Seven Manchester United players have boosted their chances of playing under Ralf Rangnick amid his difficult start to life at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils interim manager is yet to find a winning formula in the north-west, but Monday's training session may well have a big impact on Rangnick's team selections going forward.
After fielding 27 different players in his first eight games in charge, the 63-year-old watched on as a small group - containing Cristiano Ronaldo - stood out, winning a competition at Carrington which Rangnick is a "big fan" of.
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Ronaldo's Instagram post revealed that he was part of the 'winning team' in United 7-a-side tournament on Monday.
The 36-year-old, who has been absent from the past two matches due to injury, was joined by Tom Heaton, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw, Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek and Marcus Rashford.
The small-sided competition is something Rangnick takes great interest in, as he revealed when speaking to his club's website last week before the Red Devils drew 2-2 at Aston Villa.
"We played 7v7 in a tournament with three teams. The other week, we did the same with 5v5," the acclaimed German coach revealed.
"So we do that, depending on the number of players that are available. I'm a big fan of doing that once per week, those kind of competitions, because the players need to perform on a high level.
"The workload is good and you can see nobody can hide if you play 7v7 or 5v5. Everyone has to show up. If he doesn’t do that it becomes obvious for the head coach and the team members."
Interestingly, only one of Monday's seven winners featured at Villa Park, with Van de Beek being given a typically brief cameo.
However, his success on the training ground lends precedent as to why Rangnick wants to keep him in Manchester beyond the January transfer window, despite the Dutchman's lack of minutes.
"I'm glad to have him in the squad, he came on in a last 15-20 minutes against Villa in the cup game and he did well," the ex- RB Leipzig and Schalke boss recently explained.
"He's always performing on a high level in training. For him, I have a conversation two weeks ago after training exactly about that.
"I told him I would advise him to stay until the end of the season."
Aside from Pogba returning from injury almost a month ahead of schedule in impressive fashion, the session was also a boost for Rashford, who has been subject to heavy criticism for his under-pare performances of late.
Shaw has lost his place in the starting XI to Alex Telles, and Heaton and Jones joined him on the bench for Saturday's draw, as training seems to be their best chance of impressing the temporary boss.
With two games to go until the winter break, Rangnick and co are under pressure to start turning the ship around - and fast.
United travel to Brentford on Wednesday before welcoming West Ham to Old Trafford three days later, and it would be no surprise if he calls on some of his magnificent seven.
