The new temporary era of Freddie Ljungberg starts today and I have to be absolutely honest… I am VERY excited.
He’s making smart moves, Per Mertesacker is his assistant, he might be bringing Gilberto in for a helping hand, and he told the Arsenal.com team he was all about putting smiles back on the faces of players.
Freddie has gone on the record as saying he thinks players are happier when they’re playing exciting football, we know he was raised on some of most explosive attacking football the world has ever seen, so maybe we’re about to witness Wengerball 2.0.
He has the opportunity to make a claim for the job, to do well, he’s going to have thread the needle of some very tricky situations with the players and the football. Here are some items he’ll be looking to clarify.
The Xhaka thing:
There will be a blank slate for Granit Xhaka. It’ll be very interesting to see how a man with a more attacking vision sees the Swiss. A lot of the ‘he’s highly rated from within’ leaves me aghast. It doesn’t make sense that a player with so little discipline and so many errors in his game could be seen as this absolute essential to the team… but I guess we’ll find out. If he’s in the side, what is he doing and how are they going to protect the team against his bad habits?
Pressing:
Freddie likes high octane pressing. So did Wenger and Emery. No one can keep it going for longer than 3 games. How will Freddie discipline the team to press consistently, or at least in strategic moments during the game? There are big question marks as to whether his first-team forwards are even capable of this. Is Auba going to turn into that sort of player at 29? Does Lacazette have the stamina to do that? Or might the coach pull a wild card and start his younger players. He’s far more likely to get the sort of behaviour he wants our of Saka and Martinelli.
Pepe:
Our very one-footed wide man has looked pretty poor most of the season. It’s hard to move into a tough situation and perform and he certainly hasn’t managed to raise his game. He looks shot of all confidence, but maybe a new coach with a more exciting vision could spark something in him that we haven’t seen yet. He’s certainly not a bad player. If Conte could get Victor Moses firing, then there is hope for Pepe.
Transitions:
Our short game from the keeper has been slow, ineffective and quite frankly embarrassing. We struggle to transition out of defence most of the time, then if the ball makes into midfield, the gaps between the attack are monstrous. Freddie is going to have to get in the weeds with some real basics here, because we don’t move the ball through the phases with any sort of consistency. How is Freddie going to look at this problem, will he go more direct? Will he shorten the passing lanes? Will he bin the short passes out the back? I’m very interested to see how quickly he can impact the way we move the ball. I’m also hoping that we start playing through the middle again with some exciting one-touch combination passing.
The same in reverse. We often have no real shape when we’re hit on the counter-attack or even just under sustained pressure. Midfield is our biggest problem, the two deepest players, whoever they are, offer very little protection to the defence, either by taking up positions that are too deep, or just not being present in the right places. We do not defend as a unit, it’s a lot to expect in a few games, but it’d be nice to see some thinking go into action there.
It’s not really worth hitting you with the management stuff because it’s all very early stages, but I think one thing is clear from listening to Josh K, they will be overjoyed if Freddie can take things until the end of the season. Better choices will be on the market then and Edu, Huss, Raul and Vinnai can take their time over a decision.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there really is no plan on the manager and we’re accruing a shortlist now because no one was thinking about exiting Emery this season. A staggering oversight when you consider that a proper club would have booted Emery in the summer. The football was quite clearly going nowhere, all the data pointed to total regression, and behind the scenes things were just as dire. Zero control. The bus driver running team motivation talks perfectly captured the managers’ approach. My point here, even if you truly believed in miracles, you’d at least get a backup list of names just in case.
The more worrying point for me about the shortlist that’s emerging is there’s no rhyme or reason to the candidates that we’re looking at. Nuno is a counter-attacking specialist that doesn’t believe in pointless possession. Allegri is the ultimate ‘get the job done’ pragmatist that builds systems around the tools he has at his disposal. Brendan Rodgers is a high pressing possession-based practitioner. Arteta will be Manchester City like entertaining possession-based attacking football. There’s no theme here, which likely means Edu doesn’t have a plan that he’s executing against.
If the club doesn’t know what it wants to be, how are they judging candidates? Your strategy can’t be a manager, because if that’s the case, your costs are huge every time you hire in a new philosophy. Chelsea, up until lately, always had deeply pragmatic managers that played a certain way. AVB, Conte, Mourinho are all cut from the same cloth. Barcelona always hire in specialists in of attacking based possession football because that’s their DNA, but beyond that, those values Cruyff instilled give the club stability. Every layer of the club believes the same thing. Every coach plays the same way. The scouting network knows what they are looking for. The fitness coaches know how to plan.
