Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports
Topics: Manchester United, Matthijs De Ligt, Tottenham Hotspur, Ruben Amorim, Premier League
Josh Lawless
Topics: Manchester United, Matthijs De Ligt, Tottenham Hotspur, Ruben Amorim, Premier League
Matthijs de Ligt laid into his own Manchester United teammates in an honest assessment of the 1-0 defeat to Spurs on Sunday.
Plagued by injury problems and illness to the point where they had just one senior player on the bench in Victor Lindelof, United suffered a 12th defeat of the season in the Premier League.
James Maddison popped up with the only goal of the game on his return to the starting XI, stabbing home after Andre Onana couldn't hold Lucas Bergvall's shot in the 13th minute.
United did create some clear-cut chances themselves and had six shots on target, but were wasteful with a number of opportunities in front of goal.
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De Ligt played 90 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and bemoaned the poor finishing from his teammates, who struggled to maintain composure in the key moments.
"I think in the end, finishing the chances is a big thing in football, and we were unlucky we couldn't finish them today," De Ligt said, speaking to Sky Sports.
"If you lose, a lot has to improve. We are not where United belongs, and if I knew the solution, I would have said it, and we would win games, but a lot needs to improve, and we have to look to ourselves to be responsible.
"We have to stick together because if we are out there on our own, we will never get results."
Alejandro Garnacho was guilty of blazing the best chance of the game over the bar and leading to an angry reaction from Ruben Amorim on the touchline.
The Argentina international has the worst big chance conversion rate of players with at least 10 chances in the Premier League this season and some fans believe De Ligt's remarks were directed at the winger.
One fan on X said: "I think someone's not happy with our L10."
A second commented: "That last part should have been said to 17 during the game."
A third added: "We know who this statement is for… Argentine Yannick Bolasie."
Another fumed: "I hope Garnacho sees this, How he was intentionally Ignoring Dorgu’s Overlapping runs is beyond me."
A final user vented: "De Ligt knows. The attack is losing us games. Garnacho to be specific. What he's talking about here is Garnacho completely ignoring Dorgu overlap and passing the ball centrally into traffic or backwards. Or not passing the ball to Hojlund and taking the shot but missing."
United are now languishing 15th in the Premier League after 25 games. Their next game is a trip to Goodison Park to play David Moyes' Everton, who moved above them with a victory at Crystal Palace to follow up the last-gasp Merseyside derby draw with Liverpool on Wednesday.
United are eight points off Brighton, who occupy 10th place following a 3-0 win over Chelsea on Friday.