With seven points secured from the last nine on offer, it appears Manchester United are beginning to acclimatise themselves to life under Ralf Rangnick.
While the performances against both Brentford and West Ham United were far from glittering and perfect, they did, at least, see United get six points on the board, show a sense of hard work and determination and, most importantly, provide proof that the players are beginning to buy in to Rangnick's methods.
Although it is important not to get too carried away — even if the players and Rangnick deserve recognition for an improvement — green shoots of recovery are beginning to rise from beneath the club's recent woes.
However, Rangnick, more than anyone, will not need telling that the job is far from complete.
He still has plenty of hurdles to jump and hoops to navigate before he will consider himself satisfied that his methods are starting to work.
But while there is a feeling that United are on the road to recovery and slowly improving under Rangnick, the German now faces the small matter of getting Cristiano Ronaldo back in the goals again.
For a player of his quality, extreme talent and superiority, his tally of just two goals in his last seven Premier League appearances is bound to be a slight concern for any United supporter, not just Rangnick. If any other forward within United's squad had gone on this sort of run, it would, most likely, be excusable to a certain air of degree.
However, this is Ronaldo, one of the all-time greats.
In the Portuguese star's defence, he — like everyone else within the United squad — had to adapt to the new 4-2-2-2 formation imposed by Rangnick.
But United's recent return to a more recognisable 4-3-3 system, which has coincided with an upturn in fortunes, ought to help Ronaldo rediscover his shooting boots.
And it's not as if the goals have been flowing at a rapid rate of knots under Rangnick generally so far — so Ronaldo is not the only one to experience a dry spell in front of goal.
But the Portuguese star was brought back to Old Trafford to score goals and at this moment it's not quite happening.
Ronaldo, as demonstrated by his reaction in the aftermath of being substituted against Brentford last Wednesday evening, when he threw his coat to the ground in anger, remains as passionate and as hungry to succeed as he did when he first pulled on a United shirt in 2003.
It is impossible to suck that winning mentality out of a player who has won pretty much everything there is to win, meaning he will be incredibly frustrated by his current difficulties in front of goal.
Rangnick's challenge has to be finding a way to get Ronaldo back among the goals, and quickly.
The longer this mini-drought, which currently stands at three games, rumbles on, more questions are going to be asked about whether or not the Portuguese star is a fit for Rangnick's football. The German needs to find a way to get a consistent goalscoring tune out of Ronaldo again. His undisputed talent remains a sight to behold, but his current struggles in front of goal are more unusual than anything else.
Every player experiences a blip, but Ronaldo is not so used to it. Rangnick must inject some fresh confidence into his star striker during the winter break.
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