Axel Tuanzebe has credited Manchester United’s brilliant turn in form to a change in mentality before the coronavirus outbreak.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were unbeaten in 11 games, conceding in just two until COVID-19 halted their momentum.
The fantastic 2-0 Manchester derby victory at Old Trafford in their last Premier League game was testament to the progress that has been made under the Norwegian since January.
And Tuanzebe, who is currently training six times a week from home with the help of his brother during this unprecedented lockdown period, thinks the focus on themselves rather than the opposition has made a huge impact.
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“It’s unfortunate to have our unbeaten run stopped,” Tuanzebe told Manchester Evening News.
“The buzz around the changing room was really high, we were going into games really confident.
“We’d obviously spent time on tactics, but we didn’t feel like we needed to really spend so much time on the opposition. It was about us and how we played our game and what we needed to do to beat the opposition. So when the focus is constantly on us, we feel good about it and we’re just finding ways to beat teams and it’s happening. We’d like to get back into that routine again.
The feel good factor at Old Trafford has also come from the impact of January signings Bruno Fernandes and Odion Ighalo.
Bruno in particular has made an impact not even his biggest admirers would have expected. He has helped transform the Reds into a dangerous side in attacking transition with his vision and quality on the ball.
Ighalo’s fruitful start to his loan spell has also allowed Solskjaer to rotate his strike force to keep players fresh.
It’s impossible to say how the Reds will fare when football does eventually return, whether it be in June, July or even further down the line.
But Solskjaer will have two of his best players back from injury in Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba and there are certainly signs for optimism at Old Trafford.
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