Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt had a night to forget on international duty.
Matthijs de Ligt was substituted at half-time in the Netherlands draw with Germany, after a mistake leading to a goal.
De Ligt entered the game under a little pressure after an error in the game against Bosnia. And the criticism is sure to intensify after his mistake.
Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman took a no-nonsense approach, taking him off. The score was 1-1 at half-time and finished 2-2.
Ronald Koeman explains De Ligt substitution
Ronald Koeman has explained his decision to take Matthijs de Ligt off, and he says it was a case of being cruel to be kind.
Koeman told Voetbal International: “You’d rather leave players standing, but I protected him.
“This would stay in his head for the rest of the match. Reijnders also had a bad moment with loss of ball. But Matthijs is in such a period that it immediately results in a counter goal for him. That is also the class of Germany that it is punished.”
Perhaps Koeman did save De Ligt from a further mistake, but his actions may have fuelled the attention on the centre-back.
It’s a similar situation to Casemiro being substituted against Liverpool, where as a manager, you are in a no-win position when a player is clearly under-performing.
Virgil van Dijk on Matthijs de Ligt
Manchester United fans pointed out that De Ligt’s centre-back partner Virgil van Dijk did not defend well either, or cover his error.
Van Dijk did stick up for De Ligt after the game, and made clear that he supports his teammate. But he also had his own demand, that the United defender makes some improvement.
He told Voetbal International: “That’s part of football, unfortunately. Up until that moment he was playing very well. He has to learn from it.
“We’re all going through this. At the highest level, this is immediately punished. One wrong moment.”
De Ligt now returns to Manchester United ahead of this weekend’s clash with Southampton.
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