Man United 0-3 Liverpool: Erik ten Hag’s side utterly outclassed as Luis Diaz nets a brace before Mohamed Salah adds a third

Erik ten Hag chose to boast before his team faced their biggest home game of the season, which some thought rather unwise.

Manchester United under his tenure, Ten Hag said proudly, were second only to Manchester City in terms of trophies won.

He was right, of course, but if he was expecting a round of applause for the glories of bringing a Carabao Cup triumph and an FA Cup victory to Old Trafford, he was sorely mistaken.

Because bringing home a couple of baubles that matter little beside the modern game’s grand trophies counts for nothing alongside the humiliations that are routinely visited upon United now.

They count for nothing when United finished eighth in the Premier League last season and their fans are still told they should be grateful.

Luis Diaz scored a first half brace to put Liverpool in a comfortable position at Old Trafford

Erik ten Hag chose to boast before his team faced their biggest home game of the season

They count for nothing when United are utterly outclassed by a Liverpool team that has just lost one of their greatest managers, Jurgen Klopp.

They count for nothing when United look like boys playing against men. They count for nothing when Liverpool could have rattled in six or seven if they cared to be a little more ruthless in front of goal.

They count for nothing when there is still a seam of entitlement running through many of these United players which they have done absolutely nothing to earn.

They count for nothing when United’s fans are so disillusioned that they left in their droves with ten minutes to go, jeered and mocked by Liverpool’s supporters as they went.

‘Ten Hag’s at the wheel, Ten Hag’s at the wheel,’ the visiting supporters sang delightedly, adapting the song United fans used to sing about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

For how much longer, though? That is the question. For how much longer can Ten Hag survive at England’s biggest club on empty boasts and bluster?

There was always a suspicion that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his grim-faced henchman Sir Dave Brailsford were merely buying time when they did not fire Ten Hag in the summer.

And there was always a suspicion that if things did not go well at the start of this season, Ten Hag would be gone by October.

After their defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion last weekend, United have now lost two of their opening three fixtures and sit 14th in the table.

Things may get better when their new £50m midfield signing Manuel Ugarte, who was paraded on the pitch before this game, is available to play.

That is the area of the side where United most desperately need reinforcements. Casemiro, once a giant of a player, was exposed as a liability yet again and was at fault for Liverpool’s first two goals.

The trophies won under Ten Hag count for nothing when United look like boys playing against men in their games

Brazilian midfielder Casemiro, once a giant of a player, was exposed as a liability yet again

But it is not just midfield. United looked rank in central defence, too. Lisandro Martinez talks a good game and is awfully good at looking scary but when it comes to shutting down decent forwards, he is not quite so impressive.

Matthijs de Ligt, United’s new signing from Bayern Munich, was also underwhelming. Kobbie Mainoo was brushed aside. Alejandro Garnacho was peripheral. The list of doom went on and on and on.

As for Liverpool, well it is hard to judge them against as side as poor as this United team but they appear to have moved on as seamlessly as possible from Klopp’s departure.

They were, at times, brilliant and fluent going forward. Mo Salah turned provider as well as scorer, Ryan Gravenberch looks a player transformed under new boss Arne Slot and was the man of the match.

Slot became the first Liverpool manager since Bob Paisley in November 1975 to win his first game against United and the first since George Kay, with a 5-2 win in November 1936, to triumph in his first league match at Old Trafford.

On this showing, it looks as if Liverpool, once again, will join Arsenal and City in the battle for the title.

United had made a strong, vibrant start, dominating possession and roared on by a beseeching crowd, but they were grateful for a reprieve from VAR after Liverpool’s first attack in the seventh minute.

Liverpool thought they lead after six minutes but Trent Alexander-Arnold’s strike was ruled out 

Gravenberch turned beautifully as he took a ball from Virgil van Dijk midway inside the United half and set off on a dazzling run. He played in Luis Diaz and even though his cross was forced over the line by Trent Alexander-Arnold, replays showed Salah had strayed offside when he touched the ball in the build-up.

After that flurry of action, the match sunk into a kind of stalemate but there was still much to admire about United’s play in the context of that stalemate. The energy and the co-ordination of their pressing finally appears to getting closer to the standard of their rivals.

But as the half wore on, that energy dropped and United’s passing grew more and more sloppy. It felt as if it were only a matter of time until they were made to pay for their carelessness and when Casemiro gave the ball away to Gravenberch 10 minutes before the interval, they paid the penalty.

Gravenberch surged forward and laid the ball into the path of Salah, who was overlapping on the right. Salah floated a perfect cross to the back post where both Dominik Szoboszlai and Diaz were waiting for it unmarked.

United’s only hope seemed to be that the two Liverpool players would get in each other’s way but Diaz shouted a warning at the last moment, Szoboszlai ducked out of the way and Diaz guided his header past Andre Onana.

Mohamed Salah floated a perfect cross to the back post where Diaz was waiting to finish off 

After 42 minutes Salah played the ball back to Diaz and the forward swept it majestically past Andre Onana

United almost hit back straight away but Alisson saved well from Noussair Mazraoui’s low shot and frustration crept deeper into United’s game, exemplified by Martinez fouling Szoboszlai crudely from behind.

Van Dijk invited Martinez to try picking on him instead but it did not take Liverpool long to get their revenge on the Argentina defender. Van Dijk was able to stand and watch as Liverpool doubled their lead.

Casemiro, again, was caught in possession. Diaz nicked the ball away from him and played it to Salah. Salah waited, Diaz made space in front of Martinez who stood flat-footed as Salah played the ball back to Diaz and Diaz swept it majestically past Onana.

Martinez might have reflected that if he spent a bit more time concentrating on his defending rather than his posturing, maybe United might not be quite so porous at the back. Instead, he marched towards Ten Hag on the touchline, remonstrating with him angrily as if the goal were all his fault.

Salah crashed it beyond the reach of Onana in the second half to extend Liverpool’s lead 

To no one’s great surprise, Ten Hag blamed it on Casemiro and substituted him at half time. He replaced him with Toby Collyer, a 20-year-old who was making his league debut. Collyer almost made a difference immediately, nodding down a pass into the path of Joshua Zirkzee but Zirkzee’s curling shot was pushed aside by Alisson.

It is going to take more than a 20-year-old brought from Brighton’s academy two years ago to fix this mess, though, and ten minutes after the interval, Liverpool went further ahead.

This time, it was Mainoo who was brushed aside in possession. This time, it was Alexis Mac Allister who ran away with the ball. He fed Szoboszlai, who played into the path of Salah who crashed it beyond the reach of Onana. It was the seventh game in succession that Salah has scored at Old Trafford.

Salah nearly scored twice again in the space of a couple of minutes, dancing across the face of the box and lifting a shot just too high and then seeing Onana touch his curling shot around the post. It was turning into another embarrassment for Ten Hag and his team.

On this showing, it looks as if Liverpool will join Arsenal and City in the battle for the title

Zirkzee almost rescued a little pride for his team with a close-range header that was well saved by Alisson but it still felt like men against boys. The atmosphere had already begun to sour. When Alejandro Garnacho was replaced midway through the half, his withdrawal was met by a chorus of desultory boos.

For all Ten Hag’s boasts, United fans have grown used to a diet of this kind of gruel. Their patience may not last too much longer.