Manchester United caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has brought an "uplifting mood" to the club since taking over from Jose Mourinho last week, according to former Red Devils winger Ben Thornley.
The Norwegian's first game in charge saw United seal an emphatic 5-1 victory over Cardiff in the Welsh capital.
It came only a few days after Mourinho's tumultuous two-and-a-half year reign was brought to an end, with the club having experienced its worse start to a season in 28 years. The 55-year-old left United with a clearly despondent playing group, who were often criticised publicly by their manager this season.
That negativity was nowhere to be seen at the club last week, says Thornley, who works as a commentator for MUTV and played with Solskjaer at United for two seasons.
Thornley was at Carrington on Thursday when Solsjkaer, 45, took his first training session, and he has revealed to Tribalfootball that spirits were running high among United's staff after the managerial change.
"He's brought in a real uplifting mood, the way he is anyway, Ole Gunnar, it's difficult not to get sort of carried away or get on board with his enthusiasm for the place," said Thornley.
"I was doing the commentary for our U23s last Thursday and I spoke with Ricky Sbragia, the U23 coach, and he said that he's [Solskjaer] brought a really good vibe to the club.
"I saw some of the first-team members and staff, you know the guys who do all the kit and the coaching staff, I spoke with Kieran McKenna, I spoke with Michael Carrick, I spoke with Mike Phelan and they were all walking around with smiles on their faces."
The display against Neil Warnock's side was filled with the tenacity and attacking intent that was often non-existent during Mourinho's stint at Old Trafford.
Goals from Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial had the Red Devils ahead 3-1 at half-time, after Victor Camarasa's penalty got the hosts back in the game.
A second-half double from Jesse Lingard ruled out a comeback as Solskjaer instructed his players to put their opponents to the sword.
Although he was surprised by the appointment, Thornley thinks fans can be encouraged by Solskjaer's desire to replicate the same brand of football he played under Sir Alex Ferguson.
"I'm surprised that they went with somebody with small managerial experience […] but I'm happy that he's here because he's brought such a buzz to the club and the teams that Ole Gunnar played in with Manchester United, I'm pretty sure that's the way he wants his team to play.
"It quickly became apparent on Saturday that he disbanded with the two sitting midfield players. He just had Nemanja Matic there with Paul Pogba, who looked a different player and was involved in three of the five goals. At times we were playing with basically a front five if you like and it's no surprise Pogba was involved in three goals.
"Ander Herrera scored one, albeit with the aid of a deflection that took it over the top of the goalkeeper. We haven't seen shots from outside the area and we scored two goals, a fabulous free kick from Marcus Rashford and that one from Herrera.
"The third goal for me is the epitome of what Manchester United is all about or what they should be all about and what were so used to seeing, a fabulous team goal with one touch passing."
With Chelsea dropping points after Saturday's loss to Leicester City, United now sit eight points from the Champions League positions. It would take a monumental effort from United to finish in the top-four, but as their own history suggests, it is not impossible.
In 1995/96, Ferguson's side were 12 points behind Kevin Keegan's Newcastle before winning 13 of their last 15 games to claim the title. Two years later, United lost the title to Arsenal after they had held a 12-point advantage over Arsene Wenger's side at the end of February.
Home fixtures against Huddersfield Town and Bournemouth await United over the festive period, and Thornley says Solskjaer has timed his own miraculous revival perfectly.
"I think he's coming in at the right time. This is no disrespect to the teams we're about to play, but we haven't got an Arsenal, Chelsea, [Manchester] City, Spurs or Liverpool, we've got teams in the bottom half of the table.
"It's a really, really good opportunity to go into the New Year, having beaten Cardiff on Saturday, to play Huddersfield and then Bournemouth and then with hopefully teams slightly above us dropping points, we can start to bridge that gap.
"It's eight points and we're thirteen points to Spurs, but if you disregard City and Liverpool, because I do think that even if the team does continue to play like they did on Saturday I still think the gap to the top is probably a tall order. But certainly if they continue to play in the vein that they did on Saturday, the gap to third or fourth place can quite easily be bridged.
"It has been done before, we've done it to teams and teams have done it to us. Arsenal back in 1998 did it to us, so you can never say never. But if we just concentrate on taking each game as it comes and playing that way with the same intensity and the same speed and the enthusiasm that the lads had, I reckon it won't be long before you see United in and amongst that pack that's just ahead of them."
If you want to enjoy an enthralling read, you can purchase Ben Thornley's autobiography, Tackled: The Class of 92 Star Who Never Got To Graduate (Pitch Publishing) by Ben Thornley and Dan Poole, by clicking on the link here.
