Arbeloa sack coming after bizarre subs and Real Madrid comments
Oh mate. As far as in-game capitulations and shows of post-match conceitedness go, rarely has there been as potent a sack-adjacent combination as put forward by Alvaro Arbeloa at the weekend.
At the start of what can only possibly be described as a run of 18-pointers with consecutive games against the three promoted sides, winless Fulham stood at a crossroads in the closing stages against Ipswich. And Arbeloa insisted on running into traffic while screaming ‘Hala Madrid’.
It is unknown why Fulham traded four seasons of top-flight serenity and cup-based agony with Marco Silva for the honour of becoming a feeder club not to Spain’s biggest club, but Spain’s biggest club’s reserves. Either way, it doesn’t feel like it’s working.
And Arbeloa specifically citing a significant issue the fanbase has with his presence as one of his strengths is certainly a choice, especially in defeat.
“Maybe you don’t know me but I played for the best team in world,” he said, when asked whether he was feeling the pressure as the new manager of a club currently bottom of the table. “I have coached the best team in the world,” he added, as if Fulham fans will ever be allowed to forget.
It was cited by chairman Shahid Khan upon the Spaniard’s appointment, which itself was backed by glowing references from Florentino Perez and Jose Mourinho.
And that link and those names can be intoxicating. Everton once signed a load of Barcelona cast-offs in one go because that association feels exciting. But Real Madrid do not entertain mutually beneficial relationships for good reason. They were happy to let their reserve manager, two of that team’s most-used players and a fringe striker go, all for £45m or so; not for the good of their careers, but because they didn’t see enough in them.
How those five months in charge at the Bernabeu after being parachuted in to replace Xabi Alonso in January qualified Arbeloa to take up a Premier League post is unknown. Why taking over a team four points behind Barcelona and finishing eight off their pace made him a leading candidate for such a prominent first senior coaching role is a mystery. We might never know what Fulham saw in those defeats to Osasuna, Getafe, Mallorca and Albacete with “the best team in world” which so compelled them to make their move.
We do know that the Cottagers look worse for the summer gamble and are in danger of spiralling.
The game management of a team which had dropped four points to goals scored in or after the 75th minute against Sunderland, Crystal Palace and Manchester United was already under question. But the Ipswich game was a debacle.
Fulham were leading through Ryan Sessegnon and in relative control at Portman Road. By the hour mark they’d had 11 shots to five and 60.8% possession.
Then the incessant Realification of Fulham kicked in. The 22-year-old, 5ft 7ins Manuel Angel came on for his Premier League debut, armed with 95 career La Liga minutes, for the quietly impressive and physically suited Shea Charles. Fulham were overrun thereafter and summarily surrendered their grip, having half as many shots as Ipswich and just 27.7% of the ball.
It was a baffling switch, damned further by every other subsequent change. Rodrigo Muniz on as a second striker at 1-0 up away; Kevin’s latest ineffective cameo in place of the excellent Josh King; Hugo Larsson and Emile Smith Rowe coming on for no apparent reason, a minute before Abdoul Ouattara’s stunning equaliser, thus robbing the Cottagers of the opportunity to make any more substitutions.
It felt like active self-sabotage, and Arbeloa’s response did little to quell the rising concerns.
When he announced his resignation in May, he openly declared that “I hope it’s a see you later… I don’t know if it will be the last game of my life as coach of Real Madri.”
On the evidence of his first permanent managerial reign, even a Castilla return might be beyond him. Arbeloa looks cooked, and Fulham have been cucked.
