Matthijs de Ligt: Man Utd players must step up as pressure grows on Ruben Amorim
By Phil Blanche, PA
Matthijs de Ligt insists Manchester United players must take responsibility for poor results amid growing pressure on manager Ruben Amorim.
United suffered a third defeat in six Premier League games this season in losing 3-1 at Brentford on Saturday, while they were also humiliated by League Two Grimsby in the Carabao Cup.
Portuguese boss Amorim has yet to oversee back-to-back league wins during his 10 months in charge and, after last term’s 15th-placed finish – their lowest position since 1989–90 – United again reside in the bottom half of the table.
“Of course, I mean it’s always easy to look to the manager, but in the end the players on the pitch have to do it,” said centre-back De Ligt.
“We can’t say the goals we conceded, or the chances we conceded, are because of what… I don’t know, you guys always talk about the system.
“That also has a lot to do with focus, concentration and, if that’s lacking in key moments, it’s going to make a difference.”
United had seemingly built confidence by beating Chelsea 2-1 a week earlier, albeit they enjoyed a numerical advantage for most of the first half of that Old Trafford contest due to Robert Sanchez’s early red card.
But that victory was a distant memory as Brentford striker Igor Thiago scored twice inside 20 minutes and, after Benjamin Sesko had pulled one back with his first United goal, Bruno Fernandes failed to equalise from the penalty spot in the final quarter as Caoimhin Kelleher saved.
It was the United captain’s second spot-kick miss of the season in west London after blazing over at Fulham last month.
De Ligt said: “(We are) really disappointed because all week we were speaking about keeping the momentum going, getting another win under our belt.
“If you lose this game, it’s a big blow obviously. A lot of lot of time (it is) the same song, but we have to stick together. It’s the most important thing.
We were short in key moments where we made the wrong decisions
“We lost against (Manchester) City, we won against Chelsea, so for the next game, we have to analyse what went wrong in this game because a lot of things went wrong.
“We were short in key moments where we made the wrong decisions.
“That makes a big difference in football. We were quite unlucky also with some chances, but overall, it was not good enough. That’s a fact.”
United host in-form Sunderland on Saturday and visit league leaders Liverpool straight after the international break on October 19.
On a day that United summer signing Bryan Mbeumo returned to Brentford after spending six years at the club, Thiago took centre stage.
The Brazilian forward, signed from Club Brugge for a then-club record £30million in July 2023, has scored five goals this season, four of them in the Premier League.
Bees boss Keith Andrews said of Thiago: “Selfless, I think, would be the first thing that springs to mind.
“Always puts the team first, sometimes at the detriment of his own performance. I think he’s such a team player.
“He’s getting real rhythm in his game now and confidence in his game, and he’s shown exactly what he’s all about and why the football club brought him here.”
