Matthijs de Ligt image 4

Matthijs de Ligt Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances

View full 2024-25 profile

5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
33
Clean sheets
9
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
4
Man Utd 1:3 Brighton New
Where was he going for that first goal?
 
So poor on the ball in the first half with his passing and giving himself as an option. Was a bit more aggressive than his usual showings defensively in the RCB position but nothing close to what we've seen Mazraoui do there.

Upped the tempo with some crisp passing late in the second but too little too late. Always happens with him. He's capable but plays like a 90's style defender in the beginning. Clearing the ball, no composure on it and very awkward.

Good box defender and puts his body on the line but doesn't fill with me confidence at RCB or CCB tbh.
 
Leftback99 said:
Where was he going for that first goal?
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I think that about a lot of defensive plays he has….
He’s so painfully average at everything he does.
Fair play to those who ran down this signing before we made it. they’ve been proven emphatically right.
 
I believe he had one or two balls over the Brighton left back towards Amad/Maz?

Other than that he defended okay but didnt offer much else. The best out of a bad bunch of defenders today.

I still hope he will become the central central defender. I dont like him as a right central defender that much. Although i can understand that he plays right centre back now since Maguire has been doing fairly well and is even more of an inmobile risk as wide centre back.
 
Ludens the Red said:
I think that about a lot of defensive plays he has….
He’s so painfully average at everything he does.
Fair play to those who ran down this signing before we made it. they’ve been proven emphatically right.
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Basically Maguire all over again.
 
He is probably best as a stopper alongside a mobile ball playing CB in a 2, but then who isn't?
 
Ekeke said:
So he had no awareness of where his rightback was, clearly playing the attacker onside and making offside impossible
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Him stepping up and thereby opening up space behind him was an issue at Bayern as well.
 
He's just overrated by the fanbase

So far this season he's had some solid games and a few poor games.

Overall he has been ok

Not the world class signing he has been hyped up to be yet

You could argue Maguire has been miles better than him this season
 
GueRed said:
He's just overrated by the fanbase

So far this season he's had some solid games and a few poor games.

Overall he has been ok

Not the world class signing he has been hyped up to be yet

You could argue Maguire has been miles better than him this season
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He has but it's no real argument for anyone that has watched them without an agenda. Maguire has been one of our best players, only behind Amad.
 
Licha-Vidic said:
Pressure,,,,


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Tbf there are many former MU players that have said something similar. They've seen players that are obviously talented, but the weight of the MU shirt was too much for them.
 
GueRed said:
He's just overrated by the fanbase

So far this season he's had some solid games and a few poor games.

Overall he has been ok

Not the world class signing he has been hyped up to be yet

You could argue Maguire has been miles better than him this season
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He’s really not been overrated and you’ll struggle to find all of these people you are claiming hyped him up as world class. Some of the stuff made up on here is unbelievable at times.

The United fanbase rarely overrate a player nowadays, it’s more doom and gloom you’ll find from a large portion of the fans, especially on here.
 
JBG said:
Tbf there are many former MU players that have said something similar. They've seen players that are obviously talented, but the weight of the MU shirt was too much for them.
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On the other hand: what do you expect him to say? Juve and Bayern aren't exactly known for being environments without pressure either.
 
always_hoping said:
Did alright and scored a goal as Ruben said that's not a foul in the Premier League. Ruben also said he felt something and had to come off at half time because of it. So I'm thinking that probably rules him out v Fulham this Sunday.
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The goal should have stood. But, I thought he looked a bit sloppy, especially early on.
 
I want him to play as the middle one of the three centre backs because he gave me trauma as a rcb when playing for our national team. Now he gets another chance at central centre back and he didnt really take that chance.

Wasnt terrible but hoped for more. Im also a bit shocked how average he looked on the ball today, he came from the Ajax youth. As an Ajax defender you dont actually have to be able to defend, they just want you to look comfortable on the ball...
 
Perfectly good goal ruled out. Could do with him adding a few goals from set pieces going forward as this team is in desperate need of players contributing to the goals for column. He does seem decent at set pieces.
 
Stadjer said:
Wasnt terrible but hoped for more. Im also a bit shocked how average he looked on the ball today
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Only today? His whole career since leaving Ajax has shown he is remarkably average on the ball.
 
DWelbz19 said:
Only today? His whole career since leaving Ajax has shown he is remarkably average on the ball.
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He was worse than usual yesterday. He isnt amazing on the ball or anything but usually his passing is decent enough to get the ball to a teammate quickly and accurate enough. Yesterday, certainly at the start, his passes were quite bad.

I think it is the one thing Maguire has over him, Maguire does send out some decent long passes towards the wing from time to time. You never see de Ligt even attempt that kind of pass.
 
Stadjer said:
I think it is the one thing Maguire has over him, Maguire does send out some decent long passes towards the wing from time to time. You never see de Ligt even attempt that kind of pass.
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I do remember a few that he made earlier in the season. I don't remember any recently though, and today he definitely did look worse on the ball than normal. Seemed to refuse to take responsibility and just made the simplest passes he could.
 
