Fulham boss Álvaro Arbeloa acknowledged that there were plenty of areas where Fulham needed to be better in our Carabao Cup defeat by Crystal Palace.
The Whites were by far the better team but lacked a cutting edge, and so found ourselves sucker-punched by our South-East London counterparts for the second time this season.
Arbeloa – who began his press conference by expressing his condolences to those affected by the train crash in his native Spain earlier in the day – said: “Same history, another day.
“I think they were waiting for a mistake. They took their chance, and I think we can do better. Even when we have the possession, we have to move the ball quicker against a very low-block team, and we need to make more runs, and do it better in the last pass.
“I think we need to create more chances in the wide areas. We need to be more patient, and we need to understand how you have to attack a team like Crystal Palace.
“They were defending well and defending their space but, similar to other games, I think we need to learn that we will face many teams in this league that are waiting for your mistake, and you need to be clever and to be patient and to understand that you have to do very well with the ball, and you need to be aware of the transition.
“We won the last two games because we didn't concede chances, we didn't concede goals, and the other day [against Coventry] we were waiting 80 minutes until we had our chance, and for me this is what we have to do.
“And it's a really frustrating night for everyone, for me as a manager, because I know how important this game is for the Club, for the supporters, and the most important thing for tonight is that we need to learn as quick as we can.”