Freddie Ljungberg knows the Arsenal style, proclaims Josh Kroenke
Arsenal director Josh Kroenke has said that interim manager Freddie Ljungberg 'has Arsenal DNA' and is the right man to be put in charge of the club temporarily. Kroenke also revealed that Unai Emery had been given ultimatums and his sacking had been a topic of discussion for 'weeks'.
In an interview with the BBC, Arsenal director Josh Kroenke has placed his faith in interim manager Freddie Ljungberg and said that the former midfielder “has Arsenal DNA”. Ljungberg was promoted as the first team manager on a temporary basis after Unai Emery was sacked following extremely poor results. The North Londoners lost to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home, leaving no choice but to sack the former Sevilla boss.
“We feel he is the right person in the moment to take the club forward. We started to fall short of several goals that we set. We still feel we can achieve those goals this season. First and foremost, Freddie has Arsenal DNA. Obviously he was a player here for a number of years, the supporters know him very well and he's worked diligently behind the scenes for the past several years. My message to Freddie and the players was let's get back to basics and most importantly let's get back to having some fun. I think footballers are at their best when I see smiles on their faces and going out there and winning matches. That's a winning formula to me,” said Josh Kroenke.
Ex-Sweden international Ljungberg played for Arsenal from 1998 to 2007, winning 2 Premier League titles and 3 FA Cups with them. He returned to the club in an ambassadorial role in 2013 and after a brief spell on the coaching staff at VfL Wolfsburg in 2017, he rejoined the Gunners in 2018 as Under-23 coach, before being promoted to first-team assistant coach in June. Emery was dismissed after 18 months at the helm following a winless spell of seven games, Arsenal's worst run without a victory since February 1992.
“Like all of our fans and supporters around the globe, we've been concerned about our recent string of performances. We wanted to support Unai and his staff until we decided it was time to make a change and ultimately we came to that decision over the last several weeks as a group between myself, Raul, Vinai and [technical director] Edu,” concluded the director.
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