Man United resume their Europa League campaign against Club Brugge in their round-of-32 first leg and here are five things to look out for.
Keep the back three?
Some Manchester United supporters may have grimaced upon seeing the underwhelming Chelsea side on Monday evening. The use of a back three with the potentially hazardous Eric Bailly paid Chelsea an excessive amount of respect when, whatever the points difference, they are United's equals.
Not defensively, though. Chelsea are as watertight as the government's background checks for aides and they conceded two goals against a predictable United who were emboldened to abandon counter-attacking for controlling football.
Club Brugge are another side lacking the clout to merit a back three. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has reserved the split striker tactic for Liverpool, Chelsea, Sheffield United and Manchester City in the league, but also Partizan Belgrade and Tranmere Rovers. Club Brugge took a 2-0 lead at Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage before they left with a 2-2 draw.
Luke Shaw has been a revelation as a left-sided centre half and his teammate was rechristened 'Baillybauer' in midweek at Stamford Brigde.
Or an additional attacker?
United pillaged four in Bruges four-and-a-half years ago and, more relevantly, dismissed St Etienne 3-0 in the first leg of the round-of-32 in 2017. At this stage of the tournament, there is enough fodder around for the elite teams to box off ties before the second leg.
Demanding developing full-backs to supplement an attack largely dependent on the craft of Bruno Fernandes is maybe misguided, and arguably a waste to restrict Juan Mata and Mason Greenwood to game-changing benchwarmers again.
Romero or De Gea?
If Sergio Romero continues his Europa League commitments then it is perhaps safe to assume David de Gea will not get a look-in during United's knockout campaign, injury permitting.
Romero has eight clean sheets from 10 appearances this season and 33 from 54 in his United career. Those statistics are skewed by two Premier League appearances in the last four years, though Romero kept United in the cup competitions this year with the decisive stop in the shootout with Rochdale and world-class denial of Matt Doherty at Wolves.
Romero also has more recent Europa League knockout nerve than De Gea, a victor in 2010 with Atletico Madrid.
Springboard?
United have not won four successive matches this season and they face Club Brugge in two of their next three fixtures, with Watford sandwiched between. Some supporters are already braced for the potential frustration against a team struggling to emerge from the relegation quicksand on Sunday, but a fourth consecutive away win in Belgium for United would fuel confidence in a team that has not conceded since the defeat to Burnley on January 22.
Manchester United players train ahead of Club Brugge game:
Rested players?
Solskjaer rebuked the Premier League for scheduling United's trip to Chelsea on a Monday night in a Europa League week. United only have two 'rest' days between their three matches in a hectic week that might make memories of the Spanish sunshine feel distant.
Watford is especially pivotal with Tottenham due at Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime. United only capitalised on Chelsea dropping points by playing against their patsies and, between the resumption of the league in November and the winter break, Chelsea squandered 24 points and United 20.
The domestic weekend fixtures are an incentive for Solskjaer to consider the conditioning of certain players in Bruges; the winter break did not arrest the form of Daniel James and Fred's importance to United is growing on a weekly basis. Nemanja Matic has had a lease of life and playing three specialist full-backs in three matches within seven days is ridden with risk.