The United head coach believes a “team cohesion” is starting to develop throughout the squad, and that key relationships are beginning to thrive across the field.
McClaren said of Perez and Mitrovic: “I think they’ve made a good combination, haven’t they? I think you can see it with Mitrovic and Perez – you can see that team cohesion.
“That’s what we’ve been doing; looking to give everybody opportunities and chopping and changing with the line-up.
“We’re looking at who matches who, who can play with who, what combinations work.
“We’ve got that with Daryl (Janmaat) and Moussa (Sissoko) down the right.
“We kind of had that with Vurnon (Anita) and Jack (Colback) a little bit in the middle, now Cheicky (Cheick Tiote) has come in, which he has had to do. He’s growing and developing there.
“Then you have Gini (Georginio Wijnaldum) as well with Ayoze – they like each other as well.
“You can see a bit of telepathy between Mitro and Ayoze.
“Mitro’s come in and he’s been a bit of a target for us.
“He can get better though, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I think at the moment he just lacks maturity which I think will come with playing for us and in time.”