Fredrik Ljungberg (Out)

[11vanpersie]

i will be very if freddie goes he is a fans favourite and we all love him and he loves us

and my sister will cry for days not seeing him on tv lol!!!

 

[trisoman]

Truth be told, I love the guy but he's getting into good positions but doing very little with it. While I still think Hleb can do better at releasing the ball faster, I feel he's a threat; I can't say I feel tht way about Freddie.

But I agree with those who say keep him around. If nothing else, he'll still be a supporter and a loyalist to us, and that spirit and heart you just shouldn't sell.

 

[Chicago]

Freddie isn't the player he used to be:agree

Freddie should be sold: absolutely disagree, we have Rosicky and Hleb on the wings, but what if, god forbid, either of them get injured. Are we just going to hand out starts to Walcott without any remaining depth. 2 for each position is a good policy, and the way we have it, we have 3 great performers vieying for 2 spots and if there's an injury or two, we have a young hungry player waiting for a chance.

Same with strikers, you have Henry, RVP, Ade, and Ali who, should any of the previosu 3 get injured will get the bench spot.

 

[patrick42uk]

IMO rosicky and hleb on the wings is not as balanced as pires and freddie. sure they are both good players, but we will always need the option of penetration from the wings. long term, that option might not be freddie but short term he's here and we need him in the squad.

 

[hypa]

wag1 evry1 joined this forum 2dai.
freddie is still a fantastic player just isn't playing 100% he lacks pace and skill but am sure he will improve his game 2 challenge hleb or rosicky. freddie a arsenal legend 4 sure

 

[Jasard]

Freddie is one of my favourite players in recent years, on his best form he was quality and gave so much to the club of which he has at his heart. Lets not forget that.

But your right, at the moment hes not what he was and I think Rosicky can benefit us more, I just hope he can gain some of his old form again because we really would destroy teams.

C'mon Freddie, show us you still have it .

 

[Christofaux]

Gurgen- It's this simple. I don't pay £46 every fortnight to watch Ljungberg sat on his arse every 5 minutes. But perhaps you don't go to games, so don't experience the intense frustration?

How about you have a go at the defenders fouling him then? OR when they arent pulled up the referee's mistake? Go watch the charlton game again and tell me whether or not the defenders had their hands all over him when he is on the ball and when they just take his legs. Seriously get real hes not on his arse because hes tripping over himself.

 

[morpho]

Actually I cant see the problem. Ljungberg has done his share for Arsenal and now its a time for our new generation. If he steps up and gives Hleb, Rosicky a challange, sweet, but personaly I cant see that comming. Nevertheless I dont share the same feelings as many post here about selling him. We need his experience, even though if its only on the training field. And I thought it was ok to have him on the pitch against the scums aswell. He may not score as many goals or give as good performances, but I realy think Arsenal would loose alot if he´s shipped off...

 

[Druid]

i think ljunberg has already contributed more than enough to the club already. what he offers to the club is that fighting spirit and undying loyalty, but that still doesn't mean he should be on the first team as often as before. i as an arsenal fan would love to play for the club too, and i would give in my all for the club whenever i'm on the pitch. but unfortunately i don't have the skill to even enter arsenal. thus having the 'battling spirit' is not enough, you need to have the skills too, and that's what ljunberg doesn't provide us with very often anymore.

 

[Sammer]

IMO rosicky and hleb on the wings is not as balanced as pires and freddie. sure they are both good players, but we will always need the option of penetration from the wings. long term, that option might not be freddie but short term he's here and we need him in the squad.

You are talking 4-5 years ago, patrick.

The Pires/Ljungberg decline was THE major reason of our midfield getting overrun last season.

And to counter all the nice comments about his workrate...well, we are not Bolton ffs ! We are the Arsenal and we like to play fast one-touch football. Workrate alone doesn´t get you anywhere in a Wenger team. Rosicky has workrate too - in fact, his tacles are much better than Freddies !

The frustration articulated of RtC is nothing new. Besides a few games (most of them the whole team performing well), it was painful and frustrating last season to see Freddie wasting chances, not beating his man, being slow and ineffective.

It won´t get any better. Unlike Pires, Freddie doesn´t have the skill to make up for physical decline.

Workrate alone means nothing. Eric Meijer was a player with immense workrate....

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Gurgen- It's this simple. I don't pay £46 every fortnight to watch Ljungberg sat on his arse every 5 minutes. But perhaps you don't go to games, so don't experience the intense frustration?

How about you have a go at the defenders fouling him then? OR when they arent pulled up the referee's mistake? Go watch the charlton game again and tell me whether or not the defenders had their hands all over him when he is on the ball and when they just take his legs. Seriously get real hes not on his arse because hes tripping over himself.

:-D It is the defenders job to put Freddie on his arse, fair means or foul. It is Freddie's job to evade the defender's attempts to put him on his arse. Sadly, for him, for me, for you and for the rest of us, he doesn't quite manage it anymore. Last season, I came to accept that there was a reason for people moaning about Reyes so much, perhaps if you open your eyes you'll see there's a reason why some of us are moaning about Freddie.

And where's sabret00the when I need him?

 

[Captain]

Gurgen- It's this simple. I don't pay £46 every fortnight to watch Ljungberg sat on his arse every 5 minutes. But perhaps you don't go to games, so don't experience the intense frustration?

How about you have a go at the defenders fouling him then? OR when they arent pulled up the referee's mistake? Go watch the charlton game again and tell me whether or not the defenders had their hands all over him when he is on the ball and when they just take his legs. Seriously get real hes not on his arse because hes tripping over himself.

You mean the same treatment that all the other players get but manage to stay on their feet?

If Ljungberg could bring the ball under control in one touch rather then three he would be able to lose those players easily. Much like Hleb, Cesc and even Gilberto do on a regular basis throughout a game.

