Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says he is “not Harry Potter” and is adamant his side have a good chance of lifting a trophy this season, despite their depressing 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool.
The visitors had already had a goal disallowed before Luis Diaz scored twice in seven minutes in the first half at Old Trafford.
Mohamed Salah scored a third goal nine minutes after the restart and United were lucky not to repeat the 5-0 humiliation from the same game in 2021.
It was a bad day for Ten Hag as his starting XI included six of his new signings, with his latest, £50.5m Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte, being introduced to fans before kick-off after only signing up for the game after Friday’s registration deadline of 12pm BST.
United are currently 14th in the Premier League table with just three points from their first three games.
However, Ten Hag refused to accept the negative view of the outcome and made it clear that no one should expect magical results from him.
“It’s not like I’m Harry Potter,” he said. “You have to acknowledge that.”
“For three players it was the first start this season.
“Manuel Ugarte hasn’t played a single minute. He needs to improve his fitness. Then we need to integrate him into the team. I’m sure he will contribute to our team. That will take a few weeks, maybe even a month. That’s the case with many players.”
