After a torrid period at both club and international level, Matthijs de Ligt will be hoping his last game can give him something to build on as he eases into life at Manchester United.
The centre-half’s place in the Netherlands 11 is up in the air after he oversaw two substandard performances in their Nations League double-header over the past fortnight, and he won’t be able to make amends for his errors until the next break in October.
Still, such happenings on the international stage didn’t faze Erik ten Hag in the slightest – and rightly so. He deployed De Ligt from the get-go of United’s trip to St. Mary’s last Saturday to mark the summer recruit’s second start of the campaign.
It didn’t take long for De Ligt to repay his manager’s faith either, as he opened his United account with a superb bullet header to break the deadlock in the 35th minute of the clash. It came after a cagey first half-hour and just moments after Cameron Archer was denied from the spot at the other end, so undoubtedly pinpointed the turning point of the afternoon.
De Ligt is proving his worth one game at a time
Even aside from his contribution, the stellar shift that he put in was equally as remarkable; per StatmanDave, the 25-year-old won 100 per cent of his aerial duels, had a 92 per cent passing accuracy, made six clearances, four passes into the final third and had three touches in the opposition’s box – an all-round Man of the Match display.
As such, De Ligt – labelled ‘outstanding’ by Dutch newspaper AD – earned himself the highest rating of any outfield player in WhoScored’s Premier League Team of the Week.
(Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)