His performance threads always have the least comments because he never really stands out (good or bad)
4
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 23
- Clean sheets
- 7
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 3
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran discuss a horrific month of December and a depressing FOUR defeats in a row - the latest coming against Wolves and Newcastle.
They discuss how much blame is on Ruben Amorim and rank our squad against other Premier League teams.
Do we have any chance of avoiding defeat at Anfield?
First few games he looked a bit of a leader and an aerial presence (particularly in attack). More recently he seems to have gone into his shell and is just kind of there doing ok but not great.
I hate that we are the last stop on his big club tour as no one else will be stupid enough to take him of our hands. He is here for 4 more seasons after this one, FOUR MORE SEASONS. Ridiculously stupid signing on hefty wages.
There’s no reason to think he can’t be a solid player for us - despite being a bit underwhelming so far he’s only 25. There was a moment last night which summed up the difference in mindsets between him and Maguire which I think causes issues down that side (plus Max not being a WB). Isak played that really flat pass through and Maguire could have just cleared it and you can see De Ligt pointing and waiting but Maguire backs off and allows the Newcastle player in. Eventually Maguire wins the tackle and you see De Ligt standing over him asking why he didn’t just clear it. I’m not sure either mindset is ‘better’ but there’s a real disconnect in how front footed one wants to be versus the other and I think it will keep causing problems.
For me he's usually bad in not standing out. He barely does anything defensively which for a defender isnt very good because if not them, then who?
He has our most shots blocked from our CBs per 90 mins, 0.8 to Maguire in 2nd with 0.7 so there is something he's at the head of
However overall ball winning is low and the one area I thought he would be able to replace Maguire (plus being faster), in the air, he's not doing a lot of.
He seems physically quite weak as well, not able to hold off players like Maguire or Evans at times
Edit - Also I was one of the people quite happy for us to sign him in the summer, the fee talk I was less enthusiastic about but I thought he would be a good enough target. I have been wrong so far and I don't hold out much hope.
i'm quite suprised by these latest comments. It's hard to stand out defensively when your defending partners are so weak the opponent is targeting them. Why would he leave his position to make a interception just so some random people on the internet have better stats of him. Sure, if his numbers were so low when he has much more to do, your point would be valid.
He’s a very standard/average level player. In pretty much all facets.
It’s so strange how he was this prodigy who captained Ajax so young, and then went on to be so… ordinary.
It’s so strange how he was this prodigy who captained Ajax so young, and then went on to be so… ordinary.
He could easily work out here still. He isn't the player people thought he was with the ball though. We badly need him and Maguire in the team at the moment just to help with corners. Biggest winner from all of this is Maguire who is protected again and we can see the good parts of his game - he took some risks passing the ball yesterday too which was nice to see.
Re deligt, if we ever sort out corners I would fear for his place in the team
Re deligt, if we ever sort out corners I would fear for his place in the team
Imho jes our best defender by a country mile. Surprised by these comments
Makes me laugh that people used the Ajax players as a benchmark for technical play, good ball control, passing etc.
It's more that the things I think people thought he would excel at - the physical side of defending i.e. tackling and aerial challenges he's proven pretty average. If you compare him to the best CB in his kind of role in the league, someone aggressive who wants to step out and be physical, which is Konate, he looks very weak. De Ligt wins 62% of headers and 66% of tackles, Konate wins 90% of headers and 75% of tackles. If you are going to be relatively safe/limited in passing and aren't rapid, you need to be elite in those areas. Think of Burn, a big lump who is limited, he wins 55% of tackles which is poor but basically never loses any headers. We should not be having so many issues with crosses with De Ligt and Maguire in the defence regardless of who the other CB is.
I think he can play in the middle of the three, but on the flank he's just not in the game. If you start the same three as last night, he should go central as his passing range just kills that right side and Maguire is much better on the ball than him.
Not good and not bad, just alright which is underwhelming, his first season here so hopefully he gets better with time.
He is the least of our problems and playing fairly well. He’s let down by the midget playing alongside him. Not sure how Martinez has such a following because he’s such a poor defender.
He has been best of the bad bunch. He was doing pretty solid before being ill and missing 3 games where we actually missed his composure. People writing him off (or wanting him to fail) are the same who think Maguire Lindelof are our savior, so won't give much weight to their thoughts
He's nowhere near the top of the list of issues. He's decent, not sure there's any reason for the outrage.
He’s okay, not too concerned about him.
The sort of player you feel like can have a decent career here even if he never ends up being world class.
The bigger concern for me is Martinez.
The sort of player you feel like can have a decent career here even if he never ends up being world class.
The bigger concern for me is Martinez.
