Ruben Amorim admitted that keeping a clean sheet was important for Manchester United’s confidence, as the Reds ground out a third Premier League away win of the season.
The arduous 1-0 win at Craven Cottage was the first time since 1 December that United had managed to shut out the opposition entirely, a run that spanned 13 matches in all competitions.
And while defender Lisandro Martinez played his part in that statistic, as well as scoring the decisive 78th-minute strike at the other end of the pitch, it was young midfielder Toby Collyer who produced the biggest intervention to prevent Fulham from scoring.
After coming on as a substitute just before Martinez’s goal and contributing to the build-up for that, Collyer came to the rescue with a brilliant, headed clearance off the line when Joachim Anderson’s header looked destined to level the score.
You can watch Amorim’s post-match interview with MUTV in the video below or scroll further down to read what he said to TNT Sports…
IMPORTANCE OF THE RESULT
“Really important. To have this feeling away from home and great support from our away fans as always. Not a great game, you can feel it, there were no great chances in the end with the long balls. We tried to control the game, tried to play our game, but we need to improve a lot and you can feel it. This time we hold the result and in one goal we closed the game. It’s really important to win now.”
CLEAN SHEET WAS SIGNIFICANT
“It’s really important because clearly you are closer to winning games and it gives you confidence. We didn’t suffer too much today and that is a good sign, not just the clean sheet but it’s the way we were different. Like I said, we need to improve a lot with the ball. Without the ball we were okay, we controlled the game and we scored. Now we move on to the next game.”
SCORING GOALS STILL DIFFICULT
“I think so. Even when we, in the second half, wanted to change some things, we lacked some pace and some power in front. It is what it is and we need to have more ball, create more chances and we need to take the ball to the last third. We struggle a lot in these details but we need help a lot to improve.”
POSITIVES TO TAKE INTO NEXT GAME
“The result, the feeling, the way we gave time to our team to have that bit of luck to win some games. Then let’s take the feeling and work really hard tomorrow, we need to win the next one.”
CAUTIOUS APPROACH TO TRANSFERS
“Yeah, we have to be cautious. You know that we have to follow the rules. I think we’ve [made] mistakes in the past, we cannot do it now so we are focused on improving the team. Let’s see, let’s focus on the players that we have and focus on the next game.”
CREDIT TO THE FANS
“They deserve it [the win]. I think it [the support] is amazing. Congratulations to our fans. It’s a big privilege to work in this club and to give them wins. We want to give them wins and today we did it, but like I said we need to improve a lot. We are going to do that.”
