Matthijs de Ligt has quietly been emerging as one of Manchester United’s most important players, but his contribution at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday brought the megaphone out.
He is the only player to feature in every second of United’s 2025-26 Premier League campaign, and though he referenced tiredness in terms of his team’s second-half collapse against Spurs, he summoned enough energy to get forward and rise at the far post in the sixth minute of added time to head home Bruno Fernandes’ corner and snatch a 2-2 draw.
His goal meant that rather than inquests on United letting a 1-0 lead slip to two quick goals, a week on from showing the same fragility as it also happened at Nottingham Forest, the final image heading into the final international break of the year is one of resilience, of finding the strength to hit back with 10 men, of stretching their unbeaten run to five games.
De Ligt was clever to score that goal, too. He had Brennan Johnson marking him again, after their tussle in the first half resulted in the Tottenham forward being cautioned. He made sure to bring that encounter to referee Sam Barrott’s attention and so, as the match approached the final whistle, the Welshman knew he had to be careful.
That gap allowed United goalkeeper Senne Lammens, whose arrival in the box demonstrated their desperation by that stage, the opportunity to get in between Johnson and De Ligt when the centre-back made a dart forward. Lammens was astute, reacting quickly. Then De Ligt peeled back and lost Johnson entirely, giving himself a clean jump.
The Dutchman had started the game at right centre-back, performing the role to head coach Ruben Amorim’s instructions by snapping upfield to win possession when chances arose, notably in the 20th minute when he was in the centre circle, diving to take the ball ahead of Richarlison from Pape Matar Sarr’s pass.
After the interval, he got forward, at one stage ushering Amad away from the ball as he made an overlapping run on the edge of the box. When Harry Maguire went off injured on 72 minutes, De Ligt shifted to the middle of the back three to replace him, performing a different type of defensive job. That he was upset with himself for not fully blocking Mathys Tel’s shot, the 84th-minute equaliser, is a mark of his mindset.
His touch map below shows a player covering lots of ground, which makes his record as the only member of Amorim’s squad to perform for the full 990 minutes this Premier League season (eight more than Fernandes) all the more notable.
A curiosity is that the 26-year-old, who was made captain of Ajax by future United manager Erik ten Hag at age 18 and has played for Juventus and Bayern Munich and made over 50 appearances for the Netherlands, is not in Amorim’s leadership group. Instead, the roles are filled by Fernandes, Maguire, Tom Heaton, Lisandro Martinez, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui.
“We choose. Sometimes there are players who lead in the way they play. Then there are players who have a different involvement in everything that happens in Carrington (the training ground),” said Amorim. “I am just trying to put different styles in the leadership group. But in the end, everyone has to be a leader and to help each other.”
It was Ten Hag who pushed for United to sign De Ligt from Bayern in summer 2024 under the club’s previous power structure, and that may put his future in jeopardy, but Amorim is currently finding great use for him, even though the head coach wants an evolution in time.
“He is doing really well, really aggressive, is defending well,” Amorim said. “He has more quality with the ball than he is showing. He is still in the point of not wanting to make mistakes with the ball. That is a smart thing for a player. But when we reach a very good point (as a team), our three centre-backs will control the tempo and the quality of the game.”
That aspect of Amorim’s team is a microcosm of United as a whole right now: signs of progress, but problems too. Once again, United had the chance yesterday to go second in the table, at least momentarily, but squandered it. They now have five wins in 25 Premier League games away from home since the start of last season.
Amorim threw his water bottle down on the floor when Tel made it 1-1. He paced the area after Richarlison put Spurs in front seven minutes later.
Ruben Amorim’s team remain a conundrum (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
His substitutions will come under scrutiny, given he’d made all five by the time Benjamin Sesko went down injured in the 86th minute and had to go off, leaving his team a player short for the closing stages. Maguire and Casemiro had genuine physical issues as they departed though, and Patrick Dorgu had been booked.
Manuel Ugarte, on for Casemiro, was dribbled past by Wilson Odobert in the lead-up to Tel’s equaliser and got shoved deep into the box by Rodrigo Bentancur, so did not have time to play Richarlison offside for his goal.
Sesko, who replaced Mazraoui, had the chance to put United 2-0 up when clean through from a nice pass by Mason Mount, but chose to cut inside rather than shoot, losing possession to Djed Spence. That chance came from Amad winning possession from Odobert and a quick ball by Fernandes.
Sesko was sharp to fashion his second one-on-one, flicking Lammens’ long pass to Mount, who followed a sharp touch by sending a reverse pass to meet the striker’s sprint behind Micky van de Ven. The Slovenian’s touch allowed the Tottenham defender the chance to make a superb tackle, with the knee injury Sesko picked up in that moment compounding things.
These moves are repeatable, however, and an indication of better understanding among team-mates, as was Bryan Mbeumo’s goal in the first half.
United pressurised Tottenham in the final third, and when Matheus Cunha fed Dorgu on the left, the visitors had six players in or just beyond the penalty area — all three forwards, both wing-backs and Fernandes.
That is the illustration of Amorim’s system at its most potent, because although Spurs tried to clear the ball, United’s numbers won out.
Mazraoui fed Cunha, who was quick to find Amad. His calmness and patience in the chaos gave Cunha time to threaten danger, occupying Van de Ven and distracting Cristian Romero, so Pedro Porro had three men to mark by himself at the back post. Again, six United players were in the Tottenham 18-yard box.
Johnson reacted to the danger too late as Mbeumo peeled off Porro and headed home.
Then in the game’s final stages, it was Mbeumo who carried the ball down the left to win the corner from which United salvaged a point.
Amorim acknowledged his team’s continuing conundrums: “We are just in the beginning. Sometimes the results show to people we are improving, but we have a lot to do. We need to do better, because the game was there to take.”