Alvaro Arbeloa described Fulham’s Carabao Cup defeat against Crystal Palace as a “frustrating night for everyone”.
Eddie Nketiah’s first-half goal was enough to secure Palace’s place in the quarter-final.
It was a night when Fulham had a large percentage of possession, but were thwarted by an impressive Dean Henderson in goal.
“They take their chance and I think we can do better even if we have the possession,” said Whites boss Arbeloa.
“We have to move the ball quicker against a very low block team, and we need to make more runs and do it better in the last pass.
“I think we need to create more chances in the wide areas. We need to be more patient.
“You need to be clever, to be patient and to understand that you have to do very well with the ball and you need to be aware of the transition. Because at the end I think we won the last two games because we didn’t concede chances, we didn’t concede goals.
“For me, this is what we have to do. It’s a really frustrating night for everyone; for me as a manager, because I know how important this game is for the club, for the supporters.
“The most important thing for tonight is that we need to learn as quickly as we can.”
Emile Smith Rowe was missing from the squad for the third game in a row. Arbeloa says the former Arsenal man needs to continue to work hard.
The Spaniard said: “He had some issues two weeks ago. And since then it’s not easy for anyone to be in the squad because every week five players are out of the squad.
“So he needs to continue working as he’s doing and fight for a position on a matchday. That’s the problem when you have a really big squad like I have.”
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