There's a well-known saying: 'A change is as good as a rest' and, in Manchester United's case this week, it's fair to say a week in the Dubai sun with a gap of 10 days between matches has equated to both those things.
The five-day warm weather training camp has proved to be a welcome escape from the grey skies and chilly temperatures in our great city of Manchester. On the back of 11 games across five weeks in December and January, having an uninterrupted period of pure training has been a refreshing change for Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff who have simply had to focus on preparation and recovery between the barrage of matches in recent times, with little time to do any other work with the squad.