Ljungberg relieved his little gamble pays off
FREDDIE LJUNGBERG was pleased his team selection did not come back to haunt him as Arsenal qualified as winners of Group F following a draw at Standard Liege.
The Belgian side had held a two-goal lead over a muchchanged Gunners line-up showing nine alterations from the team who won at West Ham on Monday night. But two goals in three minutes, an Alexandre Lacazette header followed by a smart Bukayo Saka finish, secured a draw which, coupled with Eintracht Frankfurt’s surprise home defeat to Vitoria, saw Ljungberg’s team seal top spot.
The 42-year-old admitted it was a “little gamble” to make such sweeping changes.
“Of course it’s very, very good [to top the group],” he said. “We started the group really well, then we had some problems in two games and then we came to this.
“We played a lot of games lately and of course I want to give the young ones a chance, but I needed to rotate as well because we got injuries in the West Ham game and I didn’t have many options left. Of course it was a little gamble but I believe in those young players and they pulled through and we’re top of the group.”
The two quick-fire goals in the second half almost mimicked the three goals in nine minutes which were enough to seal a 3-1 victory at West Ham. Ljungberg conceded it was frustrating his side have only been showing their true talent in glimpses.
“I believe that even in the first half against West Ham and even today we tried to have possession,” he said. “Yes, maybe it’s a bit slow because we didn’t have the intensity sometimes but it wears the opponents down. Sometimes you have to just plug away, and maybe when your opponent gets a bit more tired you get that little extra metre and that’s when you score the goals. So for me that’s part of the game-plan.”
Liege had taken a shock lead after two deflected goals from Samuel Bastien and Selim Amallah caught out the Arsenal defence, but their efforts proved to be in vain as they drop out of the competition.