After just six Premier League matches as Fulham manager, Alvaro Arbeloa is a dead man walking. Or in the words of one source close to the dressing room, a ‘dead man strutting’.
It was always an extraordinary gamble for a mid-table Premier League club operating on a limited budget to hire a man who had only previously coached within the confines of the world’s mightiest club, Real Madrid, and then to purchase him three young products of the Spanish club’s La Fabrica academy.
So far that high-risk strategy is failing alarmingly. Fulham are bottom of the Premier League and winless, having tossed away the lead in three of those six matches.
Most glaringly at Ipswich Town last Saturday when Arbeloa’s team led until the 88th minute, only to concede twice after their manager made a series of baffling substitutions.
As a result of that ‘Farmageddon’ against the Tractor Boys, today’s home fixture against Hull City is pivotal for the Spaniard. Lose it and he will surely be sacked – with former Premier League managers Thomas Frank and Vitor Pereira in the running to replace him. Although Pereira is believed to be keener on the role than former Brentford and Tottenham boss Frank.
Draw and Arbeloa may limp on until next weekend’s trip to Coventry City – a third consecutive fixture against a newly-promoted club. That all three of those teams have all made decent starts only adds to the current sense of dread around Craven Cottage.
Alvaro Arbeloa has been described as a ‘dead man strutting’ by a source close to the Fulham dressing room
Fulham are bottom of the Premier League after six games and still waiting for their first win
Fulham owner Shahid Khan and his son Tony – who, while juggling other roles in wrestling and the NFL, is the club’s controversial director of football – are said to be ‘worried’ but also reluctant to make any early managerial change.
Especially given that they took such a leap of faith on Arbeloa, along with his three Real recruits – striker Gonzalo Garcia and the lightweight midfield duo of Cesar Palacios and Manuel Angel.
In the post-match press conference at Portman Road, Arbeloa further enraged large sections of the Fulham fanbase by playing the Real card.
Asked about the pressure of his predicament, he responded: ‘Maybe you don’t know me, but I have played for the best team in the world and I have coached the best team in the world. Maybe you don’t know, but just to let you know that pressure is part of my life since I was a kid.’
Such confidence – bordering on arrogance – has been noted by his players, hence the ‘dead man strutting’ comment. While a struggling side need a manager to show self-belief, some players feel Arbeloa is covering up for the fact he is simply unsuited to the job at hand.
At Friday morning’s pre-match media conference, however, Arbeloa was far more contrite – insisting the Hull match is ‘not about me’ and admitting to his own errors against Ipswich.
Some senior players have had serious misgivings about Arbeloa’s tactics and training since the off – and these have only grown during a dismal start to the season.
Three players expressed dissatisfaction with the club on social media after the Craven Cottage crowd turned toxic in the aftermath of last month’s 3-2 home defeat by Crystal Palace, when Fulham twice squandered leads and conceded two shambolic second-half goals before supporters on the Hammersmith End erupted into cries of ‘what the f***ing hell was that?’ at the final whistle.
There is a general sense of dread at Craven Cottage at how the season is going to unfold
Fulham’s players have not been impressed by Arbeloa’s tactics and training methods
Alex Iwobi was booed by Fulham fans when he was withdrawn late on. He and fellow former Arsenal player Emile Smith Rowe took down all Fulham mentions from their Instagram accounts, while Brazilian winger Kevin posted a cryptic message of the three wise monkeys with the words ‘no hear, no speak, no see’. This post, in particular, is said to have angered Arbeloa.
A former Real and Liverpool defender, Arbeloa was part of Spain’s all-conquering side which won three straight major international tournaments between 2008 and 2012. His playing credentials were beyond doubt.
Yet as a coach, he progressed through Real’s age-group teams to manage second-string Castilla – who compete in the third tier of Spanish football. When Xabi Alonso left the Bernabeu in January, Arbeloa stepped up as manager for a four-month stint, yet Real ended the season without silverware, finishing eight points adrift of champions Barcelona and knocked out of the Copa del Rey by lower-league Albacete.
At Castilla, Arbeloa helped nurture Garcia, Palacios and Angel, who all played under him during his brief spell as Real’s first-team boss. There is a feeling among some Fulham players that he has shown too much faith in that inexperienced trio since arriving in west London.
Garcia, who is quick and strong but not a target man, has started every league match. He scored on his debut, a 3-2 home defeat by Chelsea, but has missed several decent chances while failing to find the net since.
Palacios, a slightly-built, technically-gifted midfielder, started the first three league matches – which all ended in defeat. Yet after a man-of-the-match display in a Carabao Cup win at West Ham, he has not featured in Fulham’s last two games.
The tiny Angel – officially 5ft 7in – was handed his Premier League debut as a substitute in the 71st minute at Ipswich, replacing the impressive and physical Shea Charles with Fulham attempting to defend a one-goal lead.
If that move was met with incredulity, then the subsequent decision to bring on a second striker, Rodrigo Muniz, and swich to a 4-4-2 formation while clinging to a slender lead, was even more difficult to fathom.
Fulham’s Kenny Tete looks broken after his side conceded two late goals against Ipswich last weekend to lose 2-1
Cesar Palacios (right) put in a man-of-the-match display in a Carabao Cup win at West Ham but has not featured in Fulham’s last two matches
Fulham had been ahead on every metric until those changes, which led to their late collapse and have caused widespread alarm about Arbeloa’s in-game decision-making, including among some members of his squad.
After the match, goalscorer Ryan Sessegnon damningly spoke of a problem with the team’s ‘mentality’.
When asked about these substitutions on Friday, Arbeloa admitted: ‘Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was my fault that we lost the game – not because of the players but because of me, I can accept that analysis.’
Fulham had already surrendered leads against Palace and given up a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Manchester United.
All of Arbeloa’s senior coaching staff are Spanish and arrived at the club with him. Some speak of a ‘disconnect’ between them and Fulham’s players, staff and supporters. They trained the players especially hard in pre-season, with an expectation that Fulham would be one of the fittest, hardest-running and highest-pressing teams in the League.
That energetic, attacking style was apparent in the opening three matches but Arbeloa’s side were wide open defensively. A goalless draw at Anfield showed a willingness to compromise on his attacking ideals – but the Ipswich defeat has turned the majority of Fulham’s fanbase against the Spaniard.
Arbeloa succeeded Marco Silva, one of the most successful managers in Fulham’s recent history – who apparently blindsided the Khans by leaving to take charge at Benfica in June when the owners claim they had expected him to sign a new contract.
Alex Iwobi has taken down all Fulham mentions from his Instagram account after being booed by the fans
This is Fulham’s eighth Premier League campaign since the Khan takeover of 2013. In four seasons under Silva, they enjoyed four comfortable mid-table finishes. In the first three seasons under other managers, Fulham were relegated by a distance. In the fourth, they are winless and bottom.
In all four top-flight campaigns under Silva, Fulham threatened to qualify for Europe only to dip from March onwards and miss out. The Portuguese valued experience over youth and consistently fielded the oldest starting line-up in the Premier League.
And his three most expensive signings – Smith Rowe, Kevin and former Manchester City wide player Oscar Bobb, signed for a combined £94million – have all struggled to make an impact. Last season’s leading goalscorers, Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez, left on free transfers in the summer.
So a refresh was certainly needed but a revolution based on the idea of turning London’s oldest professional football club into Real Madrid Lite always felt like a reckless punt.
Dave Kidd is the editor of Fulham site Saturday White Fever. Go to: saturdaywhitefever.counterpress.media
