Javier Pereira believes Fulham won’t part ways with Álvaro Arbeloa soon despite their poor start to the season.
In June, Marco Silva ended his five-year spell at the London club to join Benfica. The Portuguese manager’s exit saw Fulham appoint the 43-year-old as his successor.
Prior to joining the English club, he spent his coaching career at Real Madrid. The majority of that was with their youth system and he had six months earlier this year with the first team.
Arbeloa managed 28 matches for Los Blancos, winning 18 and losing eight, and left them at the end of last season.
Fulham bet on him and offered a contract until 2029. In the summer window, they spent over €100m on seven players and three of them arrived from Real Madrid.
Silva’s impact on Fulham
The Premier League side are yet to register a league win and are bottom of the table with two points from six matches.
Speaking to Sport Witness in September, René Meulensteen urged the Spaniard to be clear in his communication with the players.
Another former Fulham coach, Javier Pereira, has been speaking to Marca about his time in England and their poor start this season. He had two spells, first as Slavisa Jokanovic’s assistant between 2015 and 2018. The second was as a sports coordinator in 2020.
On his time at Fulham, he said: “It’s the best club I’ve ever worked at. A classy, family-oriented club, and at the same time, very professional. They take care of every detail and make your life easier so you can focus solely on football. It’s also a highly respected institution, as it’s the oldest professional club in London.”
Marco Silva helped Fulham return to the Premier League in 2021, and they have been in the top flight since then. The Spaniard explained how Silva transformed the club.
“Until recently, right up until the arrival of Marco Silva, they had been a yo-yo team. Now, however, they have established themselves both in terms of results and players,” Pereira explained.
“They’ve strung together five consecutive seasons in the Premier League, avoiding relegation with relative ease. They’ve gone from being a respected organisation to also being a respected team among the elite.”
Publicly supports Fulham manager
Javier Pereira believes the club’s top bosses have faith in Álvaro Arbeloa and his project. He doesn’t expect Fulham to show his compatriot the exit door despite the poor start.
“The start hasn’t been good. They’re bottom of the table, and doubts are starting to surface,” he added.
“The manager’s responsibility is there, but I don’t think Fulham only signed Arbeloa for six or seven games. They’ve built a project around the manager, also signing three players Álvaro knew from Real Madrid: Gonzalo, Palacios, and Manuel Ángel.”
“The team didn’t start well. Arbeloa began playing very wide, as if he were at Real Madrid, and conceded three goals at home in the first two derbies against Chelsea (2-3) and Crystal Palace (2-3). Shortly after, they began to find their footing and before the break drew with Liverpool (0-0) and Manchester United (1-1). The feeling wasn’t bad. On the contrary, they were closer to winning than drawing.”
“Fulham were better for 60 minutes [against Ipswich Town]. The criticism came from the way they managed the game to preserve the result. They took off Charles to bring on Manuel Ángel, who is more creative, and the Premier League doesn’t forgive mistakes. It’s very difficult to get points, and these kinds of defeats against direct rivals penalise you: they are ‘six-point’ games.”
Álvaro Arbeloa
Managerial record — youth, reserve and first teams
|||||||
Team / season Games W D L Win %
Real Madrid Under-192022/23 47 41 5 1 87.2%
Real Madrid Under-192023/24 40 29 5 6 72.5%
Real Madrid Under-192024/25 43 31 4 8 72.1%
Real Madrid Castilla2025/26 — until January 2026 19 10 1 8 52.6%
Real Madrid2025/26 — January to May 2026 28 18 2 8 64.3%
Fulham2026/27 — ongoing 8 2 2 4 25.0%
Total — teams listed 185 131 19 35 70.8%
Competitive matches from Under-19 level onwards. Excludes friendlies. Arbeloa previously coached Real Madrid’s Under-14s in 2020/21 and Under-16s in 2021/22; those roles are excluded from the numerical totals.
Under-19 figures include domestic youth competitions and the UEFA Youth League. Win percentages are rounded to one decimal place.
Sources: BeSoccer, managerial career records and Fulham FC. Updated: 15 October 2026.
Arbeloa urged to make changes
Fulham take on newly promoted sides Hull City and Coventry City in their next two league matches. Javier Pereira urges Álvaro Arbeloa to make changes for these two key fixtures.
“I wouldn’t think about Coventry; I’d approach the match against Hull like a final… and I think something has to change,” Pereira concluded.
“They’re in a difficult situation, and perhaps it would help to bring in players who know the Premier League better and are more identified with the group: in addition to Iwobi and Bassey, I’d add Andersen, Rodrigo Muniz, Sander Berge…”
“Gonzalo is more established, but Palacios and Manuel Ángel had hardly any experience in La Liga. However, all three have Real Madrid pedigree, and that means expectations are very high. They’re good players, but they lack experience. Adapting to the high pace of the Premier League is already difficult for any elite player. I think all three are more of a medium to long-term signing.”
Sport Witness