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Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has acknowledged that while he and his teammates went through an extremely tough and disappointing 2024/25 season, there are still a few positives he can take from the experience.
United finished a lowly 15th place in the Premier League table, having suffered 18 defeats and amassed just 42 points.
The Red Devils had the chance to sneak into the Champions League by winning the Europa League, but they blew it, picking up a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final.
De Ligt joined United last summer from Bayern Munich, but his reunion with the former Ajax boss only lasted until October, as Ten Hag was sacked and replaced by Ruben Amorim.
Immediately upon his arrival, Amorim implemented a bold tactical shift, switching his side to a three-man defence system.
De Ligt spoke to club media and opened up on Amorim’s formation and his contributions to the team. He specifically highlighted his satisfaction with the number of games he was able to play, given his previous injury struggles, and how seamlessly he has adapted to the back-three system.
Reflecting on his debut season in England, “Yeah, I think I’m quite satisfied. First of all, because I played [over] 40 matches.”
“Now I’m injured, unfortunately, but I have been fit for most of the season, compared to my last at Bayern, which was different. So, with that, I’m really happy. I think I contributed also in a way that could be happy with.”
“Obviously, every time, it should be better and, every day, I’m training as hard as possible to get better and to help the team even more.”
“But I believe that you can do only as much as you can do, so with that, I’m satisfied and hopefully, as I said, we can grow even more as a team and as a group to becoming even better next season.”
On the back-three, De Ligt revealed, “For me, personally, obviously going from a two-man defence centre-back to a three-man defence, that’s obviously a change. So yeah, you change the way you play. The positions look the same but they are still quite different.”
“So, yeah, it’s really interesting for me to get this for the first time in my career: a coach who plays this system all the time. I think you more you play in it, the more you get used to it.”
“I can also say that, in this system, I have grown a lot as a player, so I am really happy for that.”
He added, “I think I can adapt quick to systems, from what way I have to play, so it was quite okay. Obviously, with the team, in the beginning, it was a little bit different, because we still had to get used to the system, the way we play.”
“So, personally, I felt quite comfortable, soon after we implemented the system but, as a team, obviously we had to grow to get into the system and to become better as a team. I’ve played this system before, it’s just not that I’ve played it every week. Sometimes, certain games we played with five in the back. With the national team [the Netherlands], for example, we played a tournament with five in the back.”
“That’s what I like. I’ve grown up with four in the back so, for me, it was quite different to play every week like this. But, right now, I can say that I’m used to it and there are pros and cons in every system. It’s the same with this. But, until now, I like the way I play and the way I feel in the system, so that’s good.”
De Ligt made 42 appearances for United across all competitions and helped the team keep 11 clean sheets. He also scored two goals in that period.
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