‘We need to create more… I think we can do better’ - Arbeloa gives view on ‘difficult night’

Alvaro Arbeloa has said that Fulham ‘need to create more’ on a ‘difficult night’ as the Cottagers were once again felled by Crystal Palace.

In a game which Fulham were expected to win and advance to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, they again succumbed to the same issues as they did in the Premier League clash between the two sides.

Plenty of possession, plenty of chances, but in the end, Palace were prolific with their one opportunity, and they advanced to the next round.

This felt like as good an opportunity as Fulham were going to get to ease into the quarter-finals, facing a Palace team who were leaking goals for fun in the Premier League and opted to rotate heavily with a huge match against Tottenham at the weekend.

Fulham fans were understandably very disappointed to come out on the wrong side of this one, not least with Palace now facing Sunderland in the last eight and there being a realistic shot at reaching the semi-finals.

Arbeloa himself was under no illusion as to what this game meant to a Fulham fanbase who are desperate to reach the business end of a cup competition.

"Difficult night for us because we wanted to be in the next round,” he said.

"It was a very important game for our supporters, for the club, in a London derby. 

“It is a team that beat us some weeks ago, and now they did it again by doing more or less the same, and that's waiting for our mistake.”

It was another hugely frustrating night for Fulham in front of goal, with 74% possession and 14 shots to Palace’s four.

That saw them rack up an incredible 2.19 xG to Palace’s 0.79.

Kenny Tete has to score with a header in the first half when unmarked, as does Antonee Robinson with his chance on the left-hand side.

Chances kept on coming, Joachim Andersen will wonder how he did not keep his header down.

By the time Palace had their one chance, which came from yet another high turnover, Fulham should have been 3-0 up.

Eddie Nketiah showed the Cottagers how to finish with an instinctive cushioned volley.

In the second half, it was more of the same from Fulham, with Alex Iwobi somehow not converting from a yard out and late on Gonzalo Garcia’s header hit straight at Dean Henderson.

So it is no wonder then that Arbeloa was frustrated that his side did not do enough to score.

"I think we need to learn and improve, and we have to do better,” Arbeloa said.

"It's almost impossible [to win] if you have three or four clear chances and you don't score.

"We know that in every match they will have chances; here it was just one, but they took it. They were waiting and defending really well.”

Fulham had a very similar performance against Hull in the Premier League to finally get off the ground; on that day, they were able to score but then not seal the deal.

On Wednesday, they failed to do either, and it is something that Arbeloa will need to work on in the coming weeks.

"I think we can do better. We have to move the ball quicker against a very low block,” he added.

"We need to create more chances in the wide areas. We need to understand how to attack a team like Crystal Palace.”