Freddie Ljungberg says he has no idea about what’s going to happen with the head coach role at the club, or for how long he’s going to be asked to continue in the role.
The Swede has been holding fort since Unai Emery was sacked, but as the club search for a replacement, he’s been left in a kind of limbo.
Unable to bring in any staff, he’s reliant on Academy boss Per Mertesacker to carry out coaching duties, and while he’s not complaining, the lack of clarity is surely an issue.
“I haven’t got any indication of if I’m here or not,” he said about suggestions he could stay until May.
“What I’ve said to the bosses and the club is I will do everything in my power to do as well as I can for this club and the players.
“Then obviously it is up to them to make a decision. I try not to put any emotions into that.”
As for communication from on high, he’s been told to keep things going, but has not been given a green light to bring in help on the coaching front.
“The club have said I have to wait until they make a decision, so I can’t do anything at the moment,” he said
“I have Per, but at the same time he is academy manager. He is helping me with the coaching.
“The club has said when they make a decision then that’s it – or I’m leaving, obviously – and maybe then we can do something with the staff. But it’s up to the club.
“If you look at the person who was here before, he had a lot of staff and maybe I don’t have so many.
“So if you keep on going like that for months and months, it’s not so easy. But that’s totally up to the club.”
The Gunners face Man City at the Emirates on Sunday, looking to build on Monday’s 3-1 win over West Ham.
This is a decision we simply can’t afford to get wrong as another spell like the past 18 months will cement us as a Europa league club. There seems to be a lot on here calling for Freddie to get the job largely based on his playing career – there’s a feel good factor that he’s not Emery as well- but the club can’t afford to make this decision based on sentiment.
Atom, the way things are going we will be extremely lucky to even qualify for the Europa League in the future. Right now we should be worried about 38 points, not Europa League, or top 4.
Exactly! People need to realize that Europe is not what this team could realistically hope for this year.
Of course we can qualify for Europe by a top 6 finish or by winning the Europa. This is of course dependent on bringing in a top coach like Ancelotti
I’d say give him the job not because of his playing career but because he saw what needed to change and changed it. Was brave enough to drop some big players to get the balance right in the team and we saw the team respond to that. But more than this it is his relationship with the players, they will want to do well for him and will put in that extra little bit. I know it’s unquantifiable but these players aren’t shit, and with a good system, a coach that they believe in and whom in turn believes in… Read more »
He’d been watching all season yet played Mustafi, Xhaka and dropped Tierney and Pepe for our first game, not convinced
Same here glen.
I think there’s more to it than that. There are certain things you can deduce from what he says and what he sees. Doesn’t mean he can manage players but then emery couldn’t do that with this loy. Mourinho can manage elite players but not average ones. Alert doesn’t even speak English and most of hus success was managing a team way better than the competition.
I assume you mean Allegri who has been taking English lessons for quite some time. Remember he won Serie A with an average Milan team. I think he would be the ideal man but we can’t wait till next season so why not go for another top performer on Ancelotti
Pure Shit show
From how it seems from the outside, neither Raul, Vinai, or Edu know whats going to happen either…
This is what happens when you have too many chefs in the kitchen. We were lucky that Wenger was able to handle everything all these years.
That’s not fair. They’ve narrowed it down to a concise list of twelve candidates and now the prospective managers go away to the Kroenke ranch before six get selected for live performances.
Then Edu, Raul and Vinai will sit and watch from their box as each candidate manages a game and press a buzzer which tips over the candidates chair if we concede or score a non perfect goal. The winner gets voted in by the full squad and the cast of AFTV.
It’s fail safe. So stop with the negativity man.
I thought it might be whoever could hot brand the prize bull at the ranch, and make it back over the fence. Ptooey.
Mikel, will you accept this rose?
As long as there are sharks with fricking laser beams I think we’ll do just fine.
Have you seen some of the names bandied about. I’m not very confident the right choice will be made. I sincerely hope I am wrong
It doesn’t sound very fair to Freddie, I hope they give him a proper chance.
He knows the situation and realises he’s not ready so why is it unfair?
Oooerrr. So they’ve thrown him in, and will not commit to any support for him on the coaching front!
I hope he does continue this uoward trajectory – in spite of them to be honest, give him half a chance! Crikey.
It would be wrong to employ a whole team of coaching staff only to sack them if a new coach was brought in who wanted his own team.
The problem is more the entourage that a new man requires these days which increases the cost and the level of change for everyone. It would be sad if Freddie was kicked out totally just because his face didn’t suit a new boss.
Agree for the most part. Though, giving him no resources makes a difficult situation a fair bit harder. He’s got Per, which I’m sure is incredibly valuable, but it does make it very difficult for him to push people on. Agree that bringing in 6 or 7 new faces only to sack them would be wrong. In the same way that it would be a crying shame if Freddie does not get the job full time that he also dismissed. Tough scenario, but you’d have thought bringing in 1 or 2 coaches to help him out on an initially temporary/trial… Read more »
What this shows is that those running the club never had a plan for Emery’s failure: if they wanted to hire a new permanent coach right away, they should’ve had two names already on speed dial and the new coach should already be installed with a proper staff. If they wanted to take their time to find the right person (or had to wait until that person became available), they should’ve had a plan for Freddie’s staff to give him the best chance to stop the hemorrhaging. The people who are truly nicking a living at AFC all wear suits… Read more »
Spot on. Don’t forgot the last item from Freddie where he talks about not having any consultation about transfers. I trust Freddie, so it looks like January may just come and go without any movement. That would be surprising, unless we have no further ambition for this year.
Totally trust Freddie. He comes across as honest and has the best interests of the team, club and fans rather than his own personal gain.
He really should be involved in the discussions around personnel he needs on the pitch in January as I’m sure he has a clear idea where we need to strengthen – he is afterall the one working with the players day in, day out!
It’s it his face but his ability. He won’t be kicked out
Honestly feel Freddie might be set up to fail, I would give him more of a chance, the players love him and any coach would tell u having the team behind you is one of the most important aspects of his or her job. Let him pick his staff and build his team. I really don’t understand the push for a well known proven manager as that is not a guarantee for success and the financial implications of it not working not to mention the toxicity it might create between the fans and the board in the end might not… Read more »
He certainly in the first few gsmes doing no worse than Emery (a proven track record etc etc) was.
Back him, help him improve, give him the chancw to build something. I’m all for it.
Given what we have seen, I worry what will happen to Ljungberg when/ if the new coach comes in. It would be a terrible shame if he is sidelined, like Bould was under Emery, as a new coach understandably would have his own preferred assistant.
Sunday has the potential to be our worst ever day at the Emirates, in-spite of the result against West Ham, structurally were in a right mess, and the players confidence is shot.
Our ability to play through the lines is non existent, and our link between defence and midfield, and midfield and attack, breaks down far too easily.
City’s positioning and ability to pin you in your own half is only second to Liverpool, and our ability to even get into the opponents half is extremely limited.
I have no positive expectations for Sunday.
But we are The Arsenal, Rich. As much as we are able to Arsenal it up and lose from a winning position, we also have the occasional ability to pull off a win out of absolutely nowhere, so it’s never over until it’s over.
Rich, I can see your point of view. i think we should go for it, play 4 at the back, instead of resorting to 3 at the back admitting citys superiority.
In other words you want Freddie to be as negative and cowardly as Emery was
Freddie is in the dark… As Al Pacino in scent of a woman… I’m in the dark!
I’ll show myself out.