When Ralf Rangnick was first appointed as Manchester United's interim manager, he seemed to be wedded to the 4-2-2-2 formation that he had found success with during his time with RB Leipzig during the 2018/19 season.
However, whereas Leipzig were much more suited to this high pressing style of play, for United, it proved a new concept, and the results and performances reflected that.
Rangnick has had to go back to the drawing board and devise a tactic that gets the best out of his current crop of players while still keeping the essential traits of his style of play.
And after a more dynamic and impressive performance from United in the first half against Aston Villa, it seems he's settled upon a formation.
In his most recent press conference, he said: "If I compare our two games, in the cup and in the league, we did a lot better in the league game at Villa Park. The performance in the first 70 minutes was really good, I liked our movements, I liked our game in possession of the ball, the structure of the game, the way that we pressed.
"Even when we had to defend our own box, we did that well. We need to have a similar performance tomorrow against Brentford. We have now decided to play a 4-3-3 like we did against Aston Villa, with one holding six, two eights and three offensive players."
The struggles with this formation are apparent. Nemanja Matic played the full 90 minutes against Aston Villa, but every United fan could see that he was struggling in the second half and his lack of legs contributed to United conceding both goals.
But Matic is United's only natural six, so it means that he will be required to do a job in this position from now on unless Rangnick decides to deploy Scott McTominay there.
The significant benefit of using this formation is it lays the groundwork for the next permanent manager. The MEN Sport understands that United's two main targets for the permanent manager position are Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino. Both of these managers are currently using the 4-3-3 at their current clubs of Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively.
So United's players will get used to the formation and some of the basics of pressing and positional play, which are crucial to both managers' philosophies.
But with Rangnick hopefully moving to a consultancy role alongside John Murtaugh and Darren Fletcher, he will spend the time using this formation to identify the weaknesses in the squad and begin to draw up a shortlist of targets for each role that United can use in the summer.
Overall the shift to 4-3-3 may help United gain results in the short term, but the long term effect can also not be ignored.
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