Arbeloa's Press Conference Pre Crystal Palace

[Jim©]

https://x.com/jackellyffc

Worth a read on a few points:
1) Interesting to see that he puts his not clapping fans after some games down to the fact that he didnt feel like he deserved it. "I thought that I needed to earn that moment and for some times, I felt that I was not doing good enough to be there." Seems way more humble than many people were making out.

2) He seems to like TC a lot! ""When you have a player like Tom, I don't need to coach him because he knows what he has to do in every moment of the game, in every training session. He is an example... He has the quality, he has the experience. He has a desire, he's 35 years old, he still wants to play, he wants to win games...He's the perfect captain and for me I'm really lucky to have a player like Tom. And I think he's been so important in two games, playing 15, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, we will see if he can continue playing more and more minutes."

3) He's kind of saying that he made loads of changes in the games v W Ham and Wimbledon as it was just after weekend games. Perhaps we'll see a slightly stronger team this time around? "And this is not about giving opportunities. It's about to win the match. When we played against West Ham and Wimbledon, I made a lot of changes, but because I felt that we needed it. We played on Tuesday against West Ham, so it was difficult to put so many players that played on Saturday and then they had to play on Tuesday. Maybe it was a little bit difficult, but tomorrow you will see, you will see the 11 starters but I'm thinking about to play with a strong XI."

I've been the keep AA camp from the start, but he's definitely beginning to grow on me!

[demeant0r]

He sounds like he's a lot more humble than his remarks he made a while ago about being a RM player and manager. I'm going to put that down to English not being his native tongue.

While I think the LC is important, I feel like trying to beat or at least get a point vs Villa is more important at this stage. We've only just got out of the relegation zone so I'm hoping he plays most of the second string tomorrow and rest the first XI for Villa. We need to build on the last two games otherwise it'll just feel like we've made two steps forward and one step back.

[General]

As he said - it's three games to win a trophy now,..why not - as always - go for it!

Sad to see his remarks about Kevin and ESR, last year Kevin in particular was showing real promise under Marco and scored that great goal vs Utd before getting injured. ESR I still have a lot of faith in too. He just doesn't seem to be too enamoured by them, perhaps he wants them to evolve their mentality, which is why he's challenging them to earn their spot.

Will be interesting to see how we do vs Palace and how it compares vs when we lost to them in the league. I think we're much more robust defensively now, which could bode well, but our attack is still a problem. Will be curious to know what lessons we've learnt and if they're the right ones. Palace aren't doing well atm and haven't done well since they beat us, whereas we've slightly changed our fortunes and need to now build momentum.

Great comments re TC, his experience over the years is really coming in handy it seems.

[I Ronic]

He sounds like he's a lot more humble than his remarks he made a while ago about being a RM player and manager. I'm going to put that down to English not being his native tongue.

While I think the LC is important, I feel like trying to beat or at least get a point vs Villa is more important at this stage. We've only just got out of the relegation zone so I'm hoping he plays most of the second string tomorrow and rest the first XI for Villa. We need to build on the last two games otherwise it'll just feel like we've made two steps forward and one step back.

I understand your reasoning. However I feel the opposite. To build on the last two games we have to find goals. A two or three goal win against Palace, with goals coming from our current starters would be far more beneficial, I believe. Than a rest, sitting on the bench watching the game.

[fulhamfan]

Muniz hat-trick please

[hovewhite]

Not to many changes,keep the spine of the squad settled and strong and winning the game.COYW

[cwindsor]

I think for any Fulham supporter, it hurts like hell that we've never won anything, ever.
Yes, it's important that we do well in the Premier League. That goes without saying. But this is as good an opportunity that we've ever had to win some silverware.
Let's go for it!