Three goals in nine minutes from Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang helped Arsenal to a much-needed 3-1 win against West Ham United; the club’s first in the Premier League since 6 October.
After the game, Freddie Ljungberg faced the Sky Sports cameras. It’s fair to say, he was very pleased for his players.
On the win…
It means so much to the players. I’m so delighted for them. They’ve been living under enormous pressure in the last couple of weeks and you’ve seen it in their performances. They believe in how we want to play football and I could feel around 60 minutes that West Ham were getting tired, our passing was getting crisper, a bit faster. All of sudden, we sliced them open. The boys did amazing.
On the win coming in tough circumstances…
That’s football. That’s the nice part of it. It throws a curveball at you all the time. The players responded and dealt with it and that’s the main thing. In the beginning, we tried to play and we wanted to have that game. West Ham got tired and we stepped up. Quicker passing…I’m just delighted, they’ve been such great players, they’ve worked so hard, it’s something we’ve talked about in the Premier League, we know you’ve got to work hard, offensively and defensively. They definitely did that today.
On taking the credit for the win because of his lineup selection…
No, it’s down to the players. I’m there to guide them a little bit. I’m so pleased for them today.
On Nicolas Pepe’s performance…
He’s an amazing football player. It’s not easy to come from the French league and change totally to the way we play football and the pace of it. He was really, really tired which I like to see. He worked his socks off and scored an amazing goal. He’ll get better and better.
On the pressure the players have been under…
I don’t think anyone can really imagine it. You can see it when they come out, they’ve been a bit quiet a bit low. You could see in the dressing room what a relief it was and how happy they were. We still have a lot of things to work on, we can see that, we’re not perfect in any shape or form. We can enjoy tonight and then it’s back to work tomorrow.
On what more to expect from his players…
We had a similar way of playing in the first and second half but it was a lot slower [in the first half]. That’s, in my opinion, down to belief. Hit that ball with pace. Believe in yourself that you can do it. That’s something we have to work on. We still have a lot of small things to fix.
On what it means to him on a personal level…
It’s a great, great feeling. It’s a lot better to win than lose. We shouldn’t get carried away, we played well in the end and we’re happy, but we need to work.
“It’s a great, great feeling” = “it’s fuckin’ excellent”.
WOW a much needed confidence booster hope Thursday can help a little with that too ahead of a busy and tough fixture list
Well done, Freddie.
Hypothetically, if we manage to sell Xhaka. And then got a £ 70 mil bid for Lacazette. Would you take it, if it meant us investing in a proper worldclass CM/CB? (assuming Auba would wanna stay)
Would probably mean bringing Eddie back from Leeds too. I love Laca but feel Martinelli really is the real deal.
I mean we could just sell Xhaka and get Donny van de Beek for the same money. But don’t think both Laca and Auba will be here next year.
so why would a club bid 70m for a player you don’t rate? Laca didn’t become that bad that we can’t have him in the team and starting Martinelli tonight shows you that having too many good players isn’t a bad thing for a club with ambitions
It’s highly unlikely Auba will extend his stay at Emirates, getting jovic in his place isnt bad.
If the CM would be the type who can control games, setting the tempo of our play, with great vision and intelligence, in the Fabregas or Cazorla mould, then YES.
But those are rare these days…
“He was really, really tired which I like to see.”
That’s bad news for Xhaka’s defending.
man it’s good to finally understand the manager again. Everything he says makes perfect sense, and he seems to connect with the players and ha e a much needed drive and will to keep improving as well.
Way too early yet, but we just might have our next manager already.
Even if it took until the hour mark, it was good to see the team gain an attacking attitude. It was even better to see them find a bit of ruthlessness after the second goal.
Especially liked the goal celebrations from the players, that shows that they care. Also hugs with Freddie at the end. Let’s kick on…..
Good Old Arsenal!
I saw last two United matches to see how they were playing under Ole as their results have been bad but they find themselves in similar situation as ours ( bad owners, good talent, club manager being a former favorite player) and was surprised how they lacked so behind. Their passing was great, players playing with confidence, one touch and diagonal passes, everytime they pushed forward they wanted to score. And this is what i hope Freddie is looking to get back, taking the handbrake off and making the players realise its football, it is suppose to be fun, ay… Read more »
Freddie might not end up being our manager in the long run, but he does say the right things. He does acknowledge that we have a problem with the way we play especially at the back, and that we were slow in the first half. I thought it was down to confidence levels being so low among the players that we were scared of giving away the first goal again. I like the way he stuck to his initial line up, and only tweaked a few things, and we were good to go in the second half. Only thay I… Read more »
You can see how close Freddie is to the players by the way he hugged almost all of them after the game and by the expression on their faces. He definitely has their support and that was good to see. Having some confidence will go a long away. We probably will not finish as high as we had hoped for but we can at least finish with some style – and that’s all I’m asking for at this point.
Amazing what a difference this has done for my mood, can only imagine the players must be lifted. I was loving it after the game, which is a feeling I had forgotten. We have some tough fixtures coming up, I just hope we don’t end up back at square one. If we were doing well I’d have taken a loss on Sunday to stop Liverpool winning the league but that ship has sailed, so let’s smash City and get the Freddie train rolling full steam ahead. Their defence isn’t much better than ours currently.
Hopefully the scouse will fuck it up and Leicester can take advantage like us in 89!
” I’m there to guide them a little bit.” A modest person, I like it.
The cynic in me would point out that this was against a dreadful West Ham side and a better team would have been out of sight at half time. And while Xhaka was woeful the moment that really summed us up was Torreira’s ludicrous back heel. Certain managers would have subbed him immediately just for that! But we needed the result and got it. Martinelli and Pepe on the flanks is genuinely exciting, Auba was back to his best in his natural position, Chambers deserves credit for his performance and now deserves a solid run at CB. With a more… Read more »
not too sure why anyone would talk about selling anyone after a 3-1 win away from home – Xhaka has his problems and I am not his biggest fan, but most of what he did (and most is a huge caveat) was alright – let’s just enjoy this warm, fuzzy glow this morning of not being embarrassed to go to work wearing your woolly hat from the membership pack.
If Freddie isn’t given the opportunity of permanent manager then we dam sure need to try hold onto him as assistant. His relationship and continuity with the players would be immense if there is to be a transition (he might very well end up with it anyway)