Álvaro Arbeloa’s work permit may have taken forever and a day to come through, but finally he is in SW6.
On Tuesday he was taken for a tour of the new Riverside stand and then he did an interview with Fulham’s official channel in a setting that looked more akin to a beach club on the French Riviera than a football stand.
It’s an official interview in the first week of his new job, so we were hardly expecting bombshells, but there were some interesting nuggets from Arbeloa’s chat with Geoff Pruce, which we’ll break down now.
1. He’s here to build something
Arbeloa said all the hits here; great fans, historic club and stadium etc. What was most interesting though is how he talked about how he wants to ‘build’ something at Craven Cottage.
Obviously he was never going to say that his plan was to stay for one season and go to a bigger club, but you did get a genuine feeling that he feels that there’s a long-term project here. He spoke about the ambition of the owners and said that “the club has everything it needs to take the next step”. Quite exactly what Arbeloa thinks that “next step” is probably needs further scrutiny, but fans will hope that means either European football or reaching a cup final.
2. He wants signings through the door quickly
Possibly the most eyebrow raising moment was Arbeloa talking about the club’s potential moves in the transfer market. He spoke about how the club need to sign players who improve the squad while also acknowledging we have lost some good players this summer.
The key line however that will please fans more than any other was “the sooner they arrive the better”, citing that every day working together matters with six weeks until the first game. It will be interesting to see if Tony Khan and the rest of the recruitment team can actually deliver on that request. If they do, I imagine Marco Silva will be scratching his head wondering why they never did that for him.
3. Expect an attacking Fulham
As we suspected, Arbeloa confirmed that his style of play will be attack-minded. There were a few cliche lines in here about playing with “courage” and “personality”, but I was certainly happy to hear him confirm that he wants players to be brave with the ball and aggressive when out of possession.
I feel like Fulham fans have become accustomed to possession football and playing out from the back, so I am really glad we have chosen a head coach that will allow for some continuation on that front.
4. He’ll lean on mentality over experience – for now
If there’s one stick to beat Arbeloa with it’s his CV. Six months in charge of Real Madrid and then a lot of time with the youth set-up at Los Blancos before that. Not many managers or head coaches get a job in the Premier League with such little experience elsewhere.
When asked about that six months in charge of the first team at Real Madrid, he mostly just spoke about how “winning is the standard” and how having the “right mentality” is important. We didn’t really learn much here, but I guess this wasn’t the time to give a blow-by-blow account of Kylian Mbappe’s fight with the coaching staff.
In all honesty, how he plans to deal with his lack of flying hours in the technical area is what I’d like to hear a bit more of from Arbeloa. It’s one of those questions that will probably only happen if and when he speaks to the press. How will he cope when directly up against coaches like Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta in the heat of the battle? I’m sure he’s got an answer, but we didn’t really get one here.
5. His Spartan motto isn’t just for Instagram
If you’re not aware, Arbeloa has the phrase ‘No retreat. No surrender. That is Spartan law. 🛡’ as the bio on his Instagram.
Geoff asked Arbeloa for the reasoning behind having it as his Instagram bio and he answered that while he thinks results matter, he said that “attitude is the most important thing”. He wants his team to always keep fighting until the end in every game.
I must admit that I am still on the fence about whether Arbeloa is a good appointment or not. The honest truth is that none of us know how it’s actually going to go in a real-world situation.
However, I also will admit that he carries himself brilliantly and I think the Fulham players will respect him when they meet him today. Heaven knows we’ve taken a big gamble here, but I’m definitely warming to Àlvaro Arbeloa and it would be great to see him succeed here.
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