Freddie Ljungberg has warned the Arsenal hierarchy that he will struggle to cope with a skeleton crew after being told he will not be able to appoint a coaching team during his temporary tenure.
Arsenal sacked Unai Emery a fortnight ago and the Spaniard took five members of staff with him, leaving Ljungberg with little experience on his bench. Per Mertesacker has been the Swede's assistant over the past four games even though the role was initially viewed as a ultra short-term solution for the first match of Ljungberg's tenure.
The 42-year-old has also promoted Sam Wilson from the Under-23 setup to work on the first team's strength and conditioning. Goalkeeping coach Sal Bibbo, one of the survivors of coaching culls after the departures of both Arsene Wenger and Emery, is also in place.
Ljungberg had hoped to bring fellow Invincible Gilberto Silva onto his coaching staff but Arsenal will not make any decision on the makeup of their interim coach's staff until they know when they will be able to make a permanent appointment.
"The club have said I have to wait until they make a decision, so yeah, I can't do anything at the moment," Ljungberg told football.london. "I have Per [Mertesacker] but at the same time he is academy manager but he is helping me with the coaching.
"The club has said when they make a decision then that's it or I'm obviously leaving or maybe then we can do something with the staff. But it's up to the club."
He added: "If you look at the person who was here before [Emery], he had a lot of staff and maybe I don't have so many. So if you keep on going like that for months and months, it's not so easy.
"But that's totally up to the club."
Arsenal's recruitment process is well underway and potential candidates have been sounded out. Sources close to the club place Mikel Arteta as the leading contender but it remains to be seen whether he or any other individual would be prepared to take the job in mid-season.
Even if a new head coach does not arrive immediately Arsenal believe they are moving closer to at least knowing how they will operate for the remainder of this season. If the right man is not available now then Ljungberg will be entrusted with the job until the end of the season. He will then be able to expand his coaching staff, with Mertesacker expected to return to his current role.
Ljungberg insists that he is in the dark over how long his services will be required. "I haven't got any indications of if I'm here or not.
"What I've said to the bosses and the club is I will do everything in my power to do as well as I can for this club and the players.
"Then obviously it is up to them to make a decision. I try not to put any emotions into that. It's totally business and up to them."
