Club won’t rush to replace Ljungberg
ARSENAL director Josh Kroenke delivered a rallying cry to the club’s players yesterday — and insisted he is in no rush to find a new manager.
Twenty-four hours after firing Unai Emery, Kroenke, the son of majority shareholder Stan, visited the club’s London Colney training base as interim boss Freddie Ljungberg and his players prepared for today’s trip to Norwich.
Emery was sacked on Friday after seven winless games and Kroenke told the players he will not be panicked into a replacement. The 39-year-old said: ‘It’s about finding the right candidate, not the first candidate.’
Ljungberg and new assistant Per Mertesacker head for Norwich with Arsenal ninth in the Premier League and eight points off the top four.
Kroenke said: ‘Like all of our fans and supporters around the globe, we’ve been concerned about our recent string of performances.
‘Unai is a good man, someone that we all respect very much. Ultimately we started to fall short of several goals. We still feel we can achieve those goals this season, which is why we decided to make the change.
‘Freddie has Arsenal DNA, he is the right person in the moment to take the club forward. 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. That’s a winning formula.’
Meanwhile, Ljungberg, 42, indicated he does not know how long his spell as interim boss will last. Arsenal are interested in a number of names to replace Emery but it might be difficult to prise away the likes of Wolves’ Nuno Espirito Santo or Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers in mid-season.
When asked if he had been told when his stint might end, Ljungberg told Sky Sports: ‘They just said, “Concentrate on the next game and do what you can and we’ll see from there”.
‘I’m focused on the players and the game tomorrow and doing the best I can. For me it’s about the team and the club, we have a game tomorrow.
‘Maybe there’s a few other games. I’m not going to try to make enormous changes. I’m going to concentrate on how we can play and what we’ll do on the football pitch.’