Another contributing factor is that Freddie can't play with his head up. This isn't a problem when your main function is to run onto through balls but now that he more often then not picks ball up in midfield it is something of a liability.

Head down and charge every time but he doesn't even have the acceleration to get away from his marker anymore so he falls over or passes the ball backwards. That is sadly his main contribution to the team now.

 

[longrufus]

But we have given time to Hleb, to Eboue, to Cesc and countless others a "grace" period to fit into the system, why not one for Ljungberg too? I'm not saying his performances now warrant a starting position. Indeed I'm all for Rosicky taking his spot eventually, as things like these happen in football. I just don't want us to flame him as we're doing now.

As much as I like him, Ljunberg is finished.

You can't hang on to players for sentimental reasons. Selling him will free up £X k a week, however much it is he is on.

And what? Bring in another teenager? There is currently an imbalance of experience and youth in our team, I think the experience and grit Ljungberg brings to the team is worth every penny we pay him right now.

You talk of a "grace" period for players to fit into the system. What do you expect?
Hleb to gel straight away with his team mates? Acclimatise himself immediatly to the premiership, the most demanding league in the world?
Or maybe you expected Fabregas to play at 17 like a seasoned professional, after only reserve and carling cup expeirence?
How about a young kid who played 2nd rate Belgian football?

The reason such players were allowed as you call it, a "grace" period is because Arsène knew if he stuck with them we would reap the benefits. And havnt we just. Fabregas has moulded himself to the best young player in his position in the world. Hleb has settled in and along with Eboue has made our right side dangerous again. Eboue has given the team so much over his short time here. Its no coincidence the players that turned our season around last year was the performances of Fabregas, Hleb, Eboue and of course Henry.

Yet i know turn to the man in question. Freddie. Do i really think giving him a "grace" period is going to help his game? No. Why because such a period isnt going to make him any quicker in my opinion or change the way he now plays. I have said countless times that Freddie has become so ineffective as he no longer does the things that once made him so dangerous.

Firstly his pace on the ball. At one time freddie had pace to burn, he wasnt the most skillful player, but could beat his man with sheer pace down the line. When was the last time anyone actually see this happen. Now the norm is for him to run aimlessly down the line, never getting close to by the defender, throw his leg over the ball in the slowest stepover of all time, then lay the ball back. If this fails you will usually see him on his arse.

Secondly his running off the ball. This for me is the biggest let down. At one time Freddie was one of the hardest guys to defend against. He would drift inside and make the most incisive perfectly timed runs into the box. Which dennis more than obliged slipping him through. His late runs for cutbacks were also difficult to defend against because by the time the defender picked him up he had already hit the back of the net. Again i ask, when was the last time someone actually see him do this?

He does offer a lot of expeirence, granted, but expeirence is useless if you cant do anything with it. He does tackle back quite well and does have a lot of grit and determination but when that is the only positive of an apparent offensive scoring midfielder, there is a problem.

You speak of youth as if it is a bad thing? Yet if i remember correctly, last season, our worst in recent history. And who let us down? Not the young players, but the older expeirenced players, Campbell, Pires, Freddie.

An imbalance of expeirence and youth in our team? Who would you be referring to exactly? Eboue, who has given us more offensivly (3 games, 3 assists) than Lauren ever did whilst still defending very well. Maybe playing an ACN, a WC and a CL final are not good enough? Cesc who shows far more maturity in his game than most 25year old midfielders. Djourou who has been excellent, very commanding and barely made a mistake? Ade who scored the winning goal in the Man Utd game? RvP who is a regular for his national side and scored 5 in 9 for club and country and leads the assist table at the club? Hoyte is questionable. Yet when he is the only name i can think of i cant see you have much of an argument. Unless of course you can name the players causing this imbalance, i dont see you having much of a worthwhile point.

Edit: Didnt mean to make that so long. Apologies. But read it, i think its worthwhile.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

Top, top post.

 

[ShoIto]

I love Freddie and his workrate. But he doesn't have the same pace, penetration than before. You know who would be perfect to replace him? Frank Ribery.

 

[bohemian]

agreed, that's a well written, well thought out argument (longrufus's post, that is)

 

[longrufus]

Dont you just hate it when you make a worthwhile post for it to dissappear off to the last page.

Now for the cheats who start on the last page written they will miss it.

Frustrating to be honest. Thanks Bohemian and RtC

 

[Sammer]

Dont you just hate it when you make a worthwhile post for it to dissappear off to the last page.

Now for the cheats who start on the last page written they will miss it.

Frustrating to be honest. Thanks Bohemian and RtC

Top post there, longrufus.

Agree especially with Freddie being one of the key figures in letting the team down last season.

When people (wrongly) cried for Vieira last season when the team didn´t perform, they didn´t realize that it wasn´t Vieira´s absence, but more the inability of Ljungberg and Pires. Our midifeld got overrun numerous times with the flanks wide open...

I said it last season already - Freddie is unfortunately not first team quality any more. A good 70th minute sub. But I don´t think he will fit into this role, considering his wages and his ambition.

 

[hellolo]

It's strange how Ljungberg doesn't make runs anymore, like gilberto trying to take too much responsibility last season, Ljungberg is trying to do the same by trying to be a "playmaker", which is in truth, hurting our team, he should just focus on what he does best, hi's off the ball running

 

[Sammer]

I think most of us agree that Freddie doesn´t provide much for our attack (lack of pace, lack of technique etc.).

But claiming that he "works hard" and "defends well" is also a dead end street.
When it comes to these attributes, the Flamster is superior in my view - much better in "close battle", and Matthieu can outrun most of our team (stamina wise) any time.

He either has to get his act together, or there will not be many games for him as a starter soon.