Premier League
ARSENAL’S LATEST MANAGER, LJUNGBERG, FACES FIRST ASSIGNMENT
Arsenal’s interim coach, Freddie Ljungberg will have his first baptism as manager of Arsenal this Sunday as the team travels to Norwich. For now, the interim boss hopes rapport with younger players will help revive the befuddled Gunners.
It was offered as a throwaway line but, when Bukayo Saka said after the 3-0 Europa League win at Eintracht Frankfurt in September that Freddie Ljungberg had been key in helping him understand Unai Emery’s instructions, the alarm bells sounded.
He was hardly alone in not grasping exactly what the Spaniard required of him and the manager’s fractured English frequently led to confusion on the training ground.
Interim boss Ljungberg has no such problems and it is remarkable how effective short, simple messages can be. The Swede certainly has the ear of Arsenal’s younger players, many of whom worked with him closely in the academy, and has quickly established an easy rapport with the first-team figures.
For now, a little clarity may be enough to get a tune from a befuddled squad.
Given that Arsenal have eight games this month, starting with today’s Premier League trip to Norwich, and little opportunity to perfect new ideas in training, anyone expecting Ljungberg to conjure an instant blend in his own image would be setting unfair demands.
The 42-year-old, who was an assistant to Emery and also coached Arsenal’s under-23 team, said: “I don’t think that’s the best thing to do. I’m not going to just go and smash things up.”
But he may be able to answer the question of what Arsenal actually are as a team. Part of the reason for Emery’s downfall was that he tried too many things and ended up grasping at thin air.
Ljungberg, whose instinct is towards the fast attacking football with which he thrived as an Arsenal player, must establish some kind of identity as quickly as possible.
He said: “For me, happy footballers play the best football… often the players we have enjoy playing offensive football which makes them happy.”
He must also cut out the defensive mistakes that have dogged the team this season – partly owing to Emery’s ill-advised insistence on playing out from the back.
Acknowledging the work that lies ahead of him as the Gunners draw up a shortlist of names to take over on a permanent basis, he tweeted: “However long I oversee Arsenal for, I’ll give everything I have to put smiles on faces again.
“We have a busy few weeks ahead and the team need your support.”
The former winger played for Arsenal from 1998 to 2007 and was part of the “Invincibles” team who went through the 2003-04 league season unbeaten. The current team are winless in seven games, their worst run in 27 years.
In his departing statement on Friday, Emery called his 18-month spell an honour, adding: “I would have liked nothing more than to have achieved better results for you.”
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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