Revealed: The reasons behind De Ligt's top form

The Dutchman has impressed so far this campaign and a compilation of his best moments recently prompted a huge reaction on our official YouTube channel.

MUTV’s Mark Sullivan sat down with Matthijs to review his positive start and the centre-back began by providing an honest assessment of himself. 

"I am feeling quite good, to be fair,” says De Ligt. "I am happy with the way I started, personally. I feel good physically and mentally. I try to help the team as much as possible in every game.

"Obviously, we are not in the place where we want to be in the long term, but I feel like we are also improving as a team and, hopefully in the next weeks, we can get some good results.”

Asked for the reasons behind his top form, Matthijs continues: “Well, the first thing that’s really important is I had a proper pre-season. I feel, for me and my body, pre-season is always really important and I think it was one of the first pre-seasons in five or six years when I didn't have a transfer, an injury or a Euros. The last time was probably my last season at Ajax and that was actually one of the best seasons of my career! I feel it is a big thing that is really important. 

“I feel that, mentally and physically, I am in a really good place. I feel quite confident. Obviously, my team-mates and the manager help a lot because they give me this confidence. I think I am also used to the Premier League as well now, the pace, which helps also. Overall, these are the most important things that take me to this level at the moment.”

THE VALUE OF CLIPS

“As a team, we watch the footage back, always, because it's important for the team, to improve as a team. Me, personally, I always like to watch the game back, on Dutch television normally. I like to watch my own actions to see what I could have done differently, what I did right and that's something I usually do, but also, as a team, we watch the clips to improve as a team.”

Matthijs then provides an insight into squad meetings, saying: “Basically, we are watching clips. Most of the time, it is four different phases. The attacking phase, which means build-up and creating chances. The transition to [the] attacking phase, so basically when you recover the ball and counter-attack, and how you respond to this. Then the defensive phase and also the defensive transition. Four different phases and these are the most important phases in football, so we always get to see clips of these to see what we could have done better or what we did well.”

A HARSH CRITIC

Quizzed on his relationship with analysis, Matta admits his approach is evolving with age: “I am a really big critic of myself but I have become a little softer because sometimes I was too critical and it didn't help me much. Now I am a little bit more balanced, I think.” 

Friends and family also have a role to play, but they know their boundaries:

“They do, they do [provide feedback], but not in a way that's too much, they just speak to me about the game. Mostly, it is more about how the game went for the team instead of my performances, it is more about how we played, if we won or not. They know that I know how I played. Nobody has to say to me, before or after a game, how I played or what I should have done differently because they know that I am the biggest critic of myself.”

AN INVALUABLE LESSON

Fans may have noticed De Ligt often keeps his arms tightly behind his back when defending in the penalty area and, as we discovered, that stems from a harsh lesson he learned in Italy.

“My first three months at Juventus, I was 19 years old and the ball touched my hand about five times in three months. I got punished three times for a penalty and stuff like that. Since then, I am really conscious about this movement. Last season, I think I had a really unlucky one against Liverpool, when the ball just went from maybe half a metre to my hand. That is something I am really conscious about, also with blocking shots and stuff like that, keeping my body big but keeping my hands behind my back, so it's not going to be a penalty for a handball.”

MORE TO COME 

Now in his second season at United, De Ligt is producing his best form as a Red and is confident of finding another level in the coming years.

“Yeah, for sure,” he explains. “I feel that I am coming to my prime age now. I think as a defender, normally around 29, 30, 31, you are at your best. I am now 26 and I think I have experienced a lot in my career and I can use this experience to my advantage. Hopefully I can keep continuing that.”