There’s a lot of talk about The Arsenal Way and whether that exists. It doesn’t. Edu is supposed to define what that is so we can build out talent that maps to the vision. My view is we should be a youthful execution of high octane pressing and intelligent possession-based football. We should be the most exciting team to watch in the world. We will never compete at the higher levels for elite adult talent, so we’ll have to grow it, or attract players like Martinelli and Guendouzi and ask them to give the first part of their careers to Arsenal. Young players need minutes and elite coaching. If we set a clear vision, it’d give clear parameters on the type of coach we need. It wouldn also focus what you’re looking for.
- Someone open to a longer-term project
- A manager happy to work on a budget
- Someone who can work with data analysts and support staff
- A person that can galvanise, not divide a backroom and a squad
- A clear communicator
- Someone that loves coaching
- Has a clear-eyed vision of where the game is going and how to keep up
- Someone with patience, because they’d be working with younger kids
- Someone with examples of how they’ve developed players
- A vision of how to implement a pressing regime
- A view of football that’s exciting
It would dictate the sort of fitness approach we’d need, it’d give the scouts a very clear brief for who and where they should be looking for talent, and it’d be a clear message to the fans… this project is not for now, we are building out Arsenal to be a Champions League final four outfit in 5 years. Bear with us, this is going to be spectacular.
The ‘cast the net wide’ and see what we like approach isn’t purposeful. When you don’t know what you’re looking for, you can be easily seduced by cheap Powerpoint presentations, great Wikipedia pages, and the sweet charms of Raul who can definitely vouch. We are better than that. I hope as the club push on in this process they get a little more specific about what they want, because a warm body won’t cut it. Not for the next hire.
One managerial story that I do find amusing is the Brendan Rodgers one. We all know he’d be desperate to move to a top club again. He’s doing a great job at Leicester, a club I feel is his level… but my point of raising this particular story is that he’s on the back page of one of the red tops with a headline alluding to Arsenal being his dream job. That is poor judgement to let anyone go off the record for you in such a blatant way. I wonder if that’ll impact the focus of his players, it looks very much like the mistake Marco Silva made when he was desperate for the Everton job despite being under contract at Watford. Didn’t end well there. Confidence is fragile at a football club, if the players think you’re purring over another job, things can go south very quickly.
Anyway, a huge day for Freddie, Per Mertesacker and the fans. I cannot wait to see what the sexiest man in management has to offer us.
Right, jump into our podcast before the game, it’s a cracker. We talk about Raul, managers, problems with Emery and our favourite targets. You can bypass the cost by giving it a 5* in iTunes.
See you in the comments!
Leon
👍👋
Alex there’s a huge change in Liverpool since they started going for modern and charismatic managers.
Before Rogers and Klopp there was a whole bunch of relative meh going back decades
Alex there’s a huge change in Liverpool since they started going for modern and charismatic managers.
Before Rogers and Klopp there was a whole bunch of relative meh going back decades
It’s only in the last 5 years when they combined great modern and charismatic management with good recruitment and its completely transformed them
There’s no point in us copying their first 25 years of meh. The blueprint to follow is their last 5 years
Few things, Some folks are asking why Vieira isn’t mentioned constantly, in my opinion, he shouldn’t even be considered. We forget that he agitated for a move towards the end of his time with us and when he did come back, he went straight to City. He isn’t interested in the legacy he has with Arsenal. In regards to the shambles we are In right now, Sanllehi, Venkatesham, Kroenke (Josh) and to a small extent, Edu are a bit clueless. Yes, the 70m on Pepe was crazy having not straightened the defense out. I agree we needed a statement signing,… Read more »
We should give Rodgers wide berth now. The time to get him was 2018 but we fucked about, and getting him now would lead to inflated expectations due to fans thinking we have the same tools as Leicester, when the reality is they have talented high-level players spread around the pitch and our talent pool is top heavy, and heavily flawed, to go with it.
The mistake with Emery is he brought his own backroom staff who just charge in not knowing what the club is all about. Just imagine some guys that know nothing about your footballing culture trying to tell you what to do incoherently. Will you have faith and take their words for it? Will you execute their plan? What will happen when it doesn’t work? Thus we dither on it due to the high cost of wholesale firing Emery and his staff too. Either way the next proper manager should first learn the values of the club not just the players.… Read more »
Zaha would have been a much better signing than Gervinho MK II. £70M poorly spent. Or we could have spent the money on a quality DM/CM.
