Matthijs de Ligt joined Manchester United earlier in the transfer market with much intrigue over his signing, with the Dutchman linking up with former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford – but despite the praise over his signing, De Ligt has been blasted for his performance for the Netherlands against Bosnia on Saturday, with Dutch media calling his evening ‘disappointing’ despite a 5-2 win.
De Ligt made his 46th cap for Ronald Koeman’s men at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, playing alongside Virgil van Dijk in the heart of defence as they cruised to a somewhat comfortable victory, despite some pulsating moments. But De Ligt was seemingly partially at fault for both Bosnia goals and that has led to sports writer Valentijn Driessen calling De Ligt ‘disappointing’ after his role in the two conceded strikes.
De Ligt ‘Disappointing’, Must Join ‘Back Of The Queue’
The defender was arguably at fault for both of Bosnia’s goals
The report from Dutch outlet Telegraaf shows that whilst the Netherlands won 5-2 over Bosnia in the Nations League, journalist Driessen wasn’t full of praise for De Ligt throughout – and the defender was ultimately singled out for criticism.
The journalist labelled the United star as ‘disappointing’, stating that the defender must ‘join the back of the queue’ for starting spots and prove his worth again after his lax defending for the Bosnia goals.
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Matthijs de Ligt’s Bundesliga statistics – Bayern Munich squad ranking, 2023/24 |
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|---|---|---|
|
Stats |
Output |
Squad rank |
|
Appearances |
22 |
14th |
|
Goals |
2 |
=10th |
|
Aerial Duels Won Per Game |
1.9 |
3rd |
|
Clearances Per Game |
2.4 |
3rd |
|
Interceptions Per Game |
0.9 |
=5th |
|
Match rating |
6.68 |
17th |
Their equaliser on the half-hour mark came from De Ligt failing to be helped by a lack of Dutch presence in midfield, but he dropped his defensive line and as a result, Ermedin Demirovic snuck in to stab home a surprise leveller for Sergej Barbarez’s men.
However, De Ligt’s key involvement came with just 15 minutes left for the goal that made it 3-2 and halved the deficit for the visitors. Again dropping his defensive line, De Ligt saw a ball from Esmir Bajraktarevic floated over his head, where he appeared to slow down for Bart Verbruggen to come and collect. However, veteran striker Edin Dzeko got in there first and prodded home – leading to De Ligt and Verbruggen blaming each other, which only served to see the apparent holes in De Ligt’s game for letting his man run free.
De Ligt Has Many Potential Replacements
The Dutch have a strong defensive pool to choose from
According to Sofascore, De Ligt was the worst Netherlands player by match rating, scoring just 6.3 on a night where De Oranje scored five goals against an opponent that they would be expected to beat with ease.
With Germany to face at home on Tuesday evening, Koeman may well be looking at his bench for replacements. Manchester City star Nathan Ake played on the left side of defence on Saturday evening, but Jurrien Timber came on for him and that could see the City man move across to partner Van Dijk, with Arsenal’s Timber taking his place and ultimately seeing De Ligt dropped.
Elsewhere on the bench, Lutsharel Geertruida – who has recently joined RB Leipzig – and Jan Paul van Hecke are both in the national setup and could quite easily replace De Ligt.
De Ligt won all four of his ground duels, but only managed to win half of his aerial battles and lost possession 13 times – alongside just two of his five long passes being successful – and that could be enough for Koeman to drop him on Tuesday evening.
Statistics courtesy of WhoScored. Correct as of 08-09-24.
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