Ruben Amorim takes his Man Utd side to Brentford at the weekend on the back of a much-needed 2-1 win against Chelsea.
Though it will be some while before the Red Devils can say that they've turned the corner under the Portuguese, if indeed he lasts long enough for them to do just that, it's worth celebrating the little wins in the meantime.
Three points off second, three off fourth from bottom
If you're a glass-half-full person, then the fact is that United are only three points off of second spot in the Premier League.
However, if the glass is half empty, being sat in 11th position at the start of play and only three points above the Bees, who are currently fourth from bottom, puts an entirely different spin on things.
For now at least, even if results were to go against them, Amorim remains in situ and, it would seem, with the full backing of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his board.
It's a big call from the owner, who perhaps is willing to see how things play out simply because of the manager's total and absolute belief in his system eventually coming good.
In order to get there, some big decisions have to be made, some of which have been taken already.
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Garnacho led a summer clearout at Man Utd
Alejandro Garnacho - who faced United for his new club - was recently sold to Chelsea, Antony made his loan move to Real Betis permanent, whilst Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund and Jadon Sancho were all loaned out.
It's too early to tell whether Amorim was right to dispense with the services of all of those players, though for Sancho at least it would seem that the attitude problems that former manager Erik ten Hag alluded to still remain.
England international Rashford certainly gave Amorim and United's fans a timely reminder of what he is about with his two goals against Newcastle in the Champions League.
A man-of-the-match performance was in keeping with what manager Hansi Flick said he sees "every day in training."
Yet to score in LaLiga, Rashford has still provided one assist - to Raphinha vs Valencia - but has been rotated with others during his six total appearances for the club.
He's already created 10 other chances and has a remarkable pass completion rate in the league of 93.3%. It's noticeable too how hard he's working off the ball, chasing down lost causes and harrying defenders as a matter of course.
His demeanour is completely different from that seen at Old Trafford and it's as if a weight has been lifted.
Hojlund's dream debut for Napoli
The same could be said for Hojlund, who scored after just 14 minutes of his debut for Napoli against Fiorentina.
It was often painful to watch the Dane ploughing a lone furrow up front at the Theatre of Dreams, and whilst he didn't score anywhere near as many as he would've liked, the Dane could easily argue that he was never given the appropriate service by his teammates.
Something that his replacement, Benjamin Sesko, is already finding out to his cost.
The United shirt certainly weighs heavy when things are not going so well, but there does have to be a modicum of common sense interjected into any argument.
If a striker's natural game is getting on the end of crosses, why on earth would you devise a system whereby he's asked to run onto balls over the top?
That shows that there's simply been no logic applied and isn't becoming of supposed world-class coaches. To therefore also expect anything more than Hojlund provided for both Ten Hag and Amorim would be inherently wrong.
Antony flourishing at Betis
Antony is another who is flourishing away from Old Trafford, and his debut season at the Estadio Benito Villamarin couldn't have gone any better.
Nine goals and five assists in 26 games placed him as the third best in the Real Betis squad for goal contributions, and his output was only bettered by Cedric Bakambu (10 goals, four assists) and Isco (12 goals and 11 assists).
What makes the Brazilian's totals even more impressive is that he only had half a season in which to wreak havoc in the various competitions, having only joined the LaLiga outfit at the end of January 2025.
In the half-season prior to his move, a few months of which were under Amorim's tutelage, he managed a solitary goal and no assists, albeit in a vastly reduced amount of time.
Though his pass completion at United went as high as 89.2%, it's slightly misleading as it only took into account the 74 passes he made in the Carabao Cup.
If we compare like-for-like in the league, here again Antony improved, with his pass completion of 84% being higher than the 81.4% for United.
Like the other players, it's the freedom he is playing with that appears to be the biggest difference.
Is it really the fault of the players?
Scott McTominay was the same and he went on to win Serie A's best player with Napoli, albeit Ten Hag was the one to decide that the midfield dynamo wasn't good enough.
If Rashford et al go on to similar success stories as the Scot this season, when is there going to be an honest conversation about the elephant in the room at Old Trafford?
