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Matthijs de Ligt Netherlands flag

2024-25 Performances


View full 2024-25 profile

5.7 Season Average Rating
Appearances
9
Clean sheets
5
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
1
Until we don’t leave massive gaps in the midfield, I can’t judge any of our defenders. It’s just not usual to be up against 4-5 players vs 3 as often as we are
 
He's every bit as slow on the turn as Harry Maguire. Who knows how both him and Mazraoui will turn out long term but our track record of buying from Bayern has been desperate so far.
 
There are just no defenders who will look good if everytime midfielders are moving forward they lose the ball and then get overrun. Normally you have that maybe 3-5 times a game and even then the midfielders know they fecked up and try to get back and help with solving. You cant defend that 30+ times perfectly per game, especially if the midfield is not rushing back because its just normal to get into this situation.
 
There are just no defenders who will look good if everytime midfielders are moving forward they lose the ball and then get overrun. Normally you have that maybe 3-5 times a game and even then the midfielders know they fecked up and try to get back and help with solving. You cant defend that 30+ times perfectly per game, especially if the midfield is not rushing back because its just normal to get into this situation.
Yup. I honestly feel that one could place prime Franz fecking Beckenbauer into this team and he’d look like shit.
 
Until we don’t leave massive gaps in the midfield, I can’t judge any of our defenders. It’s just not usual to be up against 4-5 players vs 3 as often as we are
Exactly this. Always outnumbered, always backtracking.
 
I remember someone trying to tell me this guy wasn't slow before we signed him, what a load of shit that was.

I don't think we have one particularly fast centre back. If you look at all the top teams one of the centre backs is really athletic and quick.
 
Yup. I honestly feel that one could place prime Franz fecking Beckenbauer into this team and he’d look like shit.
It's impossible to defend it right every time when outnumbered. It seems like we have not made any attempt to correct these giveaways right in front of our defenders. The players that cause them most of the time will start the next game automatically anyway
 
It's impossible to defend it right every time when outnumbered. It seems like we have not made any attempt to correct these giveaways right in front of our defenders. The players that cause them most of the time will start the next game automatically anyway
Yup. We badly need a manager who can rectify all these shortcomings.
 
feck no. He’s been our best outfield player.


He's been comfortable against poor opponents or opponents we should be beating but has come short against real competition. He was positionally poor in goals conceded against Liverpool and Spurs and has been caught jogging back during opposition attacks. He's silky on the ball but he needs to improve his defensive work against the better teams. Telles had a similar start and similar ability on the ball but his positioning and defensive frailties were ultimately his undoing
 
The first goal is a classic example of why you should prioritise signing centre backs with pace.

You absolutely have to block that cross. But I wouldn't expect any of De Ligt, Maguire, Martinez, Lindelof or Evans to block that cross, they'd all be too slow. Yoro's probably the only one who stops the cross coming in.

No defender in the world will be able to keep up with a full speed van de Ven running into the box.
 
No defender in the world will be able to keep up with a full speed van de Ven running into the box.
People are absolutely deluded if they think this goal means he's some glacial CB. Nobody is keeping up with VDV there.
 
Our problem is not bringing in Van de Ven from Wolfsburg a year ago, instead of buying this guy who has underwhelmed at two big clubs already. He is a slightly above average defender that will be found out from time to time.
 
Pretty sure Van de Ven is the fastest ever premier league player or something. At least some articles claimed that a while ago.

Suppose you could sign Van de Ven?
 
Pretty sure Van de Ven is the fastest ever premier league player or something. At least some articles claimed that a while ago.

Suppose you could sign Van de Ven?
The way things are currently going, I don't think he'd want to take a step down from Totenham.

Though I do have to say, that he'd be perfect next to De Ligt. The recovery pace would be immense. Having Martinez, De Ligt, Yoro and Van de Ven... a man can only dream.
 
There's been a few occasions where he's fully committed to winning a loose ball near the halfway line and getting nowhere near it, I expected better from him.
 
No defender in the world will be able to keep up with a full speed van de Ven running into the box.
That's nonsense.

Our centre back always has a head start, as he's closer to our byline than VDV. He has to match the run enough to get something on the cross and it just deflects out for a corner.

De Ligt almost blocked the cross and wasn't that far away from doing so.

