Marcus Rashford has passed first Manchester United test set by Steve McClaren

Manchester United wrote and followed the perfect script when getting down to business for the first time under Erik ten Hag and did so without headline act, Cristiano Ronaldo, in his ongoing absence from the touring party.

Given his immense stature, Ronaldo was always going to take centre stage even when he opted against flying out to Bangkok with his teammates. But for 90 minutes at least against Liverpool, the saga was forgotten and United provided a glimpse of what life after Ronaldo (part two) might look like.

Jadon Sancho, Fred, Anthony Martial and Facundo Pellistri grabbed the goals against Jurgen Klopp's side in Thailand and you would be hard-pressed to settle on which of those four players most needed that confidence booster. A few more, including Marcus Rashford, would have also snapped your hand off to have found the net themselves.

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However, while the discarded England player did not particularly stand-out in that opener, there are early signs he will overcome a challenge mapped out for him by new United assistant coach Steve McClaren. Rashford hinted at that himself during an outing in front of the world's media after touching down in Melbourne.

"I'm in a good place right now," Rashford said. "It has been a bit unnatural for me to have such a long break over the summer; I think I had just under four weeks, so I had a long break physically and mentally."

Rashford has been able to press reset for Ten Hag and, as per previous comments from McClaren before his return to Old Trafford, that was long overdue. Speaking back in January, McClaren said: "Body language is so important and Rashford has probably had this [concern] throughout his career in terms of