United manager Brian McDermott is hoping the forthcoming free weekend will provide the ideal opportunity to re-charge the batteries ahead of another busy period.

Charlton’s involvement in the FA Cup led to Saturday’s planned Elland Road fixture being cancelled and, after going down 1-0 at Brighton on Tuesday, United don’t return to action until the televised trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday week.

“The players need a bit of a rest,” said the boss. “We’ll get them away from each other after everything that’s been going on.

“I need that too. I feel that I do after everything that’s gone on. I need to re-charge my batteries but I’ll come back re-energised and ready for Middlesbrough.

“It’s been difficult as you can imagine. As a football manager what you want to do is concentrate on football matters. That would be the same for any manager at any club. In the last 10 days or so – longer than that really – it hasn’t been the case for me. That hasn’t been the case in the last few weeks.”