Erik ten Hag has already shown how he will react to Manchester United collapse against Liverpool

Looking back now it is tempting to see Manchester United's humblings at the hands of Brentford and Manchester City as staging posts in the evolution of Erik ten Hag's team.

The 4-0 loss in the summer heat at the Gtech Community Stadium led to Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo being dropped and the 6-3 reverse at the Etihad saw Casemiro promoted into the starting XI. So the question now is which development in this team follows the darkest of days this season, the 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool at Anfield.

On the face of it, Ten Hag's options are limited now. A run of one defeat in 22 games and a first trophy in six years had appeared to signal the project had now gathered pace, but the shambolic nature of Sunday's defeat has highlighted how much further there is to travel.

READ MORE: Ten Hag can't make changes he needs after Liverpool thrashing

Some of that change can only be engineered in the summer when the transfer market opens. A new striker is needed, but Ten Hag is hamstrung for now by the absence of Anthony Martial and the January budget would stretch no further than Wout Weghorst. More legs might be required in midfield, but again that will have to wait.

Could there be a change on the right? Antony is yet to really suggest he is worth the £85million United paid for him in the summer. Maybe at full-back where the gaps between Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the right and Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia on the left are fairly minimal. But aside from that, the team Ten Hag picked at Anfield felt like the strongest he had available to him.

He isn't going to axe David de Gea, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes or Marcus Rashford. Weghorst's place feels fairly secure because there is nobody