Normally, 18 days without activity would be a source of great aggravation, but it appears that everyone associated with Manchester United may benefit from a brief reprieve.

United have faced another arduous several weeks, despite a small relief against an equally wayward Tottenham side on Sunday. United were ousted from the Champions League on Tuesday in a fairly meek and unpleasant manner after a goalless draw with relegation-threatened Watford was followed by yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of neighbours Manchester City.

With the exception of Jadon Sancho, Fred, Raphael Varane, and David de Gea, nearly every United player is suffering from a poor run of form, pessimism is once again seeping through the cracks, and a black, dark cloud is gathering over Old Trafford once again. Unfortunately, the cloud won't be able to become any more ominous for nearly three weeks.

Due to Liverpool's FA Cup quarter-final tie, Manchester United have been spared yet another humiliation by their hated rivals. After that, the international break will resume, which will bring club football to a halt for two weeks.

In January, a bonus round was introduced into what was supposed to be the Premier League's winter break, resulting in this being the second international break of the calendar year. Despite the fact that most of United's players were overseas representing their countries as South American and Asian nations were allowed time to catch up with World Cup qualifying fixtures that had been postponed by the pandemic, the majority of the squad were able to take use of the opportunity.

In acknowledgment of his advocacy, Marcus Rashford has been awarded an honorary doctorate.
At the worst possible time, United's prior break couldn't have come at a worse time. They were in the midst of yet another poor run at the start of the year, having recorded only two victories in five games, both against teams in the bottom three, while also losing to Wolves and drawing with Newcastle and Aston Villa. After a period of increasing strain, it appeared as if Ralf Rangnick had reached a turning point.

Manchester United won 3-1 at Brentford in their first away game of the season, and they then beat top-four rivals West Ham with a last-gasp winner in their final encounter before the international break. United have now won six of their previous seven games. After two convincing victories, they were finally beginning to gain some confidence, but the break brought all of that progress to a grinding halt.

United have lost to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, been knocked out of the Champions League, drawn with Burnley, Southampton, and Watford, and been pummeled by Manchester City in their first ten games since returning to action. They have only won three times in that period.

The break was particularly harsh for Marcus Rashford. His powerful strike against the Bees and his tap-in goal against the Hammers secured both triumphs. Since his last goal came in October, it had been a long time coming. But two goals in as many games gave him the confidence he needed to start getting back to his best.

Rashford has subsequently fallen to new lows as that run failed to last until the break. He has failed to find the back of the net in any of his nine games since then, and he appears to be entirely devoid of confidence – a long cry from the player we all know he is capable of being. On Tuesday, he was particularly bad in his 23 minutes against Atletico, as he gave the ball away with errant passes and sloppy touches and had no effect whatsoever.

While the previous break proved to be costly for United, the current one may prove to be a gift in disguise. Outside of Europe, all attention is now focused on guaranteeing that the United States will qualify for the Champions League next season. It will be a difficult challenge, given the fact that they are trailing an in-form Arsenal, who has three games in hand; nonetheless, failure would be catastrophic.

The break will provide Rangnick with the opportunity to analyze and plan for a crucial run of fixtures, as well as the opportunity to engage with his players on the training field. While most of the squad is expected to be called up for international duty, which means they won't have much time to recover, the time away from the negative environment will be refreshing, and ideally solid performances while on international duty will help to restore some confidence in the team.

If Gareth Southgate decides to call up Rashford and Harry Maguire despite their dreadful record, the friendly matches and upbeat attitude will be a huge help to them. It would be equally as effective to be dropped, since it would provide a much-needed wake-up call and provide time to recover from what has been a difficult few weeks.

However, unlike other years, this year's international break will be greeted with enthusiasm rather than hostility.