Alvaro Arbeloa admitted he was "a bit upset" at half-time of Fulham's 3-2 win over West Ham due to the nature of how the side conceded their goals.
Alvaro Arbeloa admitted he was “a bit upset” at half-time of Fulham’s 3-2 win over West Ham due to the nature of how Fulham conceded their goals.
Oscar Bobb scored the winner for the Cottagers after 78 minutes in a Carabao Cup clash that did not disappoint.
Only three places were separating the two sides in the English football pyramid before this match, which showed the level of the challenge that Fulham faced.
Nevertheless, it was the Cottagers who took the lead through Rodrigo Muniz’s header, but after Morato cancelled that out, Cesar Palacios’ goal was then also cancelled out by Pablo Felipe’s effort.
Fulham kept their first Premier League clean sheet of the season against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday but, defensively at least, there was to be no repeat of their defensive resoluteness this time around.
That is something that frustrated Arbeloa, who made it clear he was not happy with the way his side twice sacrificed their lead.
“We could have scored more goals,” Arbeloa said.
“I was a little bit upset at half-time because we conceded two goals.
“In the second half we did much better. We scored one goal, and we could have scored some more.
“At the end, they had a very good chance, but I think we were a better team, and we deserve to be in the next round.
“I said in the press conference yesterday that for us it is an important competition.
“I think we performed very well and we are in the next round and I am happy.”
Fulham’s start to the season could hardly have been any worse.
Three straight defeats in the Premier League put Arbeloa and Fulham under serious pressure.
The goalless draw at Anfield was a massive result for both the Spaniard and Fulham fans, but it still continued a trend that was a significant contributing factor to the West London side failing to qualify for European football.
That was, of course, the fact that Fulham simply cannot score goals in away matches.
But today at the London Stadium, they were perfectly competent in front of goal and that will have given the squad a whole lot of confidence in their final away match heading into the international break.
Arbeloa was again pleased to have scored the goals but unhappy with how his side failed to make the dominance on the pitch show on the scoreboard.
“Before the match, there were so many questions about how we didn’t score in away games,” he added.
“We scored three, but obviously we conceded two goals in situations where we shouldn’t concede.
“But we did a very good job defensively. We have players with a lot of talent, and we create so many chances.”
Arbeloa’s arrival at Fulham shifted a big trend in the squad.
Out with the old and in with the new.
Harry Wilson, Raul Jimenez, Issa Diop and Sasa Lukic all left the club and in came Gonzalo Garcia, Palacios, Manuel Angel, Hugo Larsson, Shea Charles and Jonah Kusi-Asare.
That is a lot of change, and so it is perhaps no surprise that Fulham have been a little bit slow to get out of the starting blocks this season, not least with a new manager at the helm.
Well, at the London Stadium, all three of the goalscorers were below the age of 25 and that is something that will have also pleased Arbeloa, who insists that the club need to be patient with their young stars.
“I think we have to be patient with the young players,” he said. “We have to develop them and help them to reach their level. We have many, many young players.
“They are under 22 years old, so I think we will have to be patient.
“You can see the quality and talent that they have.”
