Fulham fullback John Arne Riise feels they were getting back to their best in defeat to Manchester United.

Although the Whites succumbed to a slender defeat by Manchester United, the efforts shown by the Team give cause for optimism ahead of the visit of Norwich City at the weekend.

"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," the Norwegian admitted. "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," Riise told fulhamfc.com.

"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."