Oh dear.
A fourth defeat in six games. 10 goals conceded. Bottom of the league. This is bad.
I don’t have much more to say, so I’m just going to go straight into the ratings this week.
Bernd Leno
Made a good reaction save from a deflected shot at 1-0, but otherwise had a fairly quiet afternoon. Nothing he can do about either of the goals. 6/10
Kenny Tete
Nice to see him back in the team. A steady performance in which he handled Jaden Philogene-Bidace well. Did think he looked a bit rusty, particularly in possession. 6/10
David Affengruber
Once again, he looked very composed at the back, strong in duels but also quick in a foot race. However, Ipswich crowding the midfield areas meant he wasn’t able to make those line-breaking passes as regularly, which stifled us a bit.
Where he let himself down was in the closing stages. It was a needless foul to give away and he’s then the wrong side of O’Shea when the ball comes in. A lot of good work undone right at the last. 5/10
Calvin Bassey
It was quite enjoyable watching his battle with Emersonn. However, as the game went on, the Ipswich striker started to get the better of our skipper and Calvin was very lucky he hit the post after losing track of the Brazilian.
Probably the weakest his captaincy has been this season. I’ve heaped a lot of praise on his leadership, but today we looked rudderless, both in the dugout and on the pitch, in those closing stages. 5.5/10
Ryan Sessegnon
Seeing Sess score will always make me happy, happier than any other player. It means more to me and it means more to him.
While he’s not a prolific scorer of long-range bangers, the finish had his trademark, clinical precision; laser missiled into the bottom corner.
Thought he struggled first half, largely due to Maeda’s relentless running, but he grew into the game.
I was stood about 10 metres away from Ryan at the final whistle and he looked devastated; he cares just as much as us. 7/10
Sander Berge
A really good performance from the Norwegian. Ran an entire kilometre further (!) than any other player, more adventurous in possession, and made some crucial defensive interventions. It was a really well rounded display.
However, let’s maybe take him off free kicks. 7.5/10 - man of the match
Shea Charles
Trying to get into Arbeloa’s mind after 70 minutes - “This guy’s playing really well, the combination of him and Berge is helping us control the midfield and see this game out. I should probably sub him off”.
He’s a very good footballer and he’s only going to get better. Forming a really nice pairing with Sander. His highlight of the match was a bullish, yet graceful marauding run, in which he was fouled about three times and still didn’t get a free kick.
Everything stopped working the minute he was subbed off. 7/10
Oscar Bobb
His miss looked quite bad in the ground, it was only when I saw the clip afterwards I realised just how bad it was. He didn’t even need to leather it, he could’ve just rolled it into the corner.
I feel I say it every week, but he’s clearly a very good footballer, who once again showed exciting flashes. However, he needs to start making match defining impacts, rather than just looking tidy.
I was impressed by his defensive work, regularly getting back to support Tete. 6/10
Josh King
His least impactful performance of the season. Similar to Affengruber, he struggled with the way that Ipswich congested central areas.
He rarely got on the ball, let alone on the half turn in those dangerous pockets of space. When he did get it he was forced out wide, unable to cause issues.
That being said, he still showed his class to fashion a golden chance for Garcia at 0-0. 5/10
Alex Iwobi
Another Iwobi performance that has polarised opinions. Seen some criticism, but the numbers don’t lie.
He created more chances than anyone else, more line breaking passes, and our second most defensive contributions.
We are so reliant on Alex, that even when he’s not playing brilliantly, he’s still the player who makes things happen. 6.5/10
Gonzalo Garcia
A quite infuriating watch actually. Once again he got bullied by far stronger centre backs, which meant we had no outlet when we wanted to go long; he won one of his eight duels.
It was a bit of the age old story of: is this Fulham striker contributing nothing, or are we providing nothing for him. That was until, we created two brilliant chances for him and he spurned them both.
When you combine both his lack of contribution to our overall play, with an inability to finish his dinner, we’ve got problems.
He was on the pitch for at least 25 minutes too long. 4/10
Subs and manager
Manuel Angel
It is not the fault of the Chihuahua if it is asked to be a Rottweiler. 5/10
Kevin
It appears we are going to persist with playing him out of position. Can’t help feeling we’re wasting a mercurial talent, especially when the team lacks fizz. Arguably should’ve scored to rescue a point. 5/10
Rodrigo Muniz
Won three times as many duels as Garcia in his brief cameo. Imagine he’s starting to feel incredibly disillusioned. Needs more game time based on his fellow striker’s performances. 5.5/10
Emile Smith Rowe and Hugo Larsen came on too late to be fairly judged. However, ESR’s half-hearted attempt to close Outtara down, when we’re scrapping for our lives provoked a real primal anger in me. Stupid substitution.
Alvaro Arbeloa
Right, I imagine this is what you were waiting for.
I feel incredibly unconflicted: he’s got to go. We’ve screwed up, big time, we need to fix it before it becomes irreparable.
At 1-0 up, I thought we’d bumbled our way through the game, without a clear game-plan, but you take it. The substitutions that followed were all the proof I need to know that this guy is not cut out for this job right now.
Firstly taking off Shea Charles and replacing him with a player with eight senior appearances, who also happens to be absolutely tiny, is obviously mental. I imagine the reasoning was that Mami is very good at retaining possession, and we wanted to calm things down, but that was never going to work given the context.
For me the far more baffling decision was to then throw Rodrigo Muniz on and play with two strikers. We were playing 4-4-2, while 1-0 up, with 15 minutes to play. We were playing with a midfield two of Berge and Mami. I’ve tried so hard to understand it, but I just don’t get it.
That’s why I’d sack him. Not for that specific substitution, but because he consistently makes tactical changes that make us worse, that hinder the team, and it’s cost us multiple points after just six games. He’s showing a fundamental lack of understanding of how to manage a football team.
The even bigger problem is his total disdain for the fans, once again walking straight down the tunnel, and the arrogance he displayed in his post-match interview, after losing 2-1 to Ipswich. We’ve got the wrong guy.
I don’t know if Alvaro Arbeloa isn’t a top-level manager, or just isn’t one yet. But it doesn’t matter, because we don’t have the time to wait and see. 2/10
I wasn’t at the game but watching highlights and reading post match comments it is abundantly clear Arbeloa must go . What is it with managers making substitutions when you are not losing , can premier league footballers not play for 90 minutes !!!