For me, Chris Wilder should be our next manager. Read the article about him in today’s Sunday Times. He is the embodiment of of what George Graham was like at his best. An almost perfect track record wherever he has managed.
The Arsenal Board will take against him because of his unshaven look and dodgy suits!
The man is a winner.
Even Klopp knows and respects Liverpool because of what they were before. Their history, their fans and all that. Look how he took him to their 6th (sixth) CL wins now.
The fact that he is a charismatic manager that can communicate well with the media and most importantly with the millionaire players is what makes him a very successful manager indeed.
The thing that is sorely missing from the waffling Emery. No respect from everyone ahaha.
“…As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there really is no plan on the manager and we’re accruing a shortlist now because no one was thinking about exiting Emery this season…”
Pedro is so full of himself. Anyone can look like a genius at pointing out things they think are wrong.
TR7 I know you’re just bantering about Gerboue Mark II but under Emery I won’t discount his TRUE ABILITY yet.
His confidence was low he was mismanaged badly. The potential is there in the few brilliant flashes that we’ve seen.
Arsenal XI confirmed: Leno; Chambers, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Guendouzi, Willock, Ozil; Aubameyang, Lacazette
Mustafi and Xhaka start
Sack Ljungberg
China
” This current Liverpool team is strides better than any they’ve produced in decades ”
In 3 months time you may not be thinking this.
They are scraping by at the moment, they are relying van dyke and trent Arnold to stay fit or they may be due for an almighty fall.
They haven’t had a convincing performance for a while now and they look to me like they are close to twitchy bum time, which is a little early in the season.
Pretty disappointed with that line up.
Gone with established players for the most part.
Savage you just need to remember now PedRo just need something to write on everyday and for that he’s going for this persona to incite discussion. You will be tired and bored too blogging for almost 13 years without a change of tune or rhythm. Used to have Geoff to interchange and all that. Don’t know where that Grizzly Geezer gone now. Primetime for him to come back now!
And I off course thank him for that!
Substitutes: Martinez, Sokratis, Tierney, Torreira, Pepe, Saka, Martinelli
That line up is timid and weak for me.
Let’s see how pepe is doing by February. If he’s still doing poorly then we are probably not getting any more out of him
But a player who is not settled, low on confidence, being replaced by teenagers, can’t speak the language and playing in a toxic environment and under a crap manager is unlikely to show you his best
Let’s see how we start first Cesc. I got a feeling there is going to be a new energy.
Willock so not ready for this level but his natural movement is vertical, and we need that from deep midfield, so I can see why Freddie has put him in.
He could play shit yet his natural movement could help others.
Not looking forward to this though, and not expecting much.
Don’t like the look of that back 4 + Xhaka
Uninspiring.
Definitely thought we would go with a 4-2-3-1
But I am wrong. Cmon Freddie
I thought he wanted to put smiles on faces.
We are going to have to score at least 2 to win this probably more.
He could play shit yet his natural movement could help others.
Spot on with this P
What a game for Willock to prove that he can do something. Willock often tries to run a players also.
I’m very optimistic today.
lol Emery would have been slaughtered for picking that line-up.
Anyway let’s see how it goes.
Five words.
Attack! Atack! Attack! Attack! Attack!
That’s how Arsenal can do something.
It’s not the dreaded diamond is it .
That lineup is the ghost of Emery if I’ve ever seen one.
Wouldn’t be a bad time to take Doucoure from Watford.. Not sure he’d want to go down with that shower of shite
Shit line up
What the fuck is lungberg playing at ?
Game hasn’t even started and everyone’s already moaning 😁😁
Biggest question about todays line up – Who’ll give away a penalty first Xhaka or Mustafi.
PierreDecember 1, 2019 13:08:18
It’s not the dreaded diamond is it
Looks more like Cubic Zirconia to me !
Again, there is no winger. Maybe FL wants to be more conservative in an away game.
May be wise though from Ljungberg to split up the two shit sandwiches Luiz and Sok.
Worry is another shit sandwich comes in though in the shape of Mustafi.
At least there is a bit more pace in the centre of defence now that Luiz and Sok have been split up.
Batistuta
“Wouldn’t be a bad time to take Doucoure from Watford.. Not sure he’d want to go down with that shower of shite”
Watford raid for me.
Deulofeu as well as Doucoure.
The Norwich dressing room right now, looking at that line up, I’m sure they’re really nervous……..
Ominous for Pepe.
Fred not a Fan.
Love to scrutinize the paperwork trail in this Pepe Deal
Zaha all day long.
Proven and a Gunner to boot!
Does anyone know where Holding is?
What a terrible lineup!
