Despite a losing result at Manchester United on Monday night, Fulham defender John Arne Riise believes the performance has the team heading in the right direction.
The Cottagers dropped their third match in a row when they were beaten 1-0 by the league leaders at Old Trafford but the Norwegian left-back suggests it was a much-improved showing which has the West Londoners confident ahead of the visit of Norwich City on Saturday.
"We played compact when we needed to against Manchester United but also had some good play and really showed some character, as we always try to do, in fighting until the end so it was a good team performance.
"It's always disappointing to lose but at the end of the day not many people actually expected us to get something from the game.
"But we gave United a scare, we had a few chances, we played quite good football, especially in the first half, and we had a few chances in the second half so we left there with the feeling that we played some good stuff but still gutted that we lost the game because we don't like to lose.
"It was vital we put in a strong performance against United because, as I said, the last game we played badly at home against Swansea so we really wanted to play a good game on Monday, especially ahead of the game against Norwich.""I think after the last two games, Aston Villa where we lost in the last minute and Swansea where we didn't play anywhere near our top level, it was a step forward," he told the club's official website.
