Manchester United have another chance to prove themselves - will they blow it?

Manchester United play two games in three days with an opportunity to go top. After a frantic first half of the season, it's a chance to prove their mettle.

United’s last game saw them draw 2-2 at Leicester City, and some would regard the performance as a disappointment. Letting a lead slip late in the game indicates that the club continue to struggle with their fitness and concentration, and another two goals conceded indicates that the defence remains vulnerable.

However Leicester are contenders for a Champions League spot and have started this season in better form than they ended the last one. They have improved their squad and Brendan Rodgers - shorn of his previously irritating self-regard - seems to be one of the best managers in the league again.

Nevertheless, a win would have been a chance for United to establish themselves as faintly credible title contenders going into the second half of the season. In the transfer window they would have been able to offer prospective signings more certainty over the direction of the club, something that has rarely been possible since the departure of Alex Ferguson. The two next games are eminently winnable, and six points would give them the chance to firmly establish themselves as one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

That is not perhaps the boast it once was, as the coronavirus continues to blight the league generally and teams capriciously and specifically. Manchester City are the latest team to be taken out of action, as Newcastle were before them, and it will give those teams an even more condensed and frantic schedule to negotiate. But if other clubs continue to struggle to stay afloat with the all the financial problems that the pandemic has brought, this is a chance for United to finally re-establish themselves as one of the perennial Big Four.

Such a feat is far from easy for United. They are riddled with inconsistency and were before so many games in quick succession, and before Edinson Cavani was rightly banned for his social media post. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer occasionally alights on a useful tactical setup to surprise his opponents, as he did against Leeds United, but he is a generally naive manager. He must now juggle a patchy squad to beat Wolves on Wednesday, and then Aston Villa on Friday.

The problem for Solskjaer is not the attack, not anymore. Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford continue to improve, showing at one moment some exceptional ability and then at another flashes of their relative youth. That excuse will only wash for Martial a little longer, who should now be stepping up to make the most of his potential if he is ever to really validate his obsessive Twitter fanbase. Rashford, a little younger, is already a superior player and does come across as a more determined individual, though such conclusions are only vague and changeable for now. With Mason Greenwood, Dan James, Juan Mata, Bruno Fernandes and Donny van de Beek, they have enough players to make the difference over the course of 180 minutes. Paul Pogba is, on his day, talented enough to carry the side if he is in the mood, but too often he fails to show up. A ruthless Solskjaer would have him carry water and be used as a sub in both matches, should he play at all.

The problem, however, is with the defence. Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof (who may be absent with a back problem), and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are all unconvincing. Unless Wan-Bissaka can be coached to gain a greater understanding of his positional responsibilities, and also to offer a greater threat in attack, then all four of the current backline need to be replaced.

In reserve, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones have proven themselves unfit for business. Brandon Williams and Axel Tuanzebe may one day emerge as first team choices, but most likely they need to be moved on to make way for other squad members. Only Alex Telles is untouchable, and that is for now because he has had insufficient opportunity to prove his worth. David de Gea and Dean Henderson are two competing problems, neither of them an obvious solution.

Solskjaer’s job is to bodge these misfits into something vaguely competent. If they can't be assets, then they must at least stop being liabilities. The job of a manager is to firefight and strategise. Somehow, Solskjaer has done that well enough to be the best of United’s post-Fergie candidates. But the job of a coach is to improve players. The next two games are a chance he has finally started to do that.