When you play against a Spanish team, especially Madrid, it is quite an open game.
— Freddie Ljungberg
I loved my time in Japan, and I am grateful to have had the chance to live in Japan and embrace the Japanese culture.
And at West Ham no one gives you a puzzled look if you get called up for your national team and players are never asked to play on injections.
If there's a back door somewhere, I take it. I try to get about without being noticed.
When I went to Seattle, it was quite a quiet town and we made it the biggest soccer following in America. We didn't have the paparazzi, though, and I needed that at the time.
I had hip surgery in America because I'd had problems during my last two years in Europe. They said out there that my hip was broken and I didn't know about it.
There were a lot of reasons why I wanted to leave Arsenal.
The problem in Sweden is that, when the players are younger, they are not allowed to develop their own style and skills.
I've always been interested in clothes and shopping, and I have a few friends who work in fashion.
Sometimes you have to just plug away, plug away in your game of football and maybe when your opponent gets a bit more tired you get that little extra metre and that's when you score the goals.
I like it in Seattle.
The Swedish team plays very differently from Arsenal. There is more freedom with Arsenal and they play a passing game.
That's what it's all about. To play better. To win. There's nothing else to it.
Everyone that works knows that work is hard sometimes.
The important thing for me is we want to keep the ball, we want to have the ball because we are Arsenal football club.
I didn't know exactly what to expect when I first came to Seattle but I have to say that how the city and the fans have embraced me has gone beyond my wildest dreams and for that I am forever grateful.
When I went to Arsenal, people in Sweden said my game was more suited for Spain or Italy.
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.
Arsenal showed the door to too many people. Why did they let Thierry Henry go? When I found out about his move I realised the Arsenal I played for were finished.
I went to West Ham in order to play against Arsenal as often as possible.
I don't want to sound bigheaded or anything, but when you reach a certain level of recognition or fame, or whatever you want to call it, when you're young the first couple of years you think, 'Oh, this is fun.'
I lived on being a quick player and my hamstring was breaking every time I made a quick move. I wondered what the hell was going on.
I won almost everything there is to win and I look back with great memories.
I have always dressed to please myself, not other people. I don't care what they think.
I had a coach when I was younger who encouraged me to be myself, that is where I was lucky.
I break out in a rash if I go to the gym; all I did was shave my chest.
I try to see what the players can do and not what they can't do.
If you want to play at Arsenal you need to be top, top, you need precision.
It is up to the coaches to tell me how to play.
When I came from Europe, I was told that Americans don't care about soccer and this and that. But the way people cared was beyond my wildest expectations. You can't manufacture that.
I think Unai did a great job and was a great leader, and a fantastic coach.
West Ham have a great academy.
I'm really excited by this opportunity to continue helping develop and work with some of the great young players we have coming through in the first-team environment and to work alongside Unai and his coaching team to help Arsenal win trophies.
I do my job - I don't try to seek the spotlight; that's not my way.
I had to have tests for cancer and other diseases - it wasn't much fun. I was getting a shooting pain in my hip and we didn't know what it was. First of all we thought it was an old injury. But they didn't find anything wrong, even though when I had an ultrasound test it was all really swollen.
Wenger simply doesn't like those who show a weakness. With him you generally feel as if you were in the army. It's only in public that he may appear to be some sort of man of liberal views. In reality, his credo is natural selection.
I like my privacy.
One thing I've learned is that you have to be open-minded.
Every time I sprinted 100 per cent, my hamstring broke. But I knew if I didn't sprint 100 per cent, I could keep on playing, so that's what you do. I was just lucky it was discovered in America and I haven't had one problem since. I feel I can run past people again and that feels nice.
Clubs have always wanted to buy me during the summer but I have always stayed loyal because I wanted to stay at Arsenal.
You can be yourself in London. If you are a bit different in the way you dress or look it is no problem.
But I'm constantly surprised by the amount of interest in how I look. It's flattering, but a little weird - at the end of the day, I'm a footballer.
I am not that shy.
You can see players do things in training that aren't a problem but they can't in a game situation. You have to work on it, relax and be brave.
Sweden usually don't play good against the poor teams. We like being the underdogs.
My roles for Arsenal and Sweden are very different.
I go from day to day and game to game.
What I try to focus on is going forward.
I felt Arsenal had let a lot of players go. When Thierry left I felt it was time for me to do something different and challenging.
I felt, and it may sound a bit stupid, that I want to try things that are hard.
