Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be in no mood to blow out the candles on his cake when he celebrates a year in charge of Manchester United on Thursday.

The Norwegian will hope to mark the occasion with a routine success against Colchester United the night before, securing progress to the Carabao Cup semi-finals, but as encouraging as a piece of silverware would be, he knows the Premier League is what his reign will ultimately be judged on.

To that end the 1-1 draw with Everton on Sunday seems a suitable moment to take stock, marking as it did his 38th Premier League fixture in charge of the club. That's a full season's worth of work and while it's not easy to judge, given Solskjaer inherited someone else's team and is in the early stages of what he has described as a rebuild.

But given the average tenure of a Premier League manager is less than one and three quarter years at the moment, signs of progression must be built on quickly. United have consistently backed Solskjaer this season, but he isn't naive enough to believe he will get unlimited time to implement his plans at Old Trafford.

Judged on just the numbers, his 38 league games are probably only graded as average. They've yielded 65 points, one fewer than United secured in the whole of last season, and a total that won't be enough for a top four finish. Improvements are essential.

The most frustrating aspect for Solskjaer will be that those games have yielded the most wonderful highs, but also the most agonising lows. Perhaps it was fitting that he bought up a season's worth of work against Everton, given it was that desperate day on Merseyside in April where his side were beaten 4-0 and outworked and outfought that seemed to yield a Year Zero moment.

The honeymoon was well and truly over by that point. But while there have been moments to savour - such as that initial winning run and the 4-0 win against Chelsea on the opening day of this season - and performances to suggest a future is bright - against Tottenham and Manchester City recently - there have been too many games where the bad old habits have returned.

This is a spell of 38 games that have been pockmarked by inconsistency. Every time Solskjaer's United look to be building up a head of steam the momentum comes to a screeching, shuddering halt.

Given that has been the story of his first year in charge perhaps it was fitting that the forward progress that was so hard earned by those wins against Spurs and City was stopped by Everton in a draw that was typical of the frustration that has gripped United on days like this.

United have taken 14 points this season from games against the traditional top six and Leicester, but just 11 points from their other 11 games. That is the nub of the problem for Solskjaer.

Beating the best in the Premier League is clearly a sign that United have progression in them under Solskjaer, but their inconsistency will be what costs them.

That has to be the biggest area of improvement for Solskjaer as he begins his second season in the job. His learning curve is over now, the first year has shown signs of progress, but the next 38 Premier League games have to show where this side is going.

There needs to be more days like the wins over Tottenham and City and less frustrating afternoons against the likes of Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Everton.

After Sunday's draw Solskjaer stressed that side were "on the right track". That might be the case, but if they can discover some consistency the track will straighten out and United's progress will become much quicker.