Alvaro Arbeloa talks a good game but time is running out for Spaniard at Fulham

It almost feels like a bizarre sense of déjà vu at Fulham Football Club.

We spent days, weeks, arguably even months discussing, analysing and giving opinions on Marco Silva’s position at Craven Cottage.

It rather took over from discussing other important matters, such as Fulham’s inability to score or create or seemingly to appear competent on the road.

Now we are in the same position again, just three months later, as Spaniard Alvaro Arbeloa is on the brink of dismissal from Fulham.

There are opinions, discussions, analysis and more on Arbeloa and his in-game decisions.

But what has not been discussed as much as it should have been are the failures of Fulham’s new signings to ignite the Cottagers, as well as the naive decision to part ways with so much experience to replace it with youth.

It was always going to be a struggle going from the stability of Silva to anyone new, but Arbeloa was the chosen man and I can’t say there were heaps of Fulham fans rejoicing at his appointment.

Now, after only six Premier League games, Fulham find themselves at a crossroads once more.

Stick or twist?

And most managers would probably accept that two points from six matches is not good enough.

Neither is the fact that Fulham have conceded goals in the last 15 minutes in four of their six Premier League matches and thrown away winning positions in three.

But Arbeloa, possibly to his credit, possibly in the league of delusion of Russell Martin, has stood firm.

He is insistent that he is and can be the man to turn things around at Fulham.

"Maybe you don't know me, but I played for the best team in the world. I have coached the best team in the world," he said.

"Maybe you don't know, but just to let you know, that pressure is part of my life since I was a kid.

"So, it is normal in football. It is normal for players; it is normal for coaches and everybody who is around a team.

"I think pressure is something that is important for me, and I like it.”

The ‘best team in the world’ he is referring to is of course, Real Madrid and in fairness to Arbeloa, he did win it all there as a player and then took on the mantle of manager.

But managing Fulham in the coalfaces of a relegation battle is rather different from Kylian Mbappe deciding he doesn’t like you.

That is perhaps something that neither Arbeloa nor Fulham themselves realised upon his appointment, and it is even clearer now with the Cottagers’ extremely young squad.

Arbeloa remains confident, and perhaps he has been a tad unlucky in certain areas - he certainly was against Manchester United.

But they say you make your own luck, and the decisions made against Ipswich were baffling.

If Arbeloa really does like pressure, then the next two weeks should be like bread and butter for him, but if, as I suspect, he is merely talking a good game, time is running out for the 43-year-old in West London.