Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt has insisted the Red Devils are improving despite a difficult start to the season.
United have won just three of their seven league games, while they also crashed out of the Carabao Cup to League Two side Grimsby Town.
Boss Ruben Amorim has subsequently come under major pressure in his position, although he has received the public backing of part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his side beat Sunderland prior to the international break.
The underlying data has also been getting better, with United having the highest xG and most shots of any top flight side in 2025-26, while the amount of chances they are conceding is slowly reducing.
De Ligt claimed he wasn’t bothered by the data, but backed up the premise that things are looking up for Amorim’s side.
‘Of course (confidence can be taken from the data),’ De Ligt told The Telegraph. ‘But, in the end, it’s all about winning. Data doesn’t count. Statistics don’t count.
Matthijs de Ligt has insisted Man United are improving despite a difficult start to the season
The defender, 26, also gave his backing to Ruben Amorim and his favoured 3-4-2-1 formation
‘But obviously when you’re not winning and you see that still you had a lot of chances and you just maybe missed the final touch to score a goal this gives confidence that we are actually playing quite OK. This gives us the belief that we can win a lot of games.’
The Dutch defender, who has played every minute of United’s top flight campaign and has impressed, went on to open up on his connection with Amorim.
‘I have a good relationship with him [Amorim] because of this, because he’s quite direct and I am quite direct with him,’ he added.
‘It’s about honesty and also in honesty you can say things that are sometimes not so good and you accept that also, you know, because it’s the only way. Communication and clarity is the most important thing in a team.’
The 26-year-old was also asked for his thoughts on Amorim’s much-maligned 3-4-2-1 system, where De Ligt usually features as the central centre back.
‘We’re improving as a team,’ De Ligt insisted. ‘In modern football even if you play a back four almost all teams play by building with three defenders. And we do often defend with four defenders.
De Ligt (left) has played every minute of United’s Premier League campaign and impressed
‘It’s always easy to say “system this, system that”. But, in the end, it’s always adaptable in the game.
‘There’s no situation where the system is always the same in the game. In that way of being flexible and in the structure we have to find a way to get everything right and make everything happen.’
Amorim is approaching a year in charge of the Red Devils but he has won just 19 and lost 19 of his 50 games at the helm.
The Red Devils are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they travel to Anfield to take on arch-rivals Liverpool.
