Many Manchester United supporters would have learnt a lot from Monday's abysmal 1-1 draw against Newcastle, which was way off what we expected from a Ralf Rangnick team.
There were so many aspects of United's performance that were awful; there was no cohesion, the attack looked disjointed from the midfield, and consequently, they didn't look threatening enough in front of goal.
It was apparent this wasn't a display that Rangnick was pleased about, which he later confirmed in his post-match interview, and it's also clear that United are miles off from where he wants them to be.
The 63-year-old came to United with a solid reputation, known as the 'godfather of gegenpressing' in his native Germany. It was expected that we'd see the team change the way they played under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and after the 1-0 win against Crystal Palace, there was hope.
In that match, United were on the front foot and pressing for large parts of the 90 minutes, but it's been the complete opposite since then.
The Newcastle game emphasised there's a lot of work to do to get the team performing how he wants them to play. The last two displays are a cause for concern because they were lacklustre performances against the two sides at the bottom of the Premier League.
It's proven that it will take a bit of time for the rest of United's squad to get used to the methods used by Rangnick, which could affect the longer-term managerial situation.
Rangnick has only agreed to come in on an initial six-month basis before taking up a consultancy role for two years to help get United back on track to winning titles.
It's expected that the German will have a say in who becomes the next permanent manager of United. But because he only has six months to work with the team, that might not be enough time to make the changes he needs.
He might've already proven himself right, that he may need longer than six months to embed a philosophy. In his first ever press conference, he confirmed that he might suggest to United's board they keep him in the role for a year;
He said: "The people with whom I have spoken have been very clear we are speaking of a six-month role.
"We have never spoken about what will happen in the summer. Right now I'm fully aware they might be looking for a new manager.
"If they will then speak with me about that we will see. Maybe if they ask my opinion and everything goes well and we develop the team I might even make the same recommendation to the board that I did at Leipzig twice when I recommended it might be a good idea to keep working with me for one year.
"But this is all hypothetical. We cannot speak about that."
Of course, Rangnick staying on would be dependent on his own success and so far it's been a strange start to his life in Manchester. While there have been positives, he also would've learnt a few things about his new team.
At the same time, it's looking like the current setup in the squad are still relying on individual moments of brilliance rather than any positive patterns of play. This is a massive problem that must stop. because United won't win much if the team aren't playing as a collective.
It remains to be seen how long United will take to understand Rangnick's methods, but it could take some time based on the Newcastle game.
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