Manager Erik ten Hag waxed lyrical about right-back Diogo Dalot following Manchester United's narrow 1-0 win over West Ham United at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon.
Marcus Rashford, recalled to the starting line-up after stepping off the bench and scoring in Thursday night's 3-0 Europa League win over Sheriff Tiraspol, scored the only goal of the game, powering a header past Hammers goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski shortly before half-time, claiming his 100th goal in United colours. He connected with Christian Eriksen's exquisite delivery and made it his mission to ensure he claimed his seventh goal of the campaign.
However, despite getting their noses in front before the interval, United failed to build on their advantage after the restart, being forced to withstand no shortage of West Ham pressure. David Moyes' side went up through the gears as the second half wore on and had it not been for some outstanding goalkeeping from David de Gea they would have drawn level.
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Both Kurt Zouma and Declan Rice went agonisingly close to making it 1-1, both being denied by the Spaniard in spectacular fashion. But Dalot, too, contributed massively defensively, not least when he produced an excellent headed clearance with Michail Antonio waiting to pounce.
Dalot, who often got into very advanced, attacking positions in the first half, has been United's most improved player so far this season and his performances are only continuing to get better. And for Ten Hag, answering a question from Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville after the game, the 23-year-old's development has been really encouraging.
"I'm really happy with the development of Diogo," Ten Hag told Sky Sports. "He's done really well.
"As you [Neville] mentioned, you played in that position yourself, so you can be critical because you know how to play there, but I think his defending positions are growing from game to game. His timing, also his duels, is better from game to game.
"In possession, I think he's really good and he has the breath to go up and down [the wing]. The development is really good, but I have to mention that a club like Manchester United needs two good full-backs, because we have a lot of games to cover."
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