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Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has admitted that the criticism the team suffered following their loss to Liverpool just before the international break motivated them to clinch a good result vs. Southampton.
United beat Southampton 3-0 on Saturday at St Mary’s.
De Ligt broke the deadlock shortly after Andre Onana saved Cameron Archer’s penalty kick. Marcus Rashford doubled his side’s lead just before the break to all but secure the three points.
Substitute Alejandro Garnacho put the cherry on top in the dying embers of the match as he grabbed United’s third.
De Ligt – who endured a torrid time during the international break after some extremely costly mistakes – was voted United’s man of the match.
Leading from the back
@MDeLigt_04 #MUFC || #SOUMUN pic.twitter.com/xhBChVyd1m
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 14, 2024
Beyond his headed finish, the Dutch defender was a rock at the back as he slotted right next to Lisandro Martinez.
He spoke to journalist Simon Peach and gave his verdict on United’s victory and his own performance.
The 25-year-old told Peach, “A win is the most important thing, a clean sheet, so (I’m) really happy.”
“It was a really important victory. Obviously today after all the stuff that was said about the club and our team after Liverpool we wanted to have a great response and I think today we did.”
“You try to minimise (the outside noise) as much as possible. Obviously you hear the things, not everything, you try to minimise that also. But you have to stay strong, you have to be yourself and I think today we did.”
On his troubles with the Netherlands team, De Ligt remarked, “Obviously sometimes you have a good game, sometimes you have a bad game. But as long as you stay true to yourself, know what you’re doing, keep working hard then the results will come. I do that also.”
“Sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s negative, but you have to keep going.”
United’s upcoming assignment against Barnsley in the third round of the EFL Cup represents another chance for De Ligt to further build up his fitness and gain match rhythm.
He said about this, “It’s going to be hard, but this is the reason why you become a footballer: to play every game as much as possible as best as possible, and hopefully we can win a lot of games.”
“We want to improve as much as possible and to improve you have to play as many games as possible.
He finished off by expressing hope that United can build on their display vs. Southampton to finally kick on for the rest of the campaign.
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