Rene Meulensteen reflected on a job well done on Tuesday night, when a dominant performance from his Fulham side saw them through into The FA Cup Fourth Round.
Goals from Darren Bent, Ashkan Dejagah and Steve Sidwell sealed a 3-0 victory over Norwich City to set up a game with Sheffield United in the next round.
And after making changes to his team, including a successful comeback for captain Brede Hangeland, the Dutchman was pleased to see his selection pay off.
“My view is that any win is a good win,” said Meulensteen.
Fulham 3-0 Norwich City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Third Round Proper replay
Tuesday 14 January
Craven Cottage
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“I think it’s a fantastic competition for a start and nothing positive comes out of losing a game.
“So you should always be trying to go out there and get the best possible result which can always lead to confidence.
“The intention should always be to get a positive result and that’s what we did today.”
Despite some clinical attacking play and three well-worked goals, it was his team’s defensive display which pleased the former Manchester United coach.
With Hangeland and youngster Dan Burn impressing in the centre along with a return for ‘keeper Marten Stekelenburg, that is the sort of foundation he wants Fulham to take into their League games.
“We did a lot of things well tonight, as we did last Saturday when we dominated and should have got our noses in front, but we didn’t,” he added.
“We know we need to improve on our defensive record and that’s why we set out today aiming to get a clean sheet.
“For most of the game apart from a few minutes at the start and a few minutes at the second half, I don’t think we were threatened in our defensive shape.
“So the biggest thing for me tonight was the clean sheet and I have re-assured the players that if we can get a clean sheet, we’ll climb up the table because we have got enough quality to score goals.”
