Matthijs de Ligt gives honest reaction to Manchester United defeat

'They will kill you' - Matthijs de Ligt gives honest reaction to Manchester United defeat

Matthijs de Ligt reflected on Man Utd's performance after losing against Brentford in the Premier League.

Matthijs de Ligt believes Manchester United's players must take responsibility amid speculation about Ruben Amorim's future.

United suffered a 3-1 defeat to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday, squandering an opportunity for Amorim to win back-to-back league games for the first time in his tenure.

Last weekend's win against Chelsea improved the mood at Old Trafford, but United were unable to build on that result. Amorim has won just 34 points from a possible 99 in the top flight during his time in charge and the Brentford defeat will increase the pressure on his shoulders.

Sources confirmed Amorim retained the backing of the board after Grimsby Town defeat in the Carabao Cup, but further setbacks against Manchester City and Brentford have followed.

De Ligt was the only United player to take time to speak to reporters as the players left the Gtech Community Stadium. The Dutchman was not included in the leadership group that was formed in the summer, but he is understood to have taken on a leadership role in the dressing room regardless.

"Really disappointed because all week we were speaking about keeping the momentum going, getting another win under our belt and yeah, if you lose this game, it's a big blow obviously," he said.

"Not a nice feeling, obviously. Everybody is really disappointed. I think first of all, they are disappointed with themselves. The first thing you have to control is yourself. And if you can do that, you are first disappointed with yourself, and then also with the team and the whole result, so really disappointed."

De Ligt stressed United must stick together. "It's the most important thing, it's the only thing we can do," he said. "As I said, it's a lot of time the same song, but still we have to stick together.

"We lost against City, we won against Chelsea, so for the next game we have to analyse what went wrong in this game because a lot of things went wrong. We need to be prepared for the next game."

When asked about what went wrong against Brentford, he responded: "We were short in key moments where we made the wrong decisions. That makes a big difference in football.

"I think obviously we were quite unlucky also with some chances, but yeah, overall, it was not good enough. That's a fact. Then you know, against a team like Brentford who play on the transition, with long throw-ins and corner kicks, then it's going to be really difficult."

De Ligt was signed by Erik ten Hag and the anniversary of his sacking is next month. Amorim looked like a manager under pressure on the touchline against Brentford, but De Ligt insisted the players must deliver on the pitch and cut out the mistakes that are leading to goals.

"Yeah, of course," he said about taking responsibility. "I mean it's always easy to look to the manager, but in the end, the players on the pitch have to do it. We can't say the goals we conceded, or the chances we conceded, are because of what... I don't know, you guys always talk about the system.

"That also has a lot to do with focus, concentration, and if that's lacking in key moments, it's going to make a difference. Against a Brentford team who plays like this, they will kill you."

United made a fast start against Chelsea last weekend, but were unable to reproduce those levels against Brentford. "I think we knew exactly what they were going to do," reflected De Ligt.

"It was the long ball to the strikers, the counter-attack. The first goal, I haven't seen it back. Obviously it was really tight. And yeah, then it's difficult. You're 1-0 behind, which is what you don't want.

"And then it goes 2-0 quite quickly afterwards. We came back quite well, we make it 2-1 and get a penalty. In my opinion... I'm not going to say [it was a red card], but the rules are the rules. But still, we have to do it ourselves and we didn't do it today. That's really disappointing."

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