Erik ten Hag is reaping the benefits of acting swiftly and decisively when it came to making one of his biggest calls as Manchester United boss to date.
The brief interim reign of Ralf Rangnick is one every United fan would like to forget in a hurry, with the German coach undeniably underwhelming in his task of proving to be a worthy stop-gap between the end of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's reign and the start of Ten Hag's.
At the back end of Solskjaer's tenure, the list of problems United were plagued with was a lengthy one, but failing to keep the players who weren't always featuring on side was a big one. Take Dean Henderson, the England international actually managed to dislodged David de Gea under the Norwegian towards the tail-end of 'Project Restart'.
Such was Henderson's good form, Solskjaer actually refused to even acknowledge who United's number one goalkeeper was anymore.
"I have the option of two top goalkeepers and of course both of them want to play as much as possible – that will be decided on merit," the United manager told MUTV six months before his sacking last year. "I have two number ones."
As any goalkeeper will tell you, the idea of two number ones doesn't work - more often than not, clarity surrounding who will be lining up between the sticks most weeks is essential to bring the best out of both.
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Injuries then curtailed Henderson's development alongside a bout of Covid-19. The former Sheffield United loanee lost his place to stalwart De Gea. but by the time Ten Hag had been appointed, Henderson had recovered and was available to the new boss should he want him.
But Ten Hag didn't. And he made that very clear. Unlike Solskjaer, Ten Hag was firm in his stance that De Gea was his number one moving forward and while Henderson may not have agreed with the decision, he at the very least could appreciate the clear, concise way the new boss was operating.
Henderson now finds himself on loan at Nottingham Forest where he has been one of the standout performers, but the backing of the boss appears to have brought the best out of De Gea as well.
United's most recent outing saw them beat Real Sociedad 1-0 away from home in a clash that the Red Devils needed to win by two clear goals to progress into the Europa League knockout stages as group leaders.
While they failed and now go through as runners-up, De Gea certainly did all he could - keeping a clean sheet and pulling off some spectacular saves.
His finest moment came in the first half when the 31-year-old first palmed away a shot from distance, but Sociedad forward Pablo Marin looked set to pounce on the rebound.
De Gea, who was on the floor, remarkably managed to make himself as big as possible and divert the ball over the bar using his head. It was a moment of magic that marked one of the saves of the season so far.
After a shaky start this term, De Gea looks someway closer to recapturing his best form at Old Trafford safe in the knowledge he has the full support of Ten Hag.