Xhaka, Mustafi and Ozil all starting.
No pace or pressing with those 3 and accidents waiting to happen in 2 vital areas of the pitch.
A very conservative, negative and safe selection nothing bold, dynamic or exciting there whatsoever.
How very disappointing.
Did Emery pick this team??
Bucket loads of wishes for Freddie!!
Think we still have a chance to finish top4.
COYG!!
benny
I have it on good authority that Arteta picked the line up.
Apparently Ljunberg doesn’t buy the Torriera DM saviour of the world pitch.
Uninspiring line up… Almost the same as the sacked man would have named
Xhaka, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac all in. Ljungberg better know something we don’t.
So Freddie plays Xhaka instead of Torriera?
Playing out from the back should looks better without PapaSok as long as Mustafi has his head correctly set.
What a terrible defence.. Not sure whats happened to holding..
Just hope he doesn’t rate Kos over Tierney long term
Lolz
The Axis Of Evil truly alive!
Freddie is basically hoping Willock flukes a goal off someone’s backside ala Frankfurt.
That lineup doesn’t put a smile on anyone’s face does it?
I understand that we have Bellerin and Holding out with injury and that Ceballos is out too but why is Tierney on the bench and why is Xhaka still at the club nevermind on the bloody pitch, he should never play another game for us.
no Pepe, No Martinelli, both our strikers on at the same time.
Not looking like a good start for my name sake but let’s see how it unfolds first.
Emery identified many of these guys as problems, i guess with Fred’s selections we will find out?
Wtf is that line-up ?
Looks like we’re in for a very good ebening.
That line up is a joke.
He’s put all the liabilities into the one team…
Putting your faith in clowns like Luiz, Xhaka, the fat prick at left back and a green Guen will not get us out of this mess. Not to mention Mustafi.
I’d be amazed if we get anything today.
Where is Paulinhio?
help me please
What Is Fred trying to play with this team?
a) the press?
b) the carve through?
c) the block or double block?
d) the transition game?
e) have I missed any out?
any assistance appreciated
What a shitty line up…almost as if Emery is still in charge
He should be giving the likes of Martinelli and Holding a start at least
Xhaka shouldn’t be anywhere near the team also
After building some hope for this fixture that line up really has done a job on me
Lose or draw this and it’ll be very obvious Freddie isn’t the answer either, hope the search for a new coach is still on.
CG,
The Triple Lock Pension !
CG – You’re on the right track, with a view to vertical transitionary carvery Canary Sunday Roast annihilation.
Good to see Freddie go with the courage of his convictions. It would have been so easy to leave the players out who have been booed this season to please the fans. Good for him , it shows he is a strong character. Nothing wrong with going with experience in the main and he’s probably looking at energy in midfield with willock and Guendouzi. They did play well together at home to Burnley and haven’t started together since. It’s a cautious line up on paper, so maybe he is looking to play a more disciplined game than we have lately.… Read more »
Sup Ladies? Ready for the same old new era.. hahaha looks like Freddie really is a Wenger disciple.. Lineup looks like the ghosts of Wenger’s past.
Oh well.. seriously need some new manager bounce. These are the types of games we used to flat track bully no matter what the lineup was.
Couldn’t have picked a worse team if he tried.
Drained my enthusiasm for this game.
Kola, mustafi, xhaka, luiz. Fucking hell and ozil in an away game. New manager bounce may see us through but that is horrendous.
Expecting a bit more energy from the players but really that is not a great line up.
Thought he would go younger and more based on merit.
See how it works out for Ljungberg.
BD
“”””Did Emery pick this team??”””””
Knowing our idiots in charge
the clown probably did.
Hopefully negotiations are firmly taking place for a new coach
That line up is so weak and timid..Why is he bringing back literally all the wasters back to the team?
Very disappointed at Freddie.. Looks like he’s bottled his chance big time.smh
I mean he starts with Mustafi, Kolasinac, Xhaka and Özil so I dunno how different he’s going to be. He’s only missing AMN really for it to be a total joke honestly.
New Manager Bounce ?
Yeah, Bounces like Plasticine !
Either Freddie knows something we don’t or he’s been studying from the emery school of managerial clusterfucks judging by that lineup and bench
Bergkamp 63
“””The Triple Lock Pension !”””
Raul /Vinny and Edu doing very nicely out of this system, thank you!
https://amp.sportsmole.co.uk/football/arsenal/news/arsenal-cool-interest-in-nuno_381337.html
At least Pedro can be happy that the alleged agent puppet isn’t in the running anymore. One less competitor to baby jesus lego hair.
