Bleak. That’s the only way I can describe Saturday. I was stood in the away end at Portman Road dumbfounded and unsurprised by our latest implosion, but I want to take the focus slightly away from Arbeloa for a moment.
The summer presented a period of transition that Fulham needed to get right. The squad had felt flat for a while with a lack of excitement from seeing the same faces week in, week out. Add to that the departing Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez, Fulham needed to restructure the squad to both replace those goals and bring back some thrills.
This piece isn’t about the recruitment we didn’t do (although some of that does come into this) and more on what we did do, particularly our shopping spree at Real Madrid.
Fulham signed three Madrid academy graduates and all with a varying mix of experience. But one thing was clear: we were recruiting young. It’s a bold strategy that at the moment I don’t think is paying off. The buck doesn’t entirely fall on our three Spanish musketeers, but it’s clear that it’s not working out for the trio at the moment. The question is why.
Gonzal-no?
Of the three that came in, Gonzalo Garcia was the biggest name with the most hype. A large chunk of money was spent on the youngster, and Matt Littlejohn summed it up perfectly in his article from earlier this week:
“Five games in, Gonzalo is top 10 in the league in taking shots - he’s taken 15. Unfortunately, he’s only scored one goal, which gives him a conversion rate of 6.67%. He’s last on Fulham’s squad in “goals vs. xG” with -1.34. Yet he keeps starting every game.”
Our number seven’s performance at Portman Road typified what isn’t working for him. The 22-year-old struggled to get into the game and was once again bullied by a Premier League backline. He often drifted wide, leading to loud grumbles from the away end. Fulham aren’t creating and on the off-chance we are, Garcia isn’t in the positions you want your striker to be in. When he is in those positions however, he simply isn’t delivering.
Does his age come into it? Is he still adapting to the league? Are we asking too much of him? These are all valid questions, but ultimately the board and Arbeloa decided that Garcia was going to be our big-money signing this summer and he simply has to be doing better. I kept thinking to myself on Saturday, if Rodrigo Muniz was putting in this performance he’d be getting hounded for it.
I still think that there’s a good player in there and I’ve seen some glimpses as to why we paid the big bucks. Ultimately though, we need more from Gonzalo and we need it quickly.
Man-uel off the pace
Terrible puns aside, I do feel a bit for Angel. I’m the same height as him (short I know!) but I’m not cosplaying as a Premier League midfielder. Angel ultimately can only do so much when asked to come on in that firefighter-type role at Portman Road when that’s clearly not his game. Add to that the fact Arbeloa loves to change shape more than a maths teacher teaching a bunch of four year-olds the difference between a triangle and a circle, he was always going to struggle.
Angel’s a project player who’s clearly not ready for the step up yet. It’s a signing that I think encapsulates my argument: probably the right player, but nowhere near the right time and as Dan Cooke said in the ratings piece: “It is not the fault of the Chihuahua if it is asked to be a Rottweiler”.
Not ready yet it’s clear to see(sar Palacios)
I really struggled with that headline if you couldn’t tell. Palacios, like Angel, summarises the flaws with the summer’s recruitment model. The 21-year-old showed promise during our final pre-season fixture against Stuttgart, but despite good performances in the Carabao Cup, we’re yet to see it from him in the league. Yes, he scored in the Crystal Palace game but I’m not having one goal pull the wool over my eyes.
The fact that he didn’t come on at Portman Road on Saturday while Kevin was shoehorned in at RM in a makeshift 4-4-2 (even writing that down angers me) shows just where is at the moment. Similar to the two above, I think there’s a player in there but it feels like we’re asking so much of these Spanish lads to come in and hit the ground running when for the most part, none of them have much experience outside of La Castilla.
A sad indictment
You play the cards you are dealt in football and ultimately the recruitment this summer has left these three in a real sink-or-swim situation, with them all struggling to stay afloat their early moments in English football.
This squad has quality but lacks spark, excitement and most importantly depth. Our wide options are now the divisive Alex Iwobi, Oscar Bobb, Kevin and Cesar Palacios and I don’t really have much confidence in any of them (particularly the last three).
We do have other options in midfield, but Manuel Angel feels like someone who shouldn’t be as heavily as involved in the first-team squad as he is currently. Hugo Larsson (who did come on to be fair) or Harrison Reed (not even in the squad) made much more sense compared to “Mami” in the context of the game last Saturday.
He’s not that type of player and the quicker Arbeloa realises that the better for both him and Fulham. I wonder if a re-emerging TC takes Angel’s place on the bench in weeks to come.
Gonzalo is the one I’m most confident on of the three, but even then I’ve struggled with parts of his game. The summer raid of Real Madrid felt like a massive risk both in terms of the managers and the players signed. At the moment, it’s just not working for anyone involved.
I’m following many of the contributions on Fulhamish, and agree with a lot of what’s being said. I’d like to add one thought: a big question is whether Arbeloa can LEARN, and learn quickly. One can accept mistakes, if the general trend is towards saying (to oneself) ok, that wasn’t right, I’ll do it differently now.
With AA I thought I saw evidence of that in the way the dreadful defensive chaos was addressed after two games. Defensively we improved. But in other ways, he doesn’t seem to be learning, particularly around game management and substitutions. This is CRUCIAL. Instead we get what looks like arrogance and rigidity. Taking Charles off regularly at key points is just idiotic, and seems to be a ‘statement’ substitution rather than a tactical one
So there is not much time left for him to show he can learn. We don’t know, but the signs are not good in my view.
In addition if we do sack AA we are still stuck with the Spanish trio so new manager will have to make do,I can't see us splashing out big money for a forward in January,Charles is a great signing along with our Austrian right back, performance at Liverpool was encouraging,as previous posters have said I would like to see Sess and Robinson working together,I suppose if we win the next 2 games pressure will be off,will try to be hopefully optimistic going to the Hull game fingers 🤞