United goalkeeper Adam Collin spoke to the Official site yesterday ahead of this evening's Carling Cup first round tie against Huddersfield Town.
He said: "I thought defensively we were excellent. We worked on keeping more clean sheets in pre-season and we've managed to get one already in the first game. The front three were excellent. Francois is always going to cause defences problems, Craig Curran's work rate was superb and he played well off Gary who won most of the aerial challenges he went for.
"Normally it would be difficult playing with three new defenders in front of you. But we'd put a lot of work in during pre-season on the shape of the team in training and friendly matches and defensively we did well against a decent front two for Brentford.
"I think the squad's improved a lot since last season. The players that the gaffer has brought in have come in and mixed really well with the rest of the lads. Fitness wise, I think we're ahead of where we were last season and that really showed on Saturday.
"I didn't really have any time to think about that save from Alexander in the second half. I was straight up and getting the defence organised for the corner as they were looking to take it quickly. It's nice to look back and see it on the highlights show in the evening but at the time you just get on with the game and don't let your concentration drop.
"Having both Frank Simek and Sean McDaid signed up and training with us quite early was a massive helped. The first two weeks was a case of getting to know them but things have stepped up since the training camp in Leicestershire and we've done a lot of work on shape and making sure we know what all our jobs are in the back five unit.
"Getting a win in the first game was massively important. We want to win as many games as we can. Last season when they beat us 3-1 on the opening day, the mood afterwards was a bit miserable as you'd expect. In comparison, the atmosphere around the place on Saturday evening and training this morning has been excellent.
"It's good competition for me having Caigy breathing down my neck on the bench. I've known him for years now since we played together at Newcastle and now he's here pushing me as both a coach and a player. We've got a really good working relationship and it's gone well so far this season.
"Having him in full-time as a coach has made a big difference. Obviously he was here during the week last season but having him on the bench able to analyse my performances from there helps a lot. He's able to give his opinion from a goalkeeping perspective rather than the outfield coaches who see it a different way.
"The conversations we have after games are very honest and I prefer it that way. If he thinks I've made a mistake or can improve on something then I'll take on board what he says and use it to make myself a better keeper. We have some good, honest discussions between ourselves and Kav and the gaffer and that can only be a positive thing.
"I had to watch the Carling Cup games from the bench last season but the lads did really well in all three ties. We were unlucky in the tie against Portsmouth. We took the lead and held our own for long periods but there little bit of extra class came through for them. There were times when it was as if they were just turning it on when they wanted to. You always want to test yourself against the very best and we want to do that again this season.
"We take every competition very seriously and the Carling Cup is just as important to me as a league game. We've got go out there and do our best, it's early on in the season and we're all still playing for our places in the team. There's no way we'll be taking our foot off the pedal for this one.
"It's going to be a really tough game against Huddersfield. They've spent a lot of money and have a big squad, so we can't be sure whether they'll stick with the same side that played on Saturday or make some changes. Whichever team they put out will have plenty of quality in it so it will be a good test for us.
"There's a lot of belief and confidence about the place and we need to keep that up. We've got two hard games up with Huddersfield and the long trip to Plymouth but we know that if we perform like we did against Brentford, we've got a good chance of taking something out of the game.
"It's a big boost to me to start the season as number one. At the start of pre-season you do all the hard running and work knowing you have something to aim for. I learned a lot last season and that's helped me going into the new campaign. I know more of what League One is about and what to expect from teams so I've been a lot more confident going into the opening game."
