It wasn’t just the draw that Álvaro Arbeloa was pleased with at Anfield, it was the attitude of his side, too.
Fulham got off the mark in the Premier League with a goalless draw against Liverpool on Saturday, but it was far from a backs to the wall performance, with the boys having more shots on target than our opponents.
“It's not just the point, it's the way that we play here in this stadium against this team,” Arbeloa reflected.
“It's not easy to play here like we did, because I saw the game against Atletico Madrid, against Nottingham Forest, against other teams, and they didn't play like we did today.
“So, I think we need to continue improving, keeping that mentality, that character, and winning games.
“I think we did pretty well, against a massive team in a difficult stadium. We play with the character that we want to play, with the ambition, with the personality.
“We were more balanced than all the games that we played so well against Chelsea, against Palace. But I think after the game against Palace, we realised how important it is to control the transition, to be more balanced when you are attacking, and we fixed this today.
“It's something that we were working on from the first day because I know how I want to play, and I know where can be our problems.
“And obviously, when you want to attack, when you want to create chances, you are very open, you [can] lose the ball, and I think my players realise how important it is to be really balanced.
“It's to be ready when you lose the ball. It's not just about what we want to do with the ball, it's about what we are going to do when we lose it. And I think we did really well.
“We worked so hard this week, and I'm so happy, just not for the point, [but] for how my players played here.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is how many points you have.
It's not about how good you play, how nice you play, how many chances you have, if you deserve more.
It's about how many points you have, and we know that.
“And I think this one is going to be important for us to believe in our idea. And of course, we need to keep improving.”
When it was put to him by the press that it looked like Fulham were refusing to settle for a point by introducing the likes of Rodrigo Muniz, Emile Smith Rowe and Kevin, Arbeloa replied: “Yes, I think we needed some energy and some players that can threaten Liverpool.
“It's not just, ‘okay, I'm going to defend.’ I want to win the game, and all the players that came into the game from the bench, they did really, really well, and we had some chances there that maybe we could score some goals.
“But it was a draw, and maybe I think that’s fair for both teams.”