Erik ten Hag will breathe a huge sigh of relief after Manchester United came back from a goal down to defeat Brentford 2-1 in their Premier League game at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Alejandro Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund’s goals in the second half proved to be the difference in the end as the Red Devils moved up to 10th in the league standings.
Even though the Dutchman was spared that day by the onslaught, he was also pleased by Matthijs de Ligt’s valiant performance at the back.
The former captain of Ajax has not had the finest start to his United career; since moving to England in the summer, he has struggled with the pace and intensity of the English game and was outmuscled against Porto in the Europa League.
His international fortunes have also been lagging but against the Bees, the 25-year-old fought on despite a large gash on his head from a nasty looking collision with the knee of a Brentford attacker.
He was bandaged up but blood kept spilling out and the medical team’s incompetency meant United temporarily went down to 10 men which resulted in Brentford taking the lead.
But he never shirked his responsibilities when he was on the pitch and made three interceptions, and as many tackles and clearances.
He hardly allowed any space to the Brentford attackers and was smart when it came to interceptions and knew when to push up and when to fall back.
The former Bayern Munich star won three ground duels out of four and half of his aerial duels. Going forward, the Netherlands international was also a handful, managing a 95 percent passing accuracy while he also made one key pass.
He completed 100 percent of his crosses and successfully found a teammate once from a long ball attempt while completing four passes into the final third (all stats via sofascore).
The display will give him a lot of confidence moving forward and Ten Hag will be hoping to see more from a player who seemed to have lost himself since his departure from Amsterdam.
United’s next game is against Fenerbahce in Europe and De Ligt needs to prove himself in the continental competition next up to silence his doubters further.