A fast centre back would concede a corner there, rather than a goal.

This is not a criticism of De Ligt, it's a criticism of our transfer policy in stockpiling centre backs who are on the slower side and thinking it's not an issue.
 
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People are absolutely deluded if they think this goal means he's some glacial CB. Nobody is keeping up with VDV there.
It really is ludicrous that you think there's no centre back in world football that can prevent that cross coming in.

De Ligt almost blocked it, despite having average pace. A quick centre back is absolutely deflecting the cross out for a corner.

This is not a criticism of De Ligt, it's a criticism of our transfer policy in stockpiling centre backs who are on the slower side and thinking it's not an issue.
 
While he's faster than Maguire, Lindelof etc. he got completely outdone by Van De Ven's pace in the buildup for the first goal and didnt get tight enough to pressure or stop the cross. Didnt make many clearances either with Martinez making 4 to his 1. Easily his worst performance by far for us
 
Pretty sure Van de Ven is the fastest ever premier league player or something. At least some articles claimed that a while ago.

Suppose you could sign Van de Ven?

No. Just the fastest recorded player in the premier league last season.

He doesn't need to keep up with him, he needs to position himself so that he's ready for Van Der Ven's touches and can at least put pressure on him if not block the cross he's obviously going to try and play across the box. He doesnt. He positions himself poorly and Van Der Ven is free to play the pass across as he pleases
 
Bad game yesterday and I think his confidence over the last few years is very short. Not the best of team to have joined
 
Putting blame on him for the first goal yesterday is stupid. No way he could stop that.
However, I was not too impressed by him before joining us and I am not sure he is the right CB for transforming the way we play. Takes too long on the ball, misplaced passes, not that fast and mobile.
I can't remember but did we bring him in before Yoro got injured?
 
Rúben Dias is not faster or more mobile than de Ligt or Maguire btw. Neither is Botman. Even with van de Ven, his mobility and short burst acceleration is questionable, despite having the fastest top speed in PL history.

So stop bringing up this high line nonsense against our #4 and #5, please. You're just pretending to know what you're talking about when you do that. Both of them are excellent high line CBs.
 
What a load of nonsense. The fault for that goal lies in a cheap giveaway, not being aggressive enough and not making a smart foul. Also note Dalot wasn‘t sprinting back.

The team was so bad yesterday, prime Ramos would have looked terrible.
 
Certainly wouldn't blame De Ligt for the first goal. Matey had already got up to maximum speed sprinting through our whole team by that stage.
Plus you might hope Dalot had recognised even looking at where his man is might help, and stop him having a tap in yards out.
 

The likes of carragher knows how to cause more worry among United fans. Blame the new players and make them flop from get go. Was he doing a similar analysis with fabinho in his first season or Gravenberch. I bet not.
 
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The likes if carragher knows how to cause more worry among United fans. Blame the new players and make them flop from get go. Was he doing a similar analysis with fabinho in his first season or Gravenberch. I bet not.
Exactly. Carragher is an absolute prat and only took happy to say anything in the hope of causing even more negativity around united.
 
Exactly. Carragher is an absolute prat and only took happy to say anything in the hope of causing even more negativity around united.
The sad part is our fans jump on this bandwagon. Give one bad game to Mazraoui and you will have some who will call for awb being the better player. At least give the new players 6 months. They are playing under a shit structure and we expect them to look world class in that. All the nonsense about he is not better than Maguire. Yes why not go and look at Maguire's performance in 21-22 season. The biggest culprit in Ole's downfall but people don't want to have that conversation.

Again de ligt may not be the answer to it but at least give them time before writing him off or dissecting his performance and comparing him to the current Maguire.
 
I like him, but he must be wondering what’s happened to Ten Hag who had Alvarez protecting the Ajax defensive line and a team who could keep the ball. The set up at United has been a disaster for close to 18 months now.
 
Not surprised he's sticking the boot in again. He's a wolf in sheeps clothing with his "punditry" on us.
Unfortunately, one of “our own” in Neville loves to stick the boot in also. In fact, probably more so than any other pundit. Whether that’s to try to display “reverse-bias”, or what. I don’t know. But I do know that whenever he’s commentating on a United game and were not flying, the amount of negativity coming from him makes a game I’m usually not enjoying all the more worse. Tit.