Manchester United transfer decision comes back to haunt them vs Liverpool

Leadership let down

Ten Hag had walked confidently into the Carrington press room on Thursday and talked about why he wanted to sign leaders in his first summer transfer window.

"We were looking for players who have character, who have personality, who have leadership, take responsibility, who are resilient," he said. It felt like job done with the addition of Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez, in particular. Raphael Varane had stepped up as well.

But those players abdicated those roles at Anfield. This was a complete collapse and nobody in a United shirt came out of it looking good. Casemiro has been outstanding this season but he had a poor game and failed to get a grip of a team losing control. United should have dominated this midfield battle. Instead, they folded once the first goal had gone in.

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There's no doubt United have more leaders now. Ten Hag was right to spot it as an issue. But it's still not enough when the going gets tough away from home.

That Martinez and Casemiro were hauled off well before the end was probably a case of wanting to rest them, but they had hardly fulfilled their brief. Bruno Fernandes has done well as matchday captain this season, but Ten Hag must rein in his petulant streak. He totally lost his head in the second half, threw himself to the ground at every opportunity, berated the officials at regular intervals and was fortunate to get away with putting his arms on the linesman.

Away day issues

How do you even start to sum this afternoon up for United? On a day when they were tipped to show how far they had come under Ten Hag, they managed to lose by an even bigger margin at Anfield.

The 4-0 thrashing here last season was one of many grim