Fulham manager Álvaro Arbeloa praised the second half response of his team in Saturday night’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa.
The home side had edged in front by half-time courtesy of Nicolas Jackson’s strike, but Fulham were dominant after the break and duly forced a deserved equaliser courtesy of Zion Suzuki’s own goal.
Asked what was said at the midway point, Arbeloa replied: “We have to be more aggressive. That's the Premier League.
“Of course, we are a team that wants to control the game with the ball, but in the Premier League you need to fight, you need to be aggressive, especially when you go man to man.
“We needed to fight more than we did in the first half, and we needed to play with character and with ambition. And I think that's what we did in the second half since the first minute, and we did really well.
“Maybe we deserved a little bit more, because we have many, many chances to score some more goals, but at the end it’s one point in a difficult stadium, so I am happy because of the performance of my players.
“I think we did really well, against a Champions League team with a fantastic coach, and they beat Manchester City a week ago. They were in a good run, so I think we did really well today.”
It looked as though a lack of cutting edge may cost Fulham again until Suzuki’s helping hand, but Arbeloa believes there would be a greater cause for concern if we weren’t getting in the right areas, which we certainly have been.
“I think I would be more worried if we don't create chances, but we are creating chances, so we need to keep believing in the way that we are playing.
We need to keep working on our finishing.
“Maybe sometimes we need to be a little bit lucky – we were today with the goal, but we missed our clear chances.
It’s about creating chances, don't concede chances, and playing in the way that we believe, and I think we did really well.
“We have a very difficult match [against Newcastle United] next Saturday at home, and yes, we need to continue growing as a team, because we are just starting.
I'm so happy and so proud of my players.”