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, while intimating nobody should expect him to produce magical outcomes.
“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.”