Robert Pires says that Arsenal are starting a new adventure after the departure of Unai Emery, and the appointment of Freddie Ljungberg as interim head coach.
The Swede expanded on his new role earlier today, speaking to the official website and Sky Sports, and his former teammate sounds excited about what he might bring to a team that has been struggling a lot in recent weeks.
The Gunners are seeking a first Premier League since October 6th when they travel to Carrow Road tomorrow, hopefully with a new manager bounce, and it came as no surprise to Pires that Ljungberg is in charge for this one.
Asked if Emery’s departure was inevitable, he said, “I think sadly yes, owing to the bad results.
“The club was unfortunately on a bad run, both in the league and the Europa League.
“So a change was needed and when we speak about changes, it is usually the manager who pays. So today a new adventure begins with Freddie taking the reins.
“He knows this club inside out, we have played with him, we know what he is capable of. I can say that the first training session that he took went very very well.
“Now it is up the players to respond and that Freddie’s message gets through to them well.”
Ljungberg will be joined in the dugout by former captain and current Academy Manager Per Mertesacker, let’s hope the duo can guide us to three points tomorrow.
I could see Freddie and Per being an excellent management team, epsecially with help from Pires (and Gilberto?).
And at least the players and fans will be able to understand them.
Very sad Emery had to go but he was out of his depth and we find ourselves on the brink . We are bottoming out and I think the players will respond.
God bless our Freddie.
Great
It’s strange, but I feel a whole lot more confident with Freddie and Per than I ever have with Emery. I think the team will respond to them and Freddie knows what we as fans want.
Yep, bcos he is a gooner to the core…player, legend, fan and now caretaker manager. Though we are all not sure how good he will end up being, but he knows the ‘Arsenal way’, you can be sure he will play the ‘Arsenal way’, and if we end up loosing some gallantly, i am sure most fans will respect the effort?..at least we will lose playing our beautiful football?, which i hope he modernises without losing our values like Emery did?. When Barcelona took a chance on Pep, nobody could have predicted he would end up as he did right… Read more »
C’mon Freddie, you can do this!…we are all rooting for you to do this!…COYG!
Let’s stop pissing about and give leicester the dosh they want and get Brenda…I never thought I’d ever have wanted him as Arsenal manager but right now now seems the better candidate..
Mainly from what he did with Liverpool rather than Celtic or even Leicester..
And if arsenal make a serious offer just like how he left Celtic he will jump ship
Brendan Rodgers ticks a lot of boxes, competent English is essential, lack of clear communication seemed like an issue with Emery. Premier league experience is also important, Emery spoke at the end of last season on how the intensity of the league is what makes it stand out, Brendan Rodgers knows the league inside out, he’s experienced, and his teams play attractive football, Pochettino would be my first choice, but Rodgers is a good shout. Freddie has got some serious sauce, and Per articulates himself very well, so I don’t think we’re in a massive hurry. Mourinho, Kane and Ali… Read more »
“always admired the way he carried himself”
Ìf he carries himself with dignity and class than I am sure he’ll never cross the north London divide.
Personally I don’t think he will. He will never disrespect Arsenal but he’ll also never joins us out of respect to totts fans who love him a lot.
£40,000,001 should do it
If Barcelona had the same thought process as yours, they’d never would have Pep
We should have had him years ago.. Top man top player top manager who can get the best out off players who want to play.. Hes graham and wenger rolled into one… Bring on the roggers army
cant wait for the game tomorrow,expecting to see a nice change to our attack with martinelli starting hopefullu goyg
I’m expecting PAL with Ozil
I’d just love RP to be involved as well, one of my very favourite players
I think Ray Parlour’s a bit old now. Then again, it IS only Norwich….
(Haha, nobody at Arsenal was allowed to say that last bit when Emery was here)
Everyone is getting excited about Freddie, but I heard he can only do a 3 month stint as he hasn’t all the badges. Unless we do Freddie and Per, then Per and Freddie until season ends? Either way, I’m confident he’ll do a good job while he’s in charge, if we lose, and least we’ll lose with style. Emirates to be full next home game, players will get a massive lift from that too.
It was reported that Freddie didn’t have his Pro Licence but Ornstein and the club have both said that he has, so it seems that was fake news.
Who’d say five years ago that Freddie will lead the team? I’m thrilled!
Its a sensible decision. The best outcome was if Unai could have turned it around but it has become somewhat of a rut. Until we can work out a good long term appointment, Freddy is prob the best bet till January. If he does well and solutions in market for a gaffer are less than ideal, I’d persist with him to the summer. Having Metersecker come in to assist is a good idea too. With little time to change things around, the best bet for Freddy is to push the players to commit 110% effort. It will need some enforcement… Read more »
The manager I’d be keeping an eye on is frankly Erick Ten Hag at Ajax. Still doing very well considering big sell off last summer. Also the Ajax way is close to what we want in promoting and developing youth product (Llugberg also very much aligned to this) And if we can get Overmars over all the better for the footballing side but I suspect there will be strong resistance from Sanlehi in protecting his turf. the other person if Kroenke’s really had ambition to turn this club around better would be Campos at LOSC. These are not ‘ungettable’ for… Read more »
I’m not so sure Xhaka will want, or need, to leave in the summer now that Emery has gone. His situation was pretty much like chaining your dog to a lamp post and kicking it every day. Eventually it’s going to snap at somebody. Emery’s decision to make him Captain was very sensible (he has loads of experience at it), but then forcing him to play as a DM exposed his biggest flaw, which is his tackling, especially the last ditch kind. He just couldn’t do Torreira’s job as well as Torreira can, so when he made a mistake we… Read more »
Can he hang his invincible epl medal at the locker room?
Get zidane
Get roggers ASAP and pay Leicester what ever they want.. He’s the man for the job, he will bring trophys to the grateful fan and club
In my mind the two people behind Freddy and Pires in that picture are Gilberto and vieira.
I strongly feel that who ever comes in our defence needs a big shake up, I cannot really see any of our defence other than Tierney and Bellerin good enough, we also need a really good replacement for Xhaka he is just not good enough to hold that position, we need game changers, it’s going to be a very cold winter and I fear it will take longer than most supporters think, in truth other than our front two we are really struggling. We need leaders on that pitch, I am struggling to see how many we have,