Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand insists Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's problems are far from over but a confidence-boosting win over Tottenham is a "great starting point" ahead of their upcoming clashes.
The Reds brushed Spurs aside thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford in what proved to be Nuno Espirito Santo's final game at the helm, as on Monday he was sacked and replaced by Antonio Conte the following day.
It was another case of United coming up trumps on Solskjaer's future was in serious doubt, having been thumped 5-0 by Liverpool six days prior - a trend Ferdinand insists the manager will not want to continue.
"Yeah, he does [Solskjaer get wins when his backs against the wall], that's a fine art but you don't want to get to that situation - that's the ideal scenario," he said on BT Sport.
"But listen, I just feel there was maybe an element of being humbled as a squad, even as a management team in terms of, going 'actually guys, we need to stiffen it up. We need to go back to basics and be really hard to play against.'
"Rather than think about this go and attack and be a team that wants to go on forays here and there. They looked like a team much more resolute. Spurs, how poor they were, didn't get a shot on target all game, but that says they must be doing something right because every team no matter how bad they were, were slicing through this Man United team this season.
"But now, this game is something to build on by no means is this the end of the problems, I still think there will be teething problems here and there but this is a great starting point for the weekend.
"Yeah well listen, when it went 2-0 at Old Trafford last week [against Atalanta] we were thinking 'wow, this is a tough group to get out of' but the table looks much better now, much healthier position.
"You can afford to get a draw today [at Atalanta], I don't think that's the end of the world. I'd like to get a win to really put a nail in the coffin of the other teams, but not losing today is the main thing and getting a performance in to ride into the big game that is the Manchester derby against Manchester City."
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