3 months ago
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Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says he is "not Harry Potter", and is adamant his side have a great chance to lift a trophy this season despite their chastening 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool.
The visitors already had a goal ruled out before Luis Diaz struck twice in seven first-half minutes at Old Trafford.
Mohamed Salah added a third nine minutes after the restart and United were fortunate to escape without a repeat of their 5-0 humiliation in the same fixture in 2021.
It was a bad day for Ten Hag given his starting line-up included six of his signings. His latest, £50.5m Uruguay midfielder Manuel Ugarte, was introduced to the fans before kick-off having been registered after Friday’s 12:00 BST deadline to play in the game.
United are now 14th in the Premier League table, with just three points from their opening three games.
However, Ten Hag refused to accept the negative view of the result.
"It is not like I am Harry Potter," he said. "You have to acknowledge that.
"For three players it was their first start of the season.
"Manuel Ugarte did not play one minute - he needs to build his fitness. Then we have to build him into the team. I am sure he will contribute to our team. It will take a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. That is the same for a lot of players."
Ten Hag included striker Joshua Zirkzee in that. The Netherlands forward had a strange game, mixing a lot of aimless passes with getting United’s best chances, one of which he put wide, the other brilliantly saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
Matthijs de Ligt did not look completely comfortable at the back alongside Lisandro Martinez, while England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo was exposed too often by Ryan Gravenberch, who excelled in the central positions for the visitors.
Ten Hag became embroiled in an argument with a journalist in his post-match media conference.
The former Ajax coach said he had a "different vision" to the one put forward around his side making the same mistakes for two years, "otherwise we wouldn't win trophies and beat bigger opponents".
"I don’t want to talk about positives today," he said. "This defeat hurts for us and our fans.
"It is the third game of the season. I have had to explain this so many times. We have to build a new team. We will be fine but it is clear we have to improve.
"At the end of the season I am quite confident we will have a big chance to lift another trophy."
Veteran Brazil midfielder Casemiro was at fault for the first two Liverpool goals.
He gave the ball straight to Gravenberch deep in United’s own half for the first, and was nudged off the ball by Diaz too easily for the second.
Ten Hag took the bold decision to replace the former Real Madrid man with 20-year-old Toby Collyer at half-time.
A video emerged on social media which was claimed to show Casemiro leaving Old Trafford early - which Ten Hag rejected.
"He didn’t leave the stadium at half-time," the manager said. "I met him in the dressing room after the game.
"I took him off because we were 2-0 down against an opponent like Liverpool. We had to take risks because we wanted to bounce back and needed players in midfield who can cover the ground.
"He won everything in his career. I am sure he will keep contributing to our team."
