Ljungberg at the heart of a new style

For all his Bernabeu bravura, Thierry Henry did not defeat Real Madrid alone. Henry's individual goal captured the imagination and the column inches, but the influence of the midfielders, and Freddie Ljungberg in particular, behind him was just as incisive as his unforgettable run.

With Arsenal dominating for all but a 15-minute period before the interval, time and again Madrid were picked apart by low, angled balls for Henry or Jose Antonio Reyes to run on to. Indeed, with Henry putting in a performance of which everyone knows he is capable, what was perhaps most remarkable about the match was that Ljungberg was arguably the chief choreographer.

Ljungberg's game has principally involved pouncing on passes like the panther he has tattooed on his midriff. Yet on recent evidence, the Swede is developing another side to his game, one with greater responsibility and through which he can enjoy a greater involvement.

"Of course it's always nice to score goals, but we have a lot of new players," he said. "For me personally, I don't think too much about the goals. I had to take the role because of our injuries this season; it has more or less forced me to be a father figure. I'm only 28 and I'm the daddy here!

"Sometimes when you play on the wing it gets a bit isolated and you can't help as much. But if you play a bit more central I can get the ball a lot more and help a lot more."

The new Ljungberg is born of necessity. The decline of Dennis Bergkamp has suffocated the supply line that once saw his devastating late runs into the area, but it seems the Swede has learnt from the Dutch master's brush strokes. In Saturday's 4-0 win at Fulham, Ljungberg was at the heart of the moves that provided Arsenal's goals and of many more that petered out with characteristically careless finishing.

Never capable of the kind of crossing that has traditionally been a keystone of English football, Ljungberg has recently developed the open-bodied passing style of Robert Pires. It is an asset that the Swede used to great effect in the Bernabeu, where he found the opposition's attacking waves could be undone by a well-picked pass.

"When you play against a Spanish team, especially Madrid, it is quite an open game," said Ljungberg. "There was time and space to play. They are very good going forward, but because they go forward a lot, they open up at the back."

The remodelling of the midfielder with the model features has coincided with the reinvention of the entire Arsenal team. Where once Arsene Wenger could rely on a parsimonious defence as the platform for counter-attacking football, he has attempted to introduce more technical players who are capable of retaining possession and dictating play for themselves.

"It's a season when we have played a bit differently," Ljungberg said. "We are in a bit of a transition period. We haven't created as many chances as we have in the past and not played as quickly."

Still, that approach has paid dividends in Europe.