Matthijs de Ligt believes he is finally finding ‘rhythm’ at Manchester United, even if he still carries guilt about the sacking of Erik ten Hag.
De Ligt was one of Ten Hag’s final signings as United boss and the Dutch defender conceded after Sunday’s 3-0 win over Leicester that he feels ‘the most bad’ to see his mentor axed.
‘It’s always quite difficult in general if a manager gets sacked,’ he said.
‘I have a really good relationship with Erik, I really like him as a person as well as a human being. In that way I felt the most bad for him because I know what he does every day to get the team performing, so that’s quite difficult.
‘In the end, you know what football is about, if the results are not there everybody needs to be questioned, the manager, the players.
Matthijs de Ligt believes he is finally finding ‘rhythm’ at Man United after an upturn in form
De Ligt admits he ‘felt the most bad’ for Erik ten Hag after the Dutchman was sacked at United
De Ligt has begun to settle into a defensive partnership with Lisandro Martinez (right)
‘In the end the manager gets sacked, the players can stay, so we always have to look at ourselves, so I feel really bad for him. In the end you have to keep going, you can’t stay in the past, it’s over now with him.’
De Ligt has had ups and downs since arriving at United but his burgeoning partnership with Lisandro Martinez is slowly bearing fruit.
‘For me personally, I feel quite well,’ he added. ‘I think the last seven games I start to feel really into my rhythm, feeling important for the team, if you combine it with wins it’s really nice.’
De Ligt is perhaps better placed than most in the dressing room with the idea of playing a back three, something that appears to be the mandate of incoming boss Ruben Amorim, who touched down in Manchester on Monday ahead of getting down to work.
‘I’ve played in back three for the national team, but also Juventus and Bayern also,’ De Ligt said.
‘In the end like today we played in possession with a back three so let’s see what happens.’
So what are the main differences for players?
‘I think a back three or a back four, it’s in general the same, the only thing of importance is how the team is set up,’ he explained.
‘You can play in a back three but if everything is not compact and everybody is doing their own job then it’s going to be really difficult, the same in a back four.
De Ligt shares a good relationship with Ten Hag with the former United boss a key decision in his reason to join the club
The United centre-back has experience of playing in a back three that new United boss Ruben Amorim prefers
‘That’s going to be the biggest challenge for the [new] coaches, to get everyone on the same wavelength and same page to improve as a team and improve as players.’
Amorim conceded in his departing press conference with Sporting that he will have to be willing to adapt at United if the players cannot commit to the system he craves.
For De Ligt, he is not convinced that there will be as many issues as some fear.
‘I think the squad is capable of everything, back three, back four,’ he said.
’As I said, the most important thing is how you play together, how you set up together, like today for example, we play as a back four but in possession we play in a back three, so you have to get used to each other and if you play together it’s always easier.
‘The most important thing is we won today, that’s a really important victory before the national break, hopefully we can keep this momentum.
‘We have to win every game, or try to win every game. I think now we are four points behind the Champions League [positions] but the most important thing is to take it game by game, every game in the Premier League is a different game.
‘Every team is going to lose points so we try to grow as a team and hopefully winning games also.’
