Juan Mata and Odion Ighalo both insisted that Manchester United's fitness levels were heading in the right direction following their Carabao Cup win over Luton.
After United had appeared undercooked in their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace, after playing just one pre-season friendly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted they needed more match sharpness.
And again for much of the Luton Town game on Tuesday night United were a little sluggish, spared a potential upset by Mata's penalty and Dean Henderson's superb reaction save, before Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood came off the bench to make it 3-0.
There is no relenting in United's schedule now as they prepare to face Brighton in the league on Saturday, though Ighalo believes Solskjaer's men will take confidence from their first win of the campaign.
On the Palace defeat, he said ”We only had one week to prepare for that game; I think they had been preparing for four weeks. So it can tell a bit. But, now we've won this [Luton] game, I think it's a boost for us. Hopefully we'll win this weekend and start on a good note in the Premier League."
Mata admitted United had not trained as much as they would like, but believes they are back on track and can string some results together after the nightmare start to the season against Palace.
“To be honest, we have not been training together for too long after a difficult pre-season," Mata told Sky Sports after the Luton win. "Now it’s important to get the rhythm back, to get the confidence and, of course, the confidence comes with results.
"I felt fine and I think most of us, we felt okay. We played 80 minutes without playing before this season and I think we did okay physically.
“I think, for me, it’s very important, the mind. If you are confident and you believe in what you do and you get the results, then the body will follow.”
