After the promising start made by Erik ten Hag in pre-season, last weekend's opening 2-1 defeat by Brighton showed just how far Manchester United still have to go before they are competitive again. Some of that work will be undertaken at Carrington and the new manager certainly wasn't going easy on his players in the baking sunshine this week.
Next up for United is a trip to Brentford, which they could do with winning considering they will face Liverpool in their following league game. Here are five things we spotted in training ahead of the trip to West London:
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Clear focus on one-touch passing in training drill
There was a clear focus on quick, one-touch passing as Ten Hag continues to try and make United a more dynamic and fluid side. Progress was seen in that regard during the summer but United appeared to take a backwards step against Brighton as they reverted back to being ponderous, inaccurate and unimaginative on the ball.
That clearly doesn't sit right with Ten Hag, who spent a long time on the one-touch drill and his staff were repeatedly telling the players to be 'quicker!'
No Martial or Lindelof
With the vast majority of the squad out training, including several youngsters like Alejandro Garnacho, Zidane Iqbal and Shola Shoretire, Anthony Martial and Victor Lindelof remained absent after missing the game against Brighton.
Martial suffered a hamstring injury in the lead-up to the game while Lindelof was a late withdrawal after suffering a minor thigh injury. Neither were pictured in Thursday's session and it appears that they haven't been in training all week, making them doubtful for Saturday's game.
Ronaldo pushing to start
Martial's absence proved costly against Brighton as Ten Hag opted to deploy Christian Eriksen in the centre-forward position, an experiment that backfired massively. Eriksen got the nod as Ronaldo was deemed not fit enough to play the full 90 minutes after missing the bulk of pre-season.
But with another week of training under his belt, Ronaldo will certainly be pushing for a starting berth in London. The Portuguese looked as sharp as ever on Thursday and doesn't look like he is only in his third week of training.
Ten Hag discusses tactics with Van der Gaag
During the session, assistant manager Mitchell van der Gaag joined the stoic-looking Ten Hag and looked to engage the manager in a discussion on tactics.
Van der Gaag walked from side-to-side and twisted his body during the talk as if he was discussing a player's ability to take the ball on the turn.
The lack of that skill in midfield was evident on Sunday, as Paul Scholes pointed out, so if it's something the coaches are looking to change then that certainly bodes well.
Ramsay's encouragement
During the one-touch passing drill, set-piece coach Eric Ramsay could be seen watching on and applauding encouragingly.
Ramsay joined United from Chelsea last summer with a specific remit to improve United at set-pieces as well as individual player development.
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