Nemanja Matic praised the performance of his Manchester United teammate Fred in Sunday's loss to Liverpool at Anfield.
Matic partnered Fred at the base of United's midfield in the 2-0 loss as the Reds failed to close the gap on Chelsea in fourth place following their defeat by Newcastle on Saturday.
Fred, who has become an integral player under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in recent months, was arguably United's best player on Merseyside and Matic noted his partner's good form.
"It's great to play next to him," Matic told MUTV. "Fred had a great game today, he always gives his best, fighting for the team, exactly the same as I'm doing and we will continue to do our work and that's it. Keep fighting, working every day for this club until the end."
United were outplayed for the best part of an hour following Virgil van Dijk's 14th-minute opener but Matic was pleased with how United finished the match, despite Mo Salah securing the win for Liverpool in injury time.
"They played better in the first half and also in the first five to 10 minutes in the second half but after that we had control of the game," Matic added.
"We felt that we were in the game, we could score, we could create, and we played some good football in the last 35 to 40 minutes.
"We were the better side but it's hard to draw or to win if you don't score the goal against this kind of team, so I'm sure that our staff will analyse everything.
"That last 35 minutes is our model of how we have to play against strong teams.
"I'm very happy with the last 35 minutes, I think everybody on the pitch from our team felt that we are there, that we are in complete control, so that's the model for how we should always play against top teams and to score goals."
Liverpool's opener came when Van Dijk powered home a header from a corner and Matic revealed United worked on defending set-pieces in the build-up to the game.
"We were working in the last few days on set pieces and we concede the first goal from that but this is football and it can happen," Matic said.
"The most important thing is to reduce these mistakes. Let's focus on the next one. Burnley at home, we have to win three points and to keep fighting for that fourth spot."
On the chance Anthony Martial spurned, when the Frenchman blazed over from 10 yards with just goalkeeper Alisson to beat, Matic said: "He had a great action, a one-two with Andreas, so I think he tried to give his best to score.
"We also had one great chance from Andreas in the first half. As I said, we have to use these chances because against top teams you can create three or four in a game - you have to at least use one. So if you don't score, this can happen.
"Over the whole game, they deserved to win, but in the last 35 minutes we can see as a good part of our game."