Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says he is “no Harry Potter” and is confident his team have a great chance of winning a trophy this season despite a crushing 3-0 home defeat to Liverpool.

The visitors had already had a goal disallowed before Luis Diaz scored twice in seven minutes of the first half at Old Trafford.

Mohamed Salah scored the third goal nine minutes after the break and United were lucky not to have to endure another humiliation like the same match in 2021 (5-0).

It was a bad day for Ten Hag, as his starting line-up featured six of his new signings. His latest, £50.5million Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte, was introduced to fans before kick-off after he was registered after Friday’s 12:00 BST deadline to play in the match.

United are now 14th in the Premier League table, with just three points from their opening three games.

However, Ten Hag refused to accept the negative assessment of the result and indicated that no one could expect magical results from him.

“It’s not that I’m Harry Potter,” he said. “You have to admit that.

“For three players it was the first start of the season.

“Manuel Ugarte hasn’t played a minute – he needs to build up his fitness. Then we need to integrate him into the team. I’m sure he’ll contribute to our team. It’ll take a few weeks, maybe even a month. That’s the case for many players.”