Louis van Gaal heralded a "new start" for Manchester United after they trounced Queens Park Rangers 4-0 to register their first Premier League victory under the Dutchman.
Ángel di María produced a man of the match display on his home debut, claiming a goal along with Ander Herrera, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata as United blew away the cobwebs after an anodyne August.
"The most important thing is trajectory," Van Gaal said. "We are building a process and we have to play in a certain style, we have to prove our qualifications and at the end, after maybe the second year or the third year, I hope to be manager of the champions of the Premier League. I want to give the championship to the fans.
"You see the list, we have plus two [goal difference]. We have also played a clean sheet, which is important, I believe. I said to the players 'We have to make a new start today,' because this is the selection we start now, from 1 September after the transfer period, we are only two days with each other.
Van Gaal was adamant the top three remains United's target as they rebuild the damage from David Moyes' ill-fated stint, but could barely contain his satisfaction with United's enterprise after three tepid displays last month yielded just two goals.
"That we have made four goals," he responded when asked what pleased him most about United's performance, "because I believe, in spite of our loss against Swansea, we were the better team on the pitch, only we failed to make goals and today we have made goals and created chances."
"I have worked for more than 25 years and I have always played with attack and all my teams have scored the most in the league, so I hope at the end of this league we have scored the most. It is not our goal, though, our purpose is to be in the first three because we have to qualify ourselves for the Champions League."
Van Gaal reverted to a diamond formation and United appeared to benefit from fielding a back four, not least thanks to the hyperactive Rafael da Silva's return at right-back. The Brazilian was making his first start since March, however Van Gaal revealed he was "forced" into the system switch due to injuries to Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.
"I could hardly play with five defenders because Smalling and Jones were injured, so that will be difficult to play with three defenders," Van Gaal explained. "Then with Tyler Blackett and Rojo I have to create a left-footed player as the right central defender, which I don't like, so I was more or less forced to play with four defenders. But it is also because of the quality players that I changed the system."
Cramp ended Di María's Old Trafford bow as Britain's most expensive footballer received the man of the match award. The Argentinean opened the scoring, before playing an instrumental role in Herrera and Rooney's strikes, and capped off his afternoon with the assist for Mata.
"When you prepare three goals and make the first goal by yourself then you cannot play bad," Van Gaal laughed. "But he had a lot of unnecessary [possession] losses, so he can do better. But can you do it better when you prepare three goals and make one? It's impossible but I am the coach and I have to analyse.
"Di María is alright, but he has cramp and normally you have to play 90 minutes without cramp, but that's also a positive signal. He gave everything."