He is hard working and puts a shift everytime he is on the pitch. He has been one of the good (few good) players this season. I hope Amorim stabalises a back 3 with him in the middle with yoro and martinez beside him. I think they can form a good solid partnership at the back
He doesn't stand out as being exceptionally shit, unlike most other United players. That's the best we can hope for at present
He's never been a real tackler though, if you need to tackle, you're already too late in my opinion. He's always been more of a intercepter.
Please tell me you haven't based this take off the Maldini quote which has been completely misused? Of course you need to tackle in football, as a CB you will contest most balls that go into the striker if you are picking them up. You choice is basically to either tackle or drop off and his role isn't to drop off.
Was just physically mature for his age
De Ligt is surrounded by shit, yet has somehow managed to acquit himself well.
Idk, he seems pretty mediocre. What are his strengths exactly? I struggle to think of anything he does well. Not a good passer, we're conceding tons of aerial goals with him out there, gets worked by the likes of Porto"s striker physically, a bit slow and lethargic.... What are his strengths?
It’s weird reading some comments here. He has been good, one of few players, so far this season. Obviously he needs time to settle in the team/premier league and the status of the team overall doesn’t help.
I think he will only get better once we have some stability (hopefully) at the back 3 with him at the center of that back line.
I think he will only get better once we have some stability (hopefully) at the back 3 with him at the center of that back line.
He doesn't bring any stand out qualities to the 3-4-3 formation. Was never good use of funds in the summer.
I never expected him to be amazing so for me he's on par with my expectations.
At least we can't call him a disaster. That's pretty good going when you look at our record with transfers
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the signing. Plenty of other things to complain about.
He is fine, he just isn't exceptional at anything really. Maguire being better on the ball than him is disappointing as ideally he would be the more mobile replacement for Maguire.
Yup.
Agreed. He has been pretty decent for 38m odd. The same people will say give Maguire contract extension. I don't think we should take them seriously.
One of the biggest issues we have is a lack of pace in our defence, why we chose to buy such a slow CB is beyond me. Scholes said it on Overlap the fans we should be buying to upgrade, he's not an upgrade he's on a level playing field ad Maguire and Co.
If anything he's worse because he's horrific Positionally on crosses.
If anything he's worse because he's horrific Positionally on crosses.
Will give a benefit of a doubt, to be fair he is playing in a shit team. But I think he is a good player, hope he proves me right.
Just another victim of the circus of Man United sadly. Ten Hag wanted him, gets sacked and now he's playing in a back three. Hasnt had time to settle in and not going to considering every game seems like a struggle for every one of our players.
I presume de Ligt was comfortable in a back 3 before this?
Yeah I remember Scholes and others getting abuse for saying what some of us were thinking. It made little sense apart from adding depth. The money should have been spent improving the attack given our obvious lack of goals. Alternatively we could have had Milenkovic for £12m.
Absolutely not.
He's not exactly outstanding. And that would be a problem if we paid the €67m/€85m fees for him that Bayern and Juventus did while hoping for an outstanding player.
But we didn't. We paid €45m for solid 25 year old centre-back with an atypical amount of high level experience at top clubs & international level for someone of that age, and a reputation for having a good personality.
In the context of a transfer window where someone like a 27 year old Max Kilman went for a bigger fee, a club like Palace reportedly rejected bids of up to €76m for a relatively ordinary player like Guehi, and Everton were looking for us to pay an extortionate fee for Branthwaite....
De Ligt for that price looks a perfectly reasonable low-ceiling low-risk buy. Especially in a context where we have multiple other CBs running out of contract this season who may need to be replaced.
But we didn't. We paid €45m for solid 25 year old centre-back with an atypical amount of high level experience at top clubs & international level for someone of that age, and a reputation for having a good personality.
In the context of a transfer window where someone like a 27 year old Max Kilman went for a bigger fee, a club like Palace reportedly rejected bids of up to €76m for a relatively ordinary player like Guehi, and Everton were looking for us to pay an extortionate fee for Branthwaite....
De Ligt for that price looks a perfectly reasonable low-ceiling low-risk buy. Especially in a context where we have multiple other CBs running out of contract this season who may need to be replaced.
no i'm not. If you need to tackle it means the attacker is out of your normal reach. If your man marking or positioning is on point, you should be able to intercept/block instead of tackling. Unless of course you need to clean up the mess of someone elses mistake.
Good player and one of the few that consistently looks like an actual footballer for us. Not an absolutely elite CB but good enough to be a starter for many years. Think he and Yoro are lock ins as CBs for us for the next few years and we need to supplement with another couple good CBs, ideally left footers.