Manchester United ended a run of three straight defeats after their priceless 1-0 win against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley at Turf Moor.
The game in Lancashire had always been marked as the start of United’s easier run of games with a chance to put points on the board and build up confidence.
United won and finally kept their first clean sheet in six games, the 1-0 opening-day win over Wolverhampton Wanderers being the last one.
Diogo Dalot has certainly improved his performances since he came back into the team following the injury to Luke Shaw and, after an intense week, spoke about how crucial a win like that could be.
Dalot on the media reaction
It has been no secret that the scrutiny and pressure on Erik ten Hag has been brutal. Mauricio Pochettino, a former United managerial target according to The Athletic, has not faced anywhere near a similar amount of scrutiny, despite being 13th in the league with Chelsea.
Dalot spoke to the United website following the win and said: “They [the media] will kill you in every direction if you don’t win games.
“And you could see in these last couple of weeks, it was another killing machine against us. But we fought hard.”
United’s siege mentality
Sir Alex Ferguson used to be the master of building a siege mentality in the squad, an us against them mentality that would bring the players together.
Well, according to Dalot, the team had built up a sort of siege mentality of their own during the poor run of form and the Portuguese said the players were all together.
“When we get into Carrington, the noise stays outside and we work hard,” the right-back said. This mentality is exactly what United have needed during this poor run of form and gritty wins like that against promoted Burnley will only bring the players closer together.
With back-to-back games against Crystal Palace to come, United have a chance to put three wins on the board after a difficult few weeks at the club.
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