What Manchester United must do to go to the next level under Erik ten Hag

When Anthony Martial was going through an individual session at Carrington the other week, a journalist quipped if we filmed him long enough he may succumb to another injury.

Martial, United's No.9, has missed 28 of their 42 games in a season goals have been hard to come by. Martial has not lived up this number and his number is up.

Marcus Rashford has carried an attack that has weighed him down and he collapsed at Anfield, but Erik ten Hag erred in redeploying Rashford as a No.9 when United's two significant wins over Liverpool in the last five years were through Rashford targeting Trent Alexander-Arnold. With Bruno Fernandes on the left instead, Alexander-Arnold was largely untroubled bar his failure to shadow the Portuguese from Diogo Dalot's cross.

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Wout Weghorst's failure to fulfil the role he was bought for (one goal in 14 games) has led to Ten Hag playing him further from goal. With Fred let off the leash and Casemiro uncharacteristically loose with the ball, United relinquished control in midfield; Liverpool's weakest area.

Weghorst has been overplayed and overexposed by Martial's brittleness. The Dutchman has started every match he has been available for and has a record comparable with Garry Birtles that is better than Diego Forlan's after 14 matches but worse than Radamel Falcao's.

Victory at Anfield, where United have won three times since December 2007, would have laid down a marker. Instead, United got a glimpse of how the most ruthless team operates at its optimum. United have not tallied more than three goals in a Premier League match under Ten Hag and they have a worse goal difference than Newcastle, Brighton and Brentford.

On a day United