Acrobat7 said:
On the other hand: what do you expect him to say? Juve and Bayern aren't exactly known for being environments without pressure either.
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Seriously. I don't know why anyone even bothers to ask players throwaway questions like this. What is he supposed to say about his current club, "Oh yeah I love that it's so easy here. Collecting fat paychecks without that much criticism is great. Bayern was tougher"?
 
Fulham 0:1 Man Utd New
He actually did a long cross pass to Garnacho today! It ended with a bad cross from Maz but it was nice to see that de Ligt atleast tried some positive forward passing!

Other that that, nothing special today. No mistakes and defended when he needed to defend.
 
He's been ok, least of our worries. But he looked like a great header of the ball in his debut vs Southampton. And like the rest of the squad, loses all heading ability as time goes on
 
I don’t think the RCB really suits him. It’s fine for now, but once we have actual wingbacks I’d rather see Maz/Yoro compete for RCB, De Ligt/Maguire for CCB and Martinez and someone for LCB.
 
Bwuk said:
I don’t think the RCB really suits him. It’s fine for now, but once we have actual wingbacks I’d rather see Maz/Yoro compete for RCB, De Ligt/Maguire for CCB and Martinez and someone for LCB.
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Agreed.
 
I took this quote from another thread and this is what Amorim said after the game.
“Yes, they are nowadays sometimes the midfielders because you don’t often have a lot of space between the lines and you have to find this space. They are the players who have the game in front and they have to be the midfielders, so it’s really important. I think when the centre defenders play well with the ball, we play well. It’s something that Licha does really well, he can take the ball. He has to continue and the other guys have to improve also in that area.”
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I thought De Ligt ball playing ability has been pretty poor and is one of the main reasons why he’s been substituted. Also, although he isn’t slow, we’re in need of defenders with a fast recovery pace, which he clearly lacks.

Do we need another CB with a similar profile to Maguire?
 
I'm really worried about him. He's great at last ditch blocks and tackles but I don't think he closes down the space well between himself and the RWB/channels and his passing is so slow. Depending on which Maguire you get on the day, between them two, all our momentum to pass forward is lost. They either don't open up their body to pass it into space or go back to the keeper. It basically means most of their passes are lost opportunities to be progressive. Martinez was doing a lot of heavy lifting at the back with his ball progression.
 
criticalanalysis said:
I'm really worried about him. He's great at last ditch blocks and tackles but I don't think he closes down the space well between himself and the RWB/channels and his passing is so slow. Depending on which Maguire you get on the day, between them two, all our momentum to pass forward is lost. They either don't open up their body to pass it into space or go back to the keeper. It basically means most of their passes are lost opportunities to be progressive. Martinez was doing a lot of heavy lifting at the back with his ball progression.
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Yoro mentioned in his interview with Rio that he'd prefer the left side because he wants to cut to the middle and play a ball to the forwards - it's a big ask from a teenager but hopefully we won't miss Licha quite as much as we otherwise might. Neither Maguire or De Ligt move the ball quick enough for me. You can afford one, but both gets ponderous.

I do think we look pretty defensively secure at times with De Ligt and Maguire - it's been nice to see us not be consistently outmuscled at the back. If Maguire could turn his body faster than a glacier, and if De Ligt grew a pair and stepped into midfield occasionally (which he definitely is capable of, he lacks confidence not technique imo) they'd be perfect. Hopefully Amorim can coach both guys into those qualities a little bit, because even a small improvement would have significant results imo.
 
Stadjer said:
I want him to play as the middle one of the three centre backs because he gave me trauma as a rcb when playing for our national team. Now he gets another chance at central centre back and he didnt really take that chance.

Wasnt terrible but hoped for more. Im also a bit shocked how average he looked on the ball today, he came from the Ajax youth. As an Ajax defender you dont actually have to be able to defend, they just want you to look comfortable on the ball...
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I thought this way too but for such a big guy he's isn't as aerially dominant as slabhead and his passing does leave a bit to be desired. He's ... alright is the best I can say.
 
Feels like he's gonna stick around a while but everyone would be better off if he moves to a club playing 4 at the back, as we'd be better off with a technically stronger CB replacing him (someone like Schar who maybe wasn't great in a 4 at the back system but could always play a pass) and some club out there would improve with him in a stable center-back pairing.
 
Bebe said:
Yoro mentioned in his interview with Rio that he'd prefer the left side because he wants to cut to the middle and play a ball to the forwards - it's a big ask from a teenager but hopefully we won't miss Licha quite as much as we otherwise might. Neither Maguire or De Ligt move the ball quick enough for me. You can afford one, but both gets ponderous.

I do think we look pretty defensively secure at times with De Ligt and Maguire - it's been nice to see us not be consistently outmuscled at the back. If Maguire could turn his body faster than a glacier, and if De Ligt grew a pair and stepped into midfield occasionally (which he definitely is capable of, he lacks confidence not technique imo) they'd be perfect. Hopefully Amorim can coach both guys into those qualities a little bit, because even a small improvement would have significant results imo.
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We'll see about Yoro but your faith in Maguire and de Ligt is much stronger than mine!
 
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