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Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has vowed to the club’s supporters that he and his teammates will improve offensively and fully familiarise themselves with the demands of Ruben Amorim’s style of play.
De Ligt spoke to MUTV after United’s 2-0 loss at the hands of Arsenal.
United were undone by some masterful corner kick routines devised by the Gunners’ coaching staff. Jurrien Timber and William Saliba both scored from the dead-ball situations to clinch all three points for the hosts.
In his post-match press conference, Amorim admitted that Arsenal’s prowess in set-pieces was a big problem for the Red Devils.
Despite the defeat, De Ligt produced a decent performance. He was unlucky not to get on the score sheet as his header was kept out by a diving David Raya.
After the final whistle, De Ligt told club media [via Manchester Evening News], “In the defensive phase, the amount of chances we conceded without the set plays [was good]. In the end, we played a little bit more offensive and conceded some chances at the end.”
“But in general, we have to – and we will – offensively improve. We need to know what everyone is doing and we could have hurt them much more. We’re still quite early with the new coach but there are still positives. But overall, I’m really disappointed with the lack of points.”
“As you mentioned, we’re on the road to improve as a team and I think the manager said it also: maybe if we do it a certain way we have a bigger chance of getting results right now.”
The Netherlands international added, “But in the future, we will stay the same and won’t improve. I think the way we are going now is obviously not perfect yet and everybody has to improve a lot and get used to the new system, but you can see certain things that are improving.”
“But in the end, we are Manchester United and it’s easy – it’s not good enough.”
“We know that, we will work hard, we have ti improve and we have an important game in a few days.”
United return to action at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
Featured image Shaun Botterill via Getty Images
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