Ruud van Nistelrooy is keeping his promise to Ruben Amorim ahead of Manchester United job swap

Three down, one to go. The Ruud van Nistelrooy era at Manchester United will end this weekend, but so far, the club's legendary former striker is fulfilling his brief.

After the high of the rampant Carabao Cup win against Leicester City, things have become a little more mundane recently. They were second best in a draw against Chelsea, followed by a scrappy win against PAOK in the Europa League.

United will hope the new manager bounce under incoming head coach Ruben Amorim lasts more than one game. To be fair to Van Nistelrooy, if he can finish this weekend with three wins and a draw from his four games, he will consider that a success. He will also be doing his replacement in the Old Trafford dugout a favour.

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This wasn't a performance that would have had Amorim counting down the hours until he arrives at Carrington. It only served to highlight quite how much work is required here. For 45 minutes at least, United made incredibly hard work of beating a side sitting 33rd in the 36-team Europa League standings, although they did at least win their first European game for 380 days.

That is where they find themselves at the moment, however, and you were grateful for the 4,000-strong visiting contingent, who contributed to a fine atmosphere. Without them, this would have felt even more low-key than it was.

It certainly couldn't match the fireworks on show in Lisbon on Tuesday. If you were being mischievous, you would suggest this 2-0 victory wasn't even United's best win in Europe this week.

The way Amorim's Sporting side tore Manchester City apart in the Champions League was certainly eye-catching. It took the excitement levels over the