Ralf Rangnick is still searching for answers at Manchester United, with the German coach winning just four of his eight matches in all competitions since taking charge at the beginning of December.
The 63-year-old initially favoured a 4-2-2-2 system upon his appointment but in United's most recent match against Aston Villa, he opted for 4-2-3-1 and seemed to revert back to the version of the Red Devils from last year under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Player availability largely dictated the switch - with Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford unable to feature - but the change in shape did seem to maximise the impact of a certain Bruno Fernandes.
The Portuguese midfielder scored twice against the claret and blue outfit. He also posted the most progressive passes for his team, as well as more touches than any of his teammates except for Alex Telles.
Fernandes also lost the ball frequently having found a United shirt with around 78% of his passes, which perhaps offers an insight into his freedom to take risks on the ball. For the first time, Rangnick witnessed elements of Bruno-Ball.
The 27-year-old ran United's attack under Solskjaer. He was the talisman, scoring and assisting often while also seeing plenty of the ball in his fixed no.10 space between midfield and attack.
Everything revolved around him and Fernandes proved that he was capable of performing such a role to a high level, hence Solskjaer's reliance upon him once he was signed from Sporting for a hefty transfer fee.
This season, however, Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho have arrived at the club and Solskjaer has been dismissed. As a means of integrating the two new players, Rangnick has used 4-2-2-2 with Fernandes operating as a wide forward of sorts.
He has still contributed within the confines of the new 4-2-2-2 formation, but not to the same degree. Fernandes generally seems best when fielded as a lone no.10, and when he's encouraged to assume the spotlight by essentially doing everything for his team in possession, which captures Rangnick's dilemma.
The United boss has to find a way of allowing Fernandes to thrive as though he's the key man, but while also maximising the influences of Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho in particular.
With the trio due to return to Rangnick's starting line-up sooner rather than later, it is a tactical conundrum that he must solve, and quick.