Lets face it, this is what is on display and we’d best get used to it because truth be told, this is as good as they collectively are. Managers may come and go, but the players – they are the ones ultimately accountable for their collective mess. Lets see how much pride they have left?
Mertesacker insisting on his fellow Kraut Mustafi make his first league start of the season.
Just when we hoped to never see Xhaka, Mustafi, Kola play for us again, and hoping Luiz was injured…….
Thats it. All we needed is AMN Marko and Sok and every clown we have would be playing.
if this team plays poorly Freddie has a lot of explaining to do
Was pretty excited about having a new manager at the helm but jeez that is a horrendous starting line up.
Hahaha B63… could be the dead cat bounce.. hard to be optimistic with that lineup. to be honest. Was hoping we would see more youth given Freddie’s background.
The Dream Team ! LOL !
Not really Ernest. Unless Freddie knows something none of the fans do, this is miles away from our best 11
Any team will underperform if you don’t play your strongest team…
“if this team plays poorly Freddie has a lot of explaining to do”
No he doesn’t. No matter how much you try to get rid of it, shit still smells like shit.
Mustafi might be crap but think he’s slightly better crap than Sokratis.
Luiz occasionally heads balls out from danger, this more than an be said of our other available CBs. It’s all I could come up with as to why he’s starting.
Danny
“Mertesacker insisting on his fellow Kraut Mustafi make his first league start of the season”
Yeah Metesacker looks like having plenty of influence on this line-up.
Mustafi as you say and also Kolasinac ex Bundesliga.
Xhaka saunters back in ex-Bundesliga.
Ozil as German as they come.
A kraut clique influenced by big Kraut Mertesacker.
And tbf Ljungberg’s previous coaching experience was Bundesliga as well.
Come on Shwein Hunds.
Can only think that he’s starting with a clean slate and giving some players a second chance – bell injured tierney has a knock holding must be injured At least it’s not 3 at the back but we have zero pace out wide I guess with our away form in mind he’s trying to be a bit more disciplined – still think it’s an awful line up but we’re just going to have to wait and see how this goes If every single one of those players , “plays for the shirt” like he’s asked , then we could be… Read more »
I don’t think we have a best eleven any longer, China1
That sinking feeling in my stomach has returned after only 48 Hrs.
Xhaka could come out after the match and call the fanbase moany cunts and still get in. Not sure why AFC is so wedded to him.
After watching Xhaka embarrassingly giggling at the end of a painful defeat against Frankfurt,I thought his place should be on the bench until he’s eventually moved on
Just don’t get what the coaches see in him that we dont
No doubt now Freddie will be the victim of the Xhaka-attack
This is a clique line-up.
German based clique.
Let’s not be beastly to the Germans.
Freddie really is a Wenger disciple.. Lineup looks like the ghosts of Wenger’s past.
Perfectly summed up. He’s trying to get the band back together or he’s trying to show the world that band assembled by Wenger isn’t worth all the criticism it got over the years. One thing is for sure Gary Neville is going to be in tears tonight
It’s disappointing that xhaka will ever get to wear an arsenal shirt again
His inclusion and pepe’s Exclusion on the wing are the two most annoying things
Also tierney looks like one of our most useful players. Don’t tell me that one mistake for the penalty has cost him his place…
Freddie with a blinder.
I’ll console myself with the fact Sokratis, whom in consider to be our worst defender, isn’t playing.
TOO many questions that needs answering.
A man known for wing play ignoring all the wingers?
Torreira benched?
Tierney benched?
Maybe there’s a reason why he’s never been more than an assistant.
The new coach can’t come quicker.
Anything less than 3 points and it’d be pretty clear Freddie won’t last as a caretaker also
Xhaka openly mocks the fans and he’s reinstated in the team as a reward
Very poor Freddie
From “Kraut Clique” to “German Based Clique”
Nice transition, Ishola.
Still does not dismiss the fact that you are a total moron, but a smooth transitioner nevertheless.
Xhaka must have spent the last two days collecting bare fines in the dressing room to have shown enough leadership worth getting back into the team
It’s the only explanation
Anyway, lets hope we can pick up points today because Freddie will get it afterwards with the players he has put his trust in today.
Vorsprung durch Technik.
Das ischt nicht gout
This is Xhakas club lol you minions should never boo him. He can do what he likes right.
I mean it highlights as well how truly awful a squad we have when a new guy comes in hoping to impress enough to get the job permanently and he starts with Mustafi, Kolasinac, Xhaka and Özil. It’s vom inducing stuff