Published 10:52 IST, December 24th 2019
Arsenal: Mikel Arteta clears the air around Ljungberg's position at the club
In the first pre-match presser, the Arsenal head coach says that he has had a conversation with Ljungberg regarding his future and the plans that he has.
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In his first pre-match press conference, Mikel Arteta confirmed that Freddie Ljungberg will continue to be a part of the first-team staff and will be in the head coach's caching setup. Arteta was announced as the full-time head coach on Friday afternoon and took over the office on Sunday.
Freddie to stay
Arteta's first match will against Bournemouth on Boxing Day and speaking to the press ahead of the match, he said, "I spoke to Freddie after the game. I told him my idea and the people I wanted to bring to form my coaching staff, their roles, and responsibilities of each of them. I wanted to know what he was feeling, I wanted to know what he had in mind, what his expectations were. We talked and we decided that the best thing for him was to stay with us. I think he can be available. I think he knows the players, he knows the situation, he knows the history of where we're coming from and also his knowledge of the game is going to really help us to be better."
Ljungberg was the academy coach last season and swapped roles with Steve Bould to be the assistant to Unai Emery, the head coach. However, Emery was sacked in November after a run of poor fixtures and Ljungberg took over in charge as the interim head coach for three weeks before Arteta was appointed as the head coach.
After his last match as interim head coach, Ljungberg had said that he was asked by the club to stay but also mentioned that he would be having a conversation with Arteta regarding the same.
Arteta watched Saturday's match against Everton from the stands at Goodison Park and was asked about the performance. He said, "I think that we have a really good team. There are a lot of things to improve but at least the two things that I demanded from them were done. They committed to something and they did it, so it was a good starting point."
08:51 IST, December 24th 2019