Former Liverpool and Fulham star John Arne Riise was surprised to see former Real Madrid head coach Alvaro Arbeloa rock up to Craven Cottage and replace Marco Sila.
The Norwegian also warned that bringing a host of starlets from Madrid along with Arbeloa could be a huge error.
Despite that, Riise acknowledged that Fulham had to try a new approach to shake the club out of its funk, and break their pattern of inconsistency.
He concluded by tipping his Norwegian compatriot Oscar Bobb to have a breakout season.
Surprised by appointment
Riise had an exclusive chat with BestBettingSites, saying of Arbeloa’s appointment at Fulham: “It came as a shock. I hadn’t even read about it, and then suddenly – bam – he was the manager.
“I was a little bit surprised, to be honest.
“If they are planning to bring youngsters from the Madrid academy, it’s going to be hard for them to cope with the physical demands of the Premier League.
“At the same time, Arbeloa was at Madrid for a long time and knows how to handle big profiles.
“But this is different because now he needs to take over a team that needs to fight for every single game to try and improve.
Interesting season
Riise is hoping Oscar Bobb can use his move to Fulham as a chance to showcase his talent on the top-flight stage, having stated: “That’s sometimes the problem with Fulham – they never seem to change their trajectory and always end up in the exact same spot in the table.
“Hopefully, he can improve things, but it’s going to be an interesting season to see if Arbeloa can help them climb the table and change the dynamics they’ve had for a few seasons now.”
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Confidence from World Cup
He added to the conversation, and mentioned: “I think Bobb can show everyone just how special he is this season.
“I think he’s got confidence from the World Cup and everything going on with the national team.
“He’s a great player, but he really needs confidence from his manager to play his natural game.
“For Norway, Ståle Solbakken wants him to take players on and just have a go, even if he loses it.
“Playing for a club like Fulham, it’s not always that easy to keep doing that because when you lose the ball, you’re going to get counter-attacked and you could concede goals.
“He just needs to have belief in his own ability.
“Hopefully, he can push on, because I don’t think he played particularly well toward the end of the season for Fulham.”
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