Defender Axel Tuanzebe, 21, captained the side in Wednesday night's penalty shoot-out win while Brandon Williams, 19, came on to make a first-team debut.

Despite the lack of key personnel through injury impacting on consistent results, Solskjaer feels overall there is a positive outlook ahead.

"In my own words? For me, it's a team improving, evolving. I think it's a young team, the culture is there," the former United striker said.

"I see them every single day in training and we don't have any issues with attitude, work rate or desire."

"Now it's (a question of) can we trust ourselves? Can we find that composure?

"You could see against Astana and Rochdale, the boys want to impress, they want to do well and maybe they rushed a finish at times. It's getting there."

United host Arsenal on Monday night looking to respond from a 2-0 defeat at West Ham in their last Premier League match, which saw them drop to eighth in the table.

Solskjaer, though, pays little attention to how things are viewed from outside Old Trafford.

"We are focused on what we have to do and that is to keep improving," the United manager said at a press conference.

"It has always been the same. When I was a player it was always Man United with the headlines, which is a great position to be in. We wouldn't want to be anywhere else."