No Europe means 'a lot of time to think' - Mount

Manchester United's lack of European football was cited as a positive going into this season.

Unfortunately for United's players, they have discovered the relatively wide gap between fixtures just offers more time to brood over bad results.

It was something Mason Mount, who opened the scoring in Saturday's 2-0 win over Sunderland, reflected on following the dismal defeat at Brentford the previous week.

"Sometimes it is difficult when you only have one game a week," he said. "It means there's a lot of time to think.

"After a game like Brentford, we're hurt, as a team and as a staff because we know we can do better.

"It really hurts as a club as well. It feels like a long time going into the next game."

Not currently part of Thomas Tuchel's England set-up, Mount has even more time to ponder the next game as United now have two weeks before a trip to Liverpool, when they will again try to win two Premier League games in a row for the first time under Ruben Amorim.

Unlike at Brentford, when United started sloppily and found themselves 2-0 down, against Sunderland they began well, with Mount putting them in front after eight minutes with a superbly taken goal, his first in the league at Old Trafford.

"Coming off obviously a difficult result, I think it was so important for us to start sharp," he said.

"It was something we spoke about in the dressing room and Bruno [Fernandes] spoke about in the huddle before kick-off.

"I felt the energy at the beginning and then to get the goal really settled us."