Young: We have to build on this victory

Ashley Young paid tribute to the Manchester United fans while insisting that we must now build on the clinical victory over Cardiff City, as the Reds prepare to face Huddersfield Town in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Old Trafford return on Boxing Day.

Young captained United in the ruthless win in South Wales as goals from Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Anthony Martial and a brace from Jesse Lingard sent the Reds’ fans home happy in Solskjaer’s first game as caretaker boss.

After the win in Cardiff, Young spoke to reporters and was delighted with the victory and the fans' support, but says United must build on the positive showing, with a busy set of festive fixtures fast approaching.

“We are delighted [with the win],“ he said. The way we went about our job from minute one to the 90th-minute was fantastic and the only disappointment was conceding the goal, but we take the positives from today’s game and build on from here.

“The fans have been fantastic all season whether we have won, lost or drawn, they have always been behind us. There are always going to be times when they are not going to be happy when we are not winning, that’s obvious. Today they were brilliant from the warm-ups to when we left the pitch.

“We want to keep those performances up for them, the staff, the players and keep building on what we showed. We have lots of games coming up over the Christmas period and it is about recovering in the right way and we just have to concentrate on each game coming up and not look too far ahead,“ he continued.

“The next game is against Huddersfield, a lot of the press will talk about us, but as players we concentrate on the next game and that is what we will be doing. We have another tough few games coming up and Huddersfield is our focus.”

It has naturally been a difficult week for the club with a change of manager, but Young admits it is up to the players as professionals to go out there and perform - just as the Reds did at Cardiff.

“You go out to do a job and go out and play football. That is what every single player in the squad has been doing and obviously there has been a change of manager, but we have to move on from that now and concentrate on the games we have coming up. We are delighted with today’s win and take that into the Huddersfield game.”

Solskjaer has insisted it's important the players enjoy their football and Young believes that is already rubbing off on the squad.

“I don’t think he has stopped smiling,” Young joked. “He was like that as a player, he always has a smile on his face and I think that can reflect down on to the team which is a good thing. After a performance like that I am sure he will be delighted. We have just got to concentrate what is happening on the pitch and look ahead to the next game.“

That next game will be Solskjaer’s Old Trafford return and Young again re-iterated that the players must focus on their performance.

“A lot of it will be about the legend of Ole coming back to Old Trafford,” he concluded. “But as players we have to concentrate with what happens on the pitch, not off it. This week was a crazy week, but as players we concentrate on the pitch.”