Select a new captain for the ship.

When looking back on the game against Atletico Madrid, Ralf Rangnick may have been wise to keep Harry Maguire on for the remainder of the game. Maguire is a threat at set-pieces, and Rangnick should have anticipated that Maguire's departure, as well as the removal of the captain's armband, would bring some pleasure to sections of the audience who had mocked Marcus Rashford's substitute earlier in the season.

When it comes to the England camp, Harry Maguire may already be back in his familiar surroundings. Dismissing crowd noise on social media is something that players can do, but when that noise is magnified by fans, there may be no turning back. Even among his teammates, Maguire is not seen as a trustworthy leader by many United fans, and Rangnick's next news conference in two weeks is not going to be any exception.

Bruno Fernandes, a regular starter who will have spent two and a half years in the United pressure cooker by the start of next season, has captained the club on several occasions and would be an obvious long-term successor to the armband.

Edinson Cavani was named to Uruguay's World Cup qualifying squad last night, and he will be available for the team's matches against Peru and Chile this month. It is safe to assume that Cavani will miss United's next encounter against Leicester on April 2. This season, Cavani has not appeared in any of the matches that follow the international break, according to ESPN.

On July 1, the 35-year-old is one of five players whose contracts will be shredded. In addition to Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, and Lee Grant also on the list. Attempting to sway any of them with an 11th-hour offer would be a waste of time.

Sell, sell, and more sell

There is a saying that says that making a wrong decision is preferable to remaining indecisive. According to Lingard, Anthony Elanga, and Donny van de Beek, Manchester United was riddled with indecision during the summer of 2017. United will have no choice but to cut their underachieving squad this summer, particularly if they fail to finish in the top four.

Every recent Manchester United manager, with the exception of David Moyes, has overseen a mass exodus during their first summer in command. Ander Herrera, Romelu Lukaku, Chris Smalling, Alexis Sanchez, and Matteo Darmian were all released in the summer of 2019, and a similar level of decisiveness is required this summer as they were previously.

Two decent seasons in seven for Anthony Martial, a £50million misfit for Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and Eric Bailly have outlived their usefulness at Manchester United. The likes of Van de Beek and Dean Henderson could find new leases on life if Erik ten Hag were to take control, but Van de Beek preferred the familiar surroundings of Everton in August. He is currently embroiled in a tense relegation battle.

Make hires in the manager's image.

With either coach, whether it is Ten Hag or Mauricio Pochettino, one of the few guarantees with either coach is that United will develop a distinct identity. With the 4-2-3-1 configuration, Ten Hag has had great success at Ajax. When Frenkie de Jong was taken away from the club by Barcelona, Ajax switched to the Total Football-inspired 4-3-3. As a team, Pochettino's Tottenham were most effective while playing in an aggressive 4-2-3-1 formation and attacking with a back three, taking advantage of defensive midfielder Eric Dier's mobility by dropping him to center-back.

Varane needs a quality mate.

Even though United will have conducted due research on their next management appointment, the recruitment plan must place a strong emphasis on the group as a whole, regardless of who that manager is going to be. When the top recruiters in the Premier League assess the benefit a signing will have on their teammates, United have long had a predisposition for individualistic recruits, which is understandable.

Luis Diaz has the potential to be vital in Liverpool's title race because he has been integrated into a forward line that has a consistent style of play and because he relieves the pressure on the club's older strikers.

Standards must be maintained.

United's condition is so dire that they may have to wait for Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp to abandon their respective clubs before they can compete for the Premier League title. They can bemoan their misfortune, but they should remember that they had opportunity to hire either coach in the past.

A title challenge next season already appears unlikely, but it would be a mistake for United to accept another season of steady progression under a manager who hails from Norway's second division once more. An esteemed coach should supervise them as they work to build the backbone of an exciting team (Fernandes, David de Gea, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo).

In addition to promising youth Jadon Sancho, Anthony Elanga, and Hannibal Mejbri, the club's next manager will also have access to an expanding academy pool.

Sancho would be welcomed by the next United coach.

Re-establish contact with supporters

Because Maguire is from Yorkshire, he was always going to be unpopular with those Greater Manchester supporters who came to watch him play. Additionally, he was a pricey acquisition who was quickly promoted to captain and has not had the transformative effect at United's main competitors that Virgil van Dijk and Ruben Dias, who were signed the year before and following Maguire, have had.

With Rashford, he is a Wythenshawe native who grew up as a Manchester United fan and progressed through the club's academy. It's a shame that, less than six years after launching a glittering professional career and making his Premier League debut, Rashford's connection with certain Manchester United fans has soured. Rashford's form has been inconsistent for the past 15 months, which has caused discontent among the Manchester United faithful.

As part of the doomed 'culture reset,' Manchester United emphasized the importance of players making time for their followers. Despite the fact that the pandemic has put a gap between them, there is a disconnect after games at Old Trafford, regardless of the outcome. When the players emerge from the tunnel, some security men almost genuflect in their direction, while others go straight forward. When it came to Rangnick's first game in command, United made another blunder by omitting to present him to the fans in the stands.

Having a public preseason training day at Old Trafford again would be nice; it used to be an annual occurrence at the turn of the century but was last held in 2010.