The West Ham manager, Gianfranco Zola, himself a former great who played well into his 30s, was full of admiration for Giggs. The Welshman's goal was his first of the season and meant he set another record, becoming the first player to score in 17 consecutive Premier League seasons. When you have that foundation, you are always hoping one of your skilful players can win the game for you and today it was Ryan. He has everyone jumping out of their skin at the moment because of the record. "It is a great motivation for the players, particularly for Edwin. "We have a challenge in terms of all the clean sheets we are keeping," said Ferguson. He did admit, however, that the prospect of prolonging their impregnability was proving a significant motivating factor for his players. "The players we have on the pitch are attackers." "Obviously the clean sheets are going to be a topic but we haven't changed our emphasis," he said. Though the match also enabled the goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, to set a new British record for consecutive clean sheets – his 13 eclipsing the record Aberdeen's Bobby Clark had held since 1970-71 – Ferguson stressed that his team still sought to remain true to their attacking tradition. It is a measure of how well we played today."Įight of United's last 10 wins have been by the 1-0 scoreline that sufficed at Upton Park. The atmosphere here is fantastic and they are a very good team that is in great form. "West Ham are always difficult opponents for us. The fact that Gianfranco Zola's revitalised team had gone into the match on the back of an eight-game unbeaten streak made the victory all the more satisfying for Ferguson. The Scot did not seek to belittle his side's achievement in winning at Upton Park, where they had lost on their two previous league visits and, famously in 1995, stumbled to a draw that cost them the league title.
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