Ruben Amorim
Ruben Amorim took a watching brief at United training
Ruben Amorim watched on at Carrington as an almost fully fit Manchester United squad trained ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash with Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen.
United fly out on Wednesday afternoon as they seek a third consecutive win in the competition that would see them close the gap to the top eight and the automatic qualifying spots for the last-16.
Only Luke Shaw was missing from the training group as the injury situation at the club finally abated. As per UEFA guidelines, the media were invited in to see the first 15 minutes of the session.
This is what we noticed from training:
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Amorim's watching brief
The section of open training we were permitted to see was taken up entirely by rondos, and while there were plenty of coaching and fitness staff out on the grass, Amorim stood alone, distant from the fun unfolding in front of him.
Coaches won't learn an awful lot from watching a rondo, and Amorim was happy to let other staff members observe the two groups of outfield players going through the drill.
Amorim stood alone, maybe 20 yards away from the rondos. When the sessions really get going, the head coach becomes a central figure, talking players through drills in his 3-4-3 shape, but when time allows, he is happy to step back.
Staff watch on
It was noticeable how many staff members were at the training session compared to Erik ten Hag. Under the Dutchman, there would generally only be the first-team coaches out on the grass, but on Wednesday morning, there were 17 different staff members out, including goalkeeping coaches Jorge Vital and Craig Mawson, who were taking the 'keepers in a separate warm-up drill.
All of Amorim's first-team staff were on the grass, but they were joined by a cast of extras, all with a designated role to play in part of the session to come. They stood around in small groups talking, and it was unusual to see quite so many staff members around a training session.
Timing improves
It was a regular complaint during the Ten Hag era just how tardy the timekeeping around open training sessions was. On at least one occasion this season, the players only emerged an hour after the media had been told it would begin.
That might seem like a minor complaint, but it also paints a picture of a tardy and lax attitude and fuels the idea that United simply weren't across the details when Ten Hag was in charge. That has changed now. On Wednesday, the players were out at the exact time the session was due to begin, and things ran like clockwork.
Martinez aggression
The energy and enthusiasm are always high during the pre-session rondos, and that was no different on Wednesday. In one group, Lisandro Martinez went to the ground to fly into a sliding tackle as he tried to win the ball, showing that aggression is on show on the training pitches as well as in matches.
Casemiro was loudly counting the number of passes in his group. After one controversial decision, Martinez and Bruno Fernandes lifted Tyrell Malacia off his feet and plonked him into the middle.
Unprecedented depth
It was a rare session across the last 18 months in that it didn't feature any academy youngsters who have regularly made the numbers up under Ten Hag and Amorim.
Most of them played at Old Trafford on Tuesday night as the Under-19s crashed out of the UEFA Youth League, but they also weren't needed in the first-team squad as the injury situation finally begins to improve.
Shaw was the only first-team player absent, which meant a 25-man group could train without the need to boost numbers from the academy.