Arsenal: Freddie Ljungberg, saying the right things and a wave of excitement

In Freddie Ljungberg, Arsenal have a new head coach, if only temporarily. He is saying all the right things while bringing a rare wave of excitement pervading through the fanbase.

There has not been much excitement surrounding Arsenal in recent months. Dour performances, poor results, a lack of hope and anticipation for the future. Games have felt as much like a battle as anything else.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — Emergency: Unai Emery sacked

But this week, an injection of excitement was thrust into the heart of the club. The beleaguered and unwanted Unai Emery was sacked, and his replacement, Freddie Ljungberg, has brought a verve, vibrancy and feel of the old Arsenal back in less than one training session.

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What comes of Ljungberg’s coaching remains to be seen. No one really knows how his team will play. He only has one year of managing experiencing under his belt and that was with the under-23s last season. He is an unknown quantity. But he is exciting.

Ljungberg is also saying all the right things. Conducting an expansive interview on Saturday morning, Ljungberg expressed his honour at the opportunity of managing the club he loves and gave a few hints on how his team might play:

"“It’s a great, great honour. I want to do as well as I can for this fantastic club and that’s what I feel today. I feel excitement and I’ll try to do a good job <…> I’ve been at Arsenal for a long, long, long time, I like entertaining football but of course, at the same time, you can’t concede goals. That’s a tricky balance to find <…> I hope I have the values of the club, I understand the club, I think from the inside. That gives me a help, 100 per cent. I have been here for 20 years, so it’s very special to me.”"

Ljungberg’s first match as head coach comes on Sunday afternoon. His leads his team to Norwich City looking for an immediate positive bump, something that many new managers experience, especially when a shackling coach is removed of his duties.

Such is the uncertainty in how Ljungberg will approach the match and set his team up, this is one of the most exciting fixtures of the season thus far. A trip to Carrow Road is not exactly the first game that you circle on the calendar at the start of the season, but right now, it is an extremely intriguing prospect.

Will Ljungberg release the shackles and let his attacking players play? How will he structure the central midfield, a point of great contention under Emery? And what about the defending? Can he implement a coordinated high press to help protect the vulnerable centre-backs?

It is impossible to answer these questions. And that is what makes Sunday so enticing — and the Ljungberg experiment more generally. He is saying all the right things, he is bringing a new perspective to the club, and for the first time this season, there is a genuine excitement sweeping through the fanbase.