Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt had a game to forget for the Netherlands as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Germany in their second group match of the Nations League.
Ronald Koeman’s men started the match on a high note as Tijjani Reijnders found the back of the net just two minutes in after he was put through on goal by Ryan Gravenberch.
Matthijs de Ligt’s horror international break continued with another error
The Dutch defender needlessly gifted away possession to allow Germany to score
The Netherlands were cruising until a few minutes before the break when a costly De Ligt error handed Germany the equaliser.
The new United signing – in an attempt to play out from the back – saw his pass intercepted. This resulted in a Germany move that was finished off by striker Denis Undav.
De Ligt’s mistake angered his centre-back partner Virgil van Dijk, who punched the ground in frustration before gesturing to him in anger.
Moments later, De Ligt delved into a challenge in an effort to block another Undav effort inside his own box. The United No.4 seemingly mistimed his tackle, helping the ball to find its way to a lurking Joshua Kimmich who was all too happy to tap it in from close range.
Unsurprisingly, De Ligt was taken off at the interval and replaced by Brighton and Hove Albion’s Jan Paul van Hecke.
And fans watching the action wasted no time laying into the struggling star.
Although some optimistic United fans desperately hoped De Ligt was simply getting his errors out of the way before returning to his top form at Old Trafford.
One said: “Everything under control and then such a mistake by Matthijs de Ligt, this is simply unacceptable. I love him but he simply can’t get rid of these mistakes in his career, and it looks like he never will.”
Another wrote: “Maguire is better. I need him comeback”
A third added: “Man Utd have got both Harry Maguire and Dutch Harry Maguire in De Ligt.”
A fourth commented: “I don’t know why I’m having the former Harry Maguire vibes. Any cause to be worried #MUFC fans?”
A fifth joked: “De Ligt getting all his mistakes out for Netherlands so he can drop top performances for United.”
And a final user said: “Man Utd DNA in this De Ligt performance for Netherlands, another mistake.”
During the time he was on the pitch, De Ligt made two clearances and blocked as many shots. He had 24 touches of the ball to his name.
The 25-year-old successfully found his teammates with 18 of the 20 passes he attempted, managing an individual pass accuracy of 90%.
He pinged five long balls and successfully connected on all five occasions.
(Stats obtained from Sofascore)
In the Netherlands’ most recent encounter with Bosnia and Herzegovina, De Ligt committed a critical error that caused his team to concede. Koeman had no choice but to publicly defend the United player, but it’s a little worrying that he gave another clumsy performance in the next match.
De Ligt returns to England in the hopes of putting his issues with the national team behind him in time for United’s Premier League matchup against Southampton this coming weekend.