Manchester United saw of the stern challenge laid down by their French opponents in the UEFA Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday night and, despite a performance that was far from the cavalier style that United fans have become accustomed to.
Although the fans were not left in raptures by most of the performance, Sir Alex was pleased at a result that he saw as a positive achievement against a very strong team. The United boss was pleased with what he saw as a step forward for his defence, which now features Laurent Blanc.
"A clean sheet, I think I'll sleep tonight. Not losing a goal is important, and even if the game had finished 0-0 I wouldn't have been critical of the players because they played with the kind of good discipline you need when you know you are up against opponents who are difficult to beat.
"I don't think our late goals are down to luck or fitness, but to patience and perseverance. We increased the tempo in the last 20 minutes and went for it. We got our reward for trying to win the game."
Ferguson knew that the French side would try to take advantage of a team whose defensive record has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, but he was pleased that the Red Devils back line was able to get a clean sheet after the mayhem of last Saturday's game at Newcastle United.
"I wasn't surprised at the way Lille played because when you are up against a team you don't know much about you study their record. We watched several videos of their games and knew that they don't concede many goals. We knew that they play with a joy in their game that gets them results, so I was pleased with our result which gets us off to a good start in our campaign.
"It wasn't perhaps a brilliant performance but the discipline was there. There was less abandon about our game. We were far more measured and just gambled when we needed to gamble.
"Van Nistelrooy was magnificant, his movement improving every game, remarkably so when you consider he has been out for a year with injury. Veron was man marked but warmed to it. Blanc was terrific and Brown gave a perfect performance."
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