Erik ten Hag might have discovered his most important player at Manchester United

One of the many differences between Manchester United's performance against Liverpool and those that had preceded it was the fact the first half was better than the second.

Over the last few weeks, United have made a habit of starting games slowly and relying on an in-game tactical switch to find their feet. At Anfield on Sunday afternoon it was a complete contrast, with their second-half capitulation, which saw them ship six goals without reply, being something that nobody could have possibly predicted during the interval.

Despite trailing at the break through former transfer target Cody Gakpo's opener, United had enjoyed the better of the chances in the first half and were well in the game. However, any hopes of a comeback were dented when Darwin Nunez doubled the home side's lead within just two minutes of the restart.

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From that moment on, United were in trouble. They had lost their heads and Liverpool were toying with them, racking up the goals at such a speed that reporters, as soon as they had finished describing one goal, were describing another.

United's second-half performance highlighted the fact that, as Jamie Carragher correctly pinpointed during his analysis on Monday Night Football, when Casemiro doesn't play, neither do United. Unlike against Arsenal, Brentford and Manchester City (he stepped off the bench late on in the latter), however, Casemiro was on the pitch on Sunday, but you would have struggled to notice. He picked the worst possible afternoon to have his worst performance in a United shirt so far.

The Brazilian has been widely considered as United's most important player this season, almost single-handedly transforming their fortunes