Man United beat Liverpool without Ronaldo, Maguire to kick-start the Ten Hag era in style

Man United bounced back from a difficult start to the season with a win at Old Trafford, thanks to goals from Jadon Sancho and MarcusRashford. The victory is a big deal for United as they try to turn around a club in disarray.

The report states that Man United thumped Reds.

Here is our reaction to the match.

Player ratings, best and worst performers, highlights and notable moments, post- match quotes, and key statistics are included.

Rapid reaction

This is the first thing. United start their season without two of their best players.

When the teams were announced, ten Hag showed he could change things quickly, despite the fact that around 10,000 fans had gathered outside.

It takes some self-belief to drop both your club captain and your beloved centre-forward for a game of this magnitude. The difference in performance from their insipid defeat at Brentford could hardly have been starker as Ten Hag secured his first career victory.

Maybe it was the people protesting. The supporters of the opposition were chanting "Up the Glazers" as they arrived at the stadium to watch the game. United kicked-start the Ten Hag reign with a performance full of hunger, discipline and counter- attacking quality that had been almost entirely absent in their opening two games.

It's been a long time since United fans wanted an exciting vision of the future.

There are two They came alive.

The hopes of making the England's World Cup squad hang by a thread for both Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford, who have recently gone through rough times. In front of goal, he has struggled for composure, but he showed plenty of it after 16 minutes at Old United, collecting Anthony Elanga's low cross in a central position. Realising he had time, he dropped his shoulder and side-footed past Alisson for his first United goal.

- ESPN+ guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more (U.S.)

- Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)

- Don't have ESPN? Get instant access

After spending the summer working on his fitness in an attempt to reignite his career, Marcus Rashford appeared short of confidence and wasteful in front of goal as United failed to translate their superiority to the score beyond the strike of Jadon Sancho. When Anthony Martial came on at half-time, he sent Marcusford clear and he scored his 60th goal of the season. He is the 10th United player to reach that milestone.

The revival had to begin somewhere and here were two performances that both could build on.

There are three. It's been slow in the transfer market, so it's time for the Reds to get back into it.

There was a lot of concern before the game about the number of missing players. Even without players missing, this was still a line-up that should have produced far more than they did, despite the fact that they were missing some key players.

Trent Alexander-Arnold's defense was questionable in the first half. Right-back issues were caused by Elanga. The way Sadio Mane used to set the press without the ball was missed by the Reds. The injury picture will get better before long, but two points from their opening three games will heighten pressure on the club to enter the market before deadline day, where they were out-fought and out-thought in the middle of the park.

The foundation of their success has been their habit of waiting for preferred targets instead of bolstering numbers. Ten days of temptation await them.

Player ratings

David de Gea 8; Diogo Dalot 7; Raphael Varane 8; Lisandro Martinez 8; Tyrell Malacia 7; Christian Eriksen 7; Scott McTominay 7

Subs: Anthony Martial 7, Fred 6, Aaron Wan-Bissaka 6, Cristiano Ronaldo 6, Donny van de Beek 6.