Alvaro Arbeloa has been slapped with a significant fine after his post-match comments following a frustrating draw with Manchester United
Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa has been fined £25,000 following his Manchester United comments. The Cottagers boss took aim at the officials during last month’s draw as Matheus Cunha levelled late on.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid defender took aim at Peter Bankes, suggesting the official was biased towards Michael Carrick’s side. Arbeloa’s angry comments came in the wake of controversy surrounding Manchester City’s win over United when Erling Haaland’s goal was controversially allowed to stand.
Arbeloa was charged with misconduct by the Football Association and the under-fire boss has been slapped with a fine.
Following the 1-1 draw last month, he said: “All fouls for them. You can see before they scored, the foul against [Harry] Maguire, he’s a guy who is 100 kilos. Every decision was for them.
“And I knew. I knew after the game against Man City that they [would not] let Manchester United lose here. We deserved a little bit more.
“We were so close. So, so close. We were a little bit unlucky again. We knew it would be difficult against this big team. Also we knew what happened last week. We have seen what the referees have been doing all the match so it was a difficult game. And we were unlucky.”
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Reports suggest that Arbeloa could be on borrowed time, just weeks after his comments. Fulham are rooted to the foot of the Premier League table with just two points from their opening six games.
Ipswich Town staged a dramatic comeback at Portman Road last week as they scored twice late on to complete an unlikely turnaround to heap pressure on Arbeloa.
In a statement last month, the FA charged the 43-year-old with ‘implying bias and/or questioning the integrity of a match official’.
They said: “It was alleged that the Fulham head coach acted in an improper manner by making comments in a post-match interview that imply bias and/or question the integrity of a match official. Alvaro Arbeloa subsequently admitted the charge.”
“Alvaro Arbeloa has been charged with misconduct for comments made after the Premier League fixture between Fulham and Manchester United on Sunday 20 September.
“It is alleged that the Fulham manager acted in an improper manner by making comments in a post-match interview that imply bias and/or question the integrity of a match official. Alvaro Arbeloa has until Thursday 1 October to provide a response.”
Arbeloa did move to limit the damage in his press conference, which the governing body have subsequently taken a dim view of.
“My English is not so good,” he said.
“Maybe I explain myself so bad and I prefer not to say anything about the referees because you never know.
“When you say something that you don’t have to say, it’s better to stay calm, focus on the performance of my team and focus on the next game.
“I’m not really happy. Like I said, I need to be focused and put my energy in all the things that I have to improve.
“[Maguire] is a very big guy and maybe it wasn’t a foul. But it’s ok. Like I said, I prefer to analyse the game – players, systems and it’s the best for win.”
