Manchester United and Erik ten Hag finally have a win on their sixth attempt as they beat Brentford at Old Trafford to end a five-match winless run.
The 2-1 win was a huge positive for many reasons, not least because of Erik ten Hag’s significant second-half tactical change which turned the game in Manchester United’s favour.
The manager showed flexibility in his tactics, not something that is often said about him, and that resulted in United putting out a dominant second-half display.
However, what can’t be forgotten in the euphoria is their less-than-convincing first-half display, punctuated by Brentford taking a shock lead from a corner when United defended with ten men.
And that is where the anger arose since Matthijs de Ligt had to be patched up with blood flowing from his head, not for the first time but again, not enough to get him subbed off.
Matthijs de Ligt’s warrior-like display
De Ligt has never been one to shy away from challenges and for all his quality on the ball, he relishes the old-school style of defending.
Perhaps that is why he has become a bit injury-prone recently as he is always willing to put his body on the line.
The most extreme example of it came vs Brentford when, in the process of clearing away the ball, he reached late and his head collided straight on with the knee of the Brentford player.
A gruesome wound opened up on his head from which blood flowed like a sieve but De Ligt was not to be deterred.
He got treated on the pitch, the blood cleaned off, and back he was on the pitch five minutes later to warm applause from the fans.
However, that is where the story just begins. It became an exercise of resilience and a never-say-die attitude for the Dutchman as he went in to clean his blood two more times before the first half ended.
The expectation would be that the medical team is seeing him through the first half but out again he came for the second half an played like a man possessed.
He threw himself into aerial duels, got into scraps for the ball on the ground, carried it forward with confidence, and relished the physical duels with effectively a makeshift tape holding his wound together.
Regardless of results, fans always demand maximum effort and commitment from their player and De Ligt was the personification of that attitude vs Brentford.
A monumental game for De Ligt
De Ligt hasn’t had the best of times since swapping Bayern Munich for Old Trafford with jittery form combined with some virtuoso displays.
His international form hasn’t helped either as he has had two consecutive nightmare international breaks with the Netherlands.
However, a player of his quality has always shown a warrior-like mentality to bounce back from setbacks and sometimes, all you need is one game to find your groove.
For De Ligt, this game, the circumstances in which it happened, and his own performance can be the one that firmly entrenches him in the minds of Man Utd fans as a ‘leader’.
His charisma and leadership skills were the intangibles fans thought he would bring to a potentially problematic dressing room but since he wasn’t playing well himself, being a leader went out the window.
This performance can be the turning point where his teammates look at him as a leader, fans adore him for his commitment, and the confidence he gains from it brings him into a virtuous cycle of good form as well.
This was monumental for, and from Matthijs de Ligt.
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