Where are Manchester United at the moment?
After 15 minutes of their fixture against Young Boys, United looked to be cruising on their way to another convincing victory following the dominating second-half display against Newcastle United.
Yet the demons from last season's embarrassing group-stage defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir reared their ugly head as an Aaron Wan-Bissaka red card plunged United into a change of plan, defending deep throughout the second half and sacrificing the attacking impetus that spurred the side onto an early lead at the Wankdorf Stadium.
It led to an agonising defeat and, thus, question marks over their progress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Encouragingly, United are heading back on the road again this week to visit an in-form West Ham side who look set to challenge a European spot for the second year running.
Both sides have started the league season unbeaten, in promising form, and with the spectacular attacking talents at the disposal of either side, something has to give.
Last season's fixture was an early December affair, when the Premier League allowed for the opening of a fraction of the London Stadium to spectators for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Despite United running out seemingly comfortable 3-1 winners, they were only dominant for about 20 minutes. Their performance was lifted after Bruno Fernandes entered the fray at half-time — he was being rested after Champions League commitments — but until then, United were a shadow of their usual selves.
Their showing only marginally improved after the break until Paul Pogba plucked a goal out of nothing near the hour mark.
Solksjaer must start his most gifted attacking talents from the beginning against a West Ham defence that have conceded five goals in four games. United have a certain quality when they're on song in attack that few clubs can match. They are dynamic, fast, skilful, and utterly frightening when Pogba and Fernandes are at one with the plethora of attacking talents at United's disposal.
Unfortunately for United fans, there are no guarantees that Solskjaer will get his team selection right against West Ham.
And even if he does, United's forwards don't always click and can be held back by a midfield that is constantly changing due to a lack of quality recruitment for a number six. Whether it be Fred or Nemanja Matic, Solskjaer will fear the potential to be overrun by Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek.
Despite all this, United now have Cristiano Ronaldo to call upon. Arguably the greatest goalscorer in history, Ronaldo is the archetypal striker to face West Ham.
This season, they have displayed an incapacity to defend crosses from wide areas, especially against Newcastle, where they conceded twice from headed efforts.
The formula for this fixture will be to attack quickly with balls from Fernandes and Pogba to wide areas, where Luke Shaw can whip crosses into the Portuguese international. Solskjaer has found success with this method in the past and could serve them well against a West Ham side ill-equipped to deal with pace and quality on the break.
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