we’re still in the rebuilding process and not on the same level as the top two. if we get something from the game – brilliant; if we don’t, we try again. i for one won’t mind if we can’t disrupt the two that are currently at the top as long as we play… Read more »
Love this comment. We’re a weird fanbase, but we know good football and hard work when we see it.
We’ve had two wins by a single goal against weaker teams.
Two CL finalists coming up in a row, so we’ll see. Would be delighted with 4 points, v happy with 2 points but can see everyone being unhappy with less and getting back to criticise the coach/players etc despite it being early season with lots of player changes over the summer and not much time for the team to bed in together.
Fingers crossed it’s 4 or 2 points…
id rather three points than two. because three points is more than two,
On the face of it yes, though with two points we won’t have lost to two CL finalists and will have taken 4 points off them. If we have 3 points the two of them will have a total of 3 points and we will have lost one match (so one of them will be boosted by that (especially Liverpool as they will be 3 points clear of us, though we would all hate losing to T*ttenham at home).
So getting 2 points makes surprising sense numerically and for our morale.
Yup. I’ll love 6 points. Like 4. But if have to choose only between 3 and 2, I’ll choose 2. Unless of course, the 1 lost is to the scousers,with a 89th minute winner totally against the run of play, with 2 fouls en route that the referee didn’t spot. So much so that even Anfield gives us a standing ovation. Buoyed by that, we whack the white shit birds, 8-0 st Emirates, with a goal each by Pepe, Ceballos, Willock, Niles, Nelson, Guendouzi, Luiz, Martinelli (left out Auba and Laca coz need them to perform against bigger clubs). And… Read more »
But things are tight at the top – so this might be a 6 pointer.
We may not have the game of our life at Anfield, but it would be to soon to judge the season because we have few key players injured and new formation still to jell. Give it some patience fellas, will you?
You’re talking to the wrong crowd there mate lol
A comment without mentioning Wenger! You are making progress yourself, Fatgooner. 🙂
@FG. A point would be fine, but forgive me for wanting all 3. Liverpool looked a bit shaky at the back and without Alison this is maybe the best time to play them.
COYG
At c.b I for one will not be celebrating a draw against the scum. We usedto take the piss out of them for that. Anything less than a win is unacceptable, especially at home against them!
Did Steve Bould offer us much as an assistant? Not digging him out justcurious on people opinions…
Is there even anyone outside the club who actually knows how the coaches do their work?
Was supposed to be the saviour to our defensive woes with his experience in that department.
Didn’t really work out that way though. But can’t really blame him with the resources he had at his disposal then.
His relationship with Wenger was probably what landed him the job after Pat Rice retired imho.
After pat rice retired everything went wrong
We were pretty crap after David Dein left as well
I always loved Bouldy as a player, but as a coach with the first team, I have been seriously underwhelmed. If the thought was to correct our defensive woes, he clearly failed miserably. However, in my opinion, he was just a token gesture from Wenger to placate the fans. I believe that he had absolutely no power or influence under Wenger.
The fact is that Wenger had control over almost every aspect of the club, not just on the playing side, from the early days onwards. Despite this, Wenger’s supporters always attribute the good decisions to him but the bad ones (which increased in the latter years as we know) are almost always down to someone else.
Did he have any power under Emery?
I remember him coming on for his first game at Highbury and scoring against Man Utd. I knew there and then he was special.
Probably for the first time this season we will see a back 3…My team would be
Leno
AMN Chambers Socratis Luis Kolasinac
Cabellos Guondozi
Pepe. Laca. . Auba
i think pepe will be benched again and we’ll start with willock
leno
amn luis sokratis nacho
torreira cebalos ozil
pepe laca auba
That lineup would get absolutely squashed by Liverpool. Inviting their attacking lineup to have complete control of the midfield and attack our back line all game is suicide and isolates our best asset from being effective.
Not to say Emery won’t do this, as we saw his conservative approach many times last season. But very much hoping he has learned his lessons and will play some enterprising football that focuses on our strengths not our weaknesses.
I was a little worried about friction between the two when Emery left Freddie hugging air after Auba scored that beauty against Newcastle, but perhaps it is just down to the awkwardness of wealthy professional men celebrating in public. I do hope they work well together and get the team back up where it belongs in the top four, for good.
Emery and Freddie let Bielik fall under the crack.
Yes great win. Great start to the season. Hope it continues at Anfield on Saturday…
Great to see fast Freddie promoted to first team bench. He has done well in Academy and has a direct co-relation to his young charges on the field for us this season. Media prefer to trumpet others but neglect the fact we have – Willock, Nelson, AMN, Bellerin, outfield all from Academy and involved in one way or other this season. PLUS we have a good crop of young project British in again, Willock, Nelson, AMN, Holding, Chambers, Tierney. Exciting times. As much as we have invested in some technically gifted players in Cebellos and Pepe that we have been… Read more »
I still remember his debut…Unknown, getting on as sub, wearing the #8 after Ian Wright, getting a yellow and scoring against Man Utd…