Cairney: Intense Fulham meeting sparked back-to-back wins
Fulham captain Tom Cairney says an intense meeting on the training ground helped the squad respond to their late defeat at Ipswich Town, with back-to-back Premier League victories providing a timely boost for head coach Alvaro Arbeloa.
The Cottagers followed last weekend's 1-0 win over Hull City with another 1-0 victory at Coventry on Saturday, with Oscar Bobb's superb 80th-minute strike securing three valuable points at the CBS Arena.
The results come after a difficult start to Arbeloa's tenure, with Fulham having been in the relegation zone and the Spaniard still waiting for his first league win following his appointment.
Cairney revealed the atmosphere at the training ground was tense after Fulham let a lead slip late on at Ipswich, but believes the players' response has demonstrated their character.
"The Ipswich defeat was huge. When you lose games like that after leading away from home, especially when you're in the relegation zone, the training ground was not a nice place," he told Sky Sports News.
"It was an intense meeting on the Monday. But sometimes when you clear the air and look at the positives, if you can, that's what we did.
"We took that into Hull and, to be honest, we battered Hull. It was 1-0, but we could have scored three or four.
"It was important that we backed it up today, so we've shown a bit of character. The manager has shown some character as well, so I'm buzzing for him."
Cairney also insisted the performances had offered encouragement before the results arrived, suggesting the squad retained belief in Arbeloa's approach despite the external pressure.
Coventry 0-1 Fulham: Oscar Bobb's moment of magic makes it back-to-back wins for Alvaro Arbeloa's side
Sky Sports
"When you're performing well, as professionals, regardless of the outside noise, you know how you feel on the pitch and whether you're dominating," he said.
"Inside our dressing room, we had that feeling. We just couldn't score or keep a clean sheet at the time.
"It's a long season, and there are a lot of new managers in this league. The table is still incredibly tight, so we've bounced back. It's a bit of 'bouncebackability', as Iain Dowie would say."
The Fulham captain also acknowledged the challenge facing Arbeloa as he attempts to establish his own identity at Craven Cottage following Marco Silva's departure.
Silva spent four years in charge of Fulham, guiding the club back into the Premier League and establishing them as a competitive top-flight side.
Cairney believes the transition has required adjustments from the players, with Arbeloa introducing tactical changes and working with a number of new arrivals.
"We were used to something for four or five years, and I think everyone knows the job Marco did here was exceptional. Following that is always difficult," he said.
"He's brought in a lot of new players, and it's a new way of playing. Sometimes it's a different build-up, with a three and a two, and two number 10s rather than a winger. We might push one full-back high while the other stays low.
"It's all those little tweaks which are difficult to get used to, but I think if you look at the performances in general, we've been good for 65 or 70 minutes and then let ourselves down.
"These wins have been coming, and we've got to stay on the training pitch and keep improving because we're playing some good stuff."
Nice, good words and good to hear Cairney and the boys behind him
Quote from: General on October 24, 2026, 10:09:03 PMCairney: Intense Fulham meeting sparked back-to-back wins
Fulham captain Tom Cairney says an intense meeting on the training ground helped the squad respond to their late defeat at Ipswich Town, with back-to-back Premier League victories providing a timely boost for head coach Alvaro Arbeloa.
The Cottagers followed last weekend's 1-0 win over Hull City with another 1-0 victory at Coventry on Saturday, with Oscar Bobb's superb 80th-minute strike securing three valuable points at the CBS Arena.
The results come after a difficult start to Arbeloa's tenure, with Fulham having been in the relegation zone and the Spaniard still waiting for his first league win following his appointment.
Cairney revealed the atmosphere at the training ground was tense after Fulham let a lead slip late on at Ipswich, but believes the players' response has demonstrated their character.
"The Ipswich defeat was huge. When you lose games like that after leading away from home, especially when you're in the relegation zone, the training ground was not a nice place," he told Sky Sports News.
"It was an intense meeting on the Monday. But sometimes when you clear the air and look at the positives, if you can, that's what we did.
"We took that into Hull and, to be honest, we battered Hull. It was 1-0, but we could have scored three or four.
"It was important that we backed it up today, so we've shown a bit of character. The manager has shown some character as well, so I'm buzzing for him."
Cairney also insisted the performances had offered encouragement before the results arrived, suggesting the squad retained belief in Arbeloa's approach despite the external pressure.
Coventry 0-1 Fulham: Oscar Bobb's moment of magic makes it back-to-back wins for Alvaro Arbeloa's side
Sky Sports
"When you're performing well, as professionals, regardless of the outside noise, you know how you feel on the pitch and whether you're dominating," he said.
"Inside our dressing room, we had that feeling. We just couldn't score or keep a clean sheet at the time.
"It's a long season, and there are a lot of new managers in this league. The table is still incredibly tight, so we've bounced back. It's a bit of 'bouncebackability', as Iain Dowie would say."
The Fulham captain also acknowledged the challenge facing Arbeloa as he attempts to establish his own identity at Craven Cottage following Marco Silva's departure.
Silva spent four years in charge of Fulham, guiding the club back into the Premier League and establishing them as a competitive top-flight side.
Cairney believes the transition has required adjustments from the players, with Arbeloa introducing tactical changes and working with a number of new arrivals.
"We were used to something for four or five years, and I think everyone knows the job Marco did here was exceptional. Following that is always difficult," he said.
"He's brought in a lot of new players, and it's a new way of playing. Sometimes it's a different build-up, with a three and a two, and two number 10s rather than a winger. We might push one full-back high while the other stays low.
"It's all those little tweaks which are difficult to get used to, but I think if you look at the performances in general, we've been good for 65 or 70 minutes and then let ourselves down.
"These wins have been coming, and we've got to stay on the training pitch and keep improving because we're playing some good stuff."
