‘We’ll keep getting better,’ beams the boss

DAVID MOYES backed Manchester United to hit top gear after Juan Mata’s debut ended in victory.

United’s £37million new signing played from the start and Moyes also welcomed back Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney after injury.

‘We got Robin and Wayne back and Juan made his debut, so all in all it was a good night,’ said Moyes.

‘The results will get much better with them but I’m still hoping for our play to be much better.

‘ We’re starting to get players in. What I need is competition. I need people to play well. At the moment we’ve not had enough at the top of their game and hopefully the competition for places will help make that happen.

‘I thought Juan played really well. He made some terrific passes for us, got us on the ball and gave us a different look at times.

‘He will grow and we’ll get used to him as well.

‘I was a little bit worried about his fitness but when we got to 2-0 I thought the longer I kept him on and gave him more minutes hopefully it would get him up to speed more quickly.

‘ We’ve missed Robin’s goals. He can get you one out of nothing. He’s done it all last year at United and we’ve really missed him.’

Mata played for 84 minutes before leaving the pitch to a rousing ovation.

Afterwards the Spaniard said: ‘It was special day for me, my first game for United.

‘ The most important thing is that we won and I felt comfortable with my team-mates. With Robin and Wayne, we’re talking two of the best strikers in the world so it’s going to be amazing to play alongside them.

‘The next game (away to Stoke on Saturday) is a final for us and we’ll try to get the three points and climb the table.

‘We were talking in the dressing-room about trying to win as many games until the end of the season.’

A third straight league defeat as Cardiff boss made it an unhappy return to Old Trafford for former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, even though he was given a warm welcome back by the home crowd.

‘I’ve always had a great reception from the fans here and it was fantastic,’ said Solskjaer.

Cardiff are bottom of the league, but he added: ‘We will get there. We’ve got a great chance next month because we have three home games against teams in that second league.’