Erik ten Hag continues to get big calls right at Old Trafford and even when sentiment might, ordinarily, come into the reckoning he has seen the situation with more clarity than anyone else.
Rewind to the summer months as Manchester United prepared to embark on the pre-season tour which saw them take in Thailand and Australia to sharpen up their shooting boots for the season. Despite his absence for family reasons, it was Cristiano Ronaldo who took centre stage.
But that was before the squad touched backed down in Manchester. In the intervening period, Ten Hag gave Anthony Martial an unexpected lifeline and Marcus Rashford took the first steps in his astounding redemption.
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Had things followed a different script, both players might have been shown the door while leaving United to rely on an ageing if still prolific Ronaldo to lead their line for at least one season with Ten Hag at the helm. But the Dutchman and his backroom staff had other ideas - which have since been justified.
United performed a U-turn on Martial and Ten Hag, effectively, compromised his relationship with Ronaldo to go full throttle in his support for the former. Early season goals and assists proved Martial was the right profile for Ten Hag and his team before a predictable speedbump drew in from the horizon.
Owing to five separate injury setbacks, Martial has only featured in 14 games this campaign and United played their 44th when drawing with Southampton on Sunday afternoon. During the Old Trafford stalemate, stop-gap replacement Wout Weghorst made his 16th start for United since arriving at the club on loan in January.
Remarkably, that is one more than the brittle Martial, 27, has managed across the last two years.
United are, once again, willing to sell Martial when the market reopens in order to part-finance their proposed move for Harry Kane and that has seldom to do with performance. Despite his best efforts, the Frenchman has, put simply, not been viable or reliable for United for too long now.
Weghorst as a long-term option has obvious drawbacks and the Netherlands targetman continues to polarise opinion with his performances. But the one view that matters - Ten Hag's - has unwavered similarly to how the manager placed full faith in Martial even with Ronaldo to contend with.
Ten Hag showed great clarity at a time when he had yet to build up clout in the dressing room. Naturally, his dealing with Ronaldo amplified that as well as encouraging on-field results and, ultimately, that first trophy in the bag with two more firmly on his and the squad's radar.
No matter what people think, Weghorst will be front and centre for those charges, even if his ungainly style and less than potent goal threat at this level make him a sizable target for critics. However, anyone with such an agenda against him has missed the point entirely.
Martial being a frequent visitor to the treatment table and Ronaldo packing his bags mid-season caused Ten Hag to act quickly, decisively and with limitations to find a stop-gap option. He would obviously like to score more goals, but Weghorst has stood up loud and proud to do his bit for the cause.
Sentiment will not cloud Ten Hag's judgement as he chases Kane and continues to put plans in place for next season. But even those in doubt must accept he got it right with Weghorst - as he did on both occasions with Martial when putting his trust in him and, just as promptly, replacing him.
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