Manchester United defender Matthijs De Ligt has admitted that his teammates must take part of the responsibilities for their poor form and must improve ahead of their coming matches.
The Red Devils’ poor start to the league season continued with a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
It marked their third defeat in six league games this season as they remained in 14th-place with only only seven points from a possible 18.
They had defeated Chelsea 2-1 in their previous weekend and would have secured a first consecutive league win under Ruben Amorim against the Bees.
However, it was the same old story as they were beaten again at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Igor Thiago opened the scoring early in the match, with the goal surviving a Video Assistant Referee review for offside.
The forward added another in the 20th minute of the game, firing beyond Altay Bayindir to double his side’s lead in the match.
Summer arrival Benjamin Sesko halved the deficit for the visitors before the break, setting up a perfect tone for the second half.
Man United were given a lifeline after Bryan Mbeumo, making a return to his former club, was fouled by Nathan Collins in the box, resulting in a penalty kick.
However, captain Bruno Fernandes’ spotkick was saved by Kelleher in the Brentford’s goal, before Mathias Jensen punished them further with a third for the home side deep into stoppage-time.
De Ligt calls for improvement among squad
It has been an underwhelming start to the campaign, as the Red Devils havs truggled to put the disappointment of last season behind them.
They face in-form Sunderland next at the Old Trafford on Saturday, but De Ligt has challenged his teammates to up their game.
“Of course, I mean it’s always easy to look to the manager, but in the end the players on the pitch have to do it”, the Dutch defender revealed.
“We can’t say the goals we conceded, or the chances we conceded, are because of what… I don’t know, you guys always talk about the system.
“That also has a lot to do with focus, concentration and, if that’s lacking in key moments, it’s going to make a difference.
“[We are] really disappointed because all week we were speaking about keeping the momentum going, getting another win under our belt”, De Ligt continued.
“If you lose this game, it’s a big blow obviously. A lot of lot of time (it is) the same song, but we have to stick together. It’s the most important thing.