You can't help but admire Tom Cairney. What a servant to Fulham he has been.
Thought this was going to be about the Canadian P.M. ;-)
Quote from: cwindsor on October 25, 2026, 01:57:11 AMQuote from: General on October 24, 2026, 10:09:03 PMCairney: Intense Fulham meeting sparked back-to-back wins
Fulham captain Tom Cairney says an intense meeting on the training ground helped the squad respond to their late defeat at Ipswich Town, with back-to-back Premier League victories providing a timely boost for head coach Alvaro Arbeloa.
The Cottagers followed last weekend's 1-0 win over Hull City with another 1-0 victory at Coventry on Saturday, with Oscar Bobb's superb 80th-minute strike securing three valuable points at the CBS Arena.
The results come after a difficult start to Arbeloa's tenure, with Fulham having been in the relegation zone and the Spaniard still waiting for his first league win following his appointment.
Cairney revealed the atmosphere at the training ground was tense after Fulham let a lead slip late on at Ipswich, but believes the players' response has demonstrated their character.
"The Ipswich defeat was huge. When you lose games like that after leading away from home, especially when you're in the relegation zone, the training ground was not a nice place," he told Sky Sports News.
"It was an intense meeting on the Monday. But sometimes when you clear the air and look at the positives, if you can, that's what we did.
"We took that into Hull and, to be honest, we battered Hull. It was 1-0, but we could have scored three or four.
"It was important that we backed it up today, so we've shown a bit of character. The manager has shown some character as well, so I'm buzzing for him."
Cairney also insisted the performances had offered encouragement before the results arrived, suggesting the squad retained belief in Arbeloa's approach despite the external pressure.
Coventry 0-1 Fulham: Oscar Bobb's moment of magic makes it back-to-back wins for Alvaro Arbeloa's side
Sky Sports
"When you're performing well, as professionals, regardless of the outside noise, you know how you feel on the pitch and whether you're dominating," he said.
"Inside our dressing room, we had that feeling. We just couldn't score or keep a clean sheet at the time.
"It's a long season, and there are a lot of new managers in this league. The table is still incredibly tight, so we've bounced back. It's a bit of 'bouncebackability', as Iain Dowie would say."
The Fulham captain also acknowledged the challenge facing Arbeloa as he attempts to establish his own identity at Craven Cottage following Marco Silva's departure.
Silva spent four years in charge of Fulham, guiding the club back into the Premier League and establishing them as a competitive top-flight side.
Cairney believes the transition has required adjustments from the players, with Arbeloa introducing tactical changes and working with a number of new arrivals.
"We were used to something for four or five years, and I think everyone knows the job Marco did here was exceptional. Following that is always difficult," he said.
"He's brought in a lot of new players, and it's a new way of playing. Sometimes it's a different build-up, with a three and a two, and two number 10s rather than a winger. We might push one full-back high while the other stays low.
"It's all those little tweaks which are difficult to get used to, but I think if you look at the performances in general, we've been good for 65 or 70 minutes and then let ourselves down.
"These wins have been coming, and we've got to stay on the training pitch and keep improving because we're playing some good stuff."
You can't help but admire Tom Cairney. What a servant to Fulham he has been.
It's interesting, for me - having Cairney be at the club for the length of time he has been, through the ups and downs and the various changes of managers actually is perfect for the club and current situation. To contextualise everything when things get bad, like they seemingly did post Ipswich game with the intense meeting.
He, for instance, will have been in far worse dressing rooms, playing worse football and with perhaps more toxic managers. He'll know from those experiences and his clear commitment to Fulham as a club that what we're going through has those really positive elements, and I'd like to think his role within the club over those years will lend even more gravity to what he says when or if he does put his view to things.
It does seem that post the Ipswich game, where our game management lost us the game arguably, that the conversation needed to be had to kick players into gear and the players and management have all come together and seem to be pushing in the right direction. It's reassuring to me that Cairney, and it seems other senior pros in the dressing room that have come out like Iwobi, Bassey etc all seem to like Arbeloa and get what hes trying to do and are at least publicly putting on a united front, even if they're perhaps being challenged to grow and change/adapt as players. Think that's pivotal when a new manager comes in. And in fairness, with Arbeloas career as a player, and the fact that he has seemingly coached them to play a better and different style to Silva already is a testament to Arbeloas management and personality that, as they've said, gives gravity to him as a manager from a players perspective.
Yes we lost a lot of goals from last season, but our midfield and defence has got stronger and with a solid group of hard working and earnest pros, so the quality to stay up and do well is definitely there.
Things have been starting to click as proven by our 1 loss in 5 games, but we can't get carried away, our two draws were great and we arguably should've won against UTd and/or Liverpool, but our wins were against two newly promoted teams and we only just won 1-0 in both, even if the results should've been more conclusive. There are still gears we have to go through to really be at our best, but the good thing is, we know what they are and with a new manager, players and style, they should come with time.
C'mon Fulham!
Genuine club legend. But for injuries, perhaps largely caused by putting his body on the line with injections to get him through pivotal 2017/18 season as the para payments were about to run out, would have joined the 400 club (Barrett, Penn, Cohen) and may even have had a shot at 500 (Haynes, Lowe). Not to mention THAT goal. Deserves a statue.
Quote from: @jolslover on October 24, 2026, 10:13:31 PMNice, good words and good to hear Cairney and the boys behind him
Quote from: @jolslover on October 24, 2026, 10:13:31 PMNice, good words and good to hear Cairney and the boys behind him
Also said that he'd alked to Oscar Bobb about shooting more. Cairney said you could do things on the training ground that others simply cannot. So he talked to him about the need to bring that into matches.
Now could TC do the same for Kevin who he described as 'the son of Pele' when he first arrived.
There is a player there