Matthijs de Ligt claims Man Utd ready for ‘most important phase of season’ | OneFootball

Matthijs de Ligt is ready to fight for trophies as Manchester United enter the “most important phase” of their season to forget.

The Red Devils have tasted their fair share of lows in the 12 years since Sir Alex Ferguson bowed out as a champion, but this campaign has been the nadir for a club dealing with issues on and off the field.

De Ligt did not expect to be scrapping in the bottom half when he joined from Bayern Munich in the summer, but the defender believes Ruben Amorim’s side can still end the season on a high.

United managed that last term by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final and host Fulham in the fifth round on Sunday, before travelling to Spain for the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Real Sociedad.

Put to De Ligt that Wednesday’s 3-2 win against Ipswich should quell talk of an unthinkable relegation, he said: “To be fair, I don’t see it in that way.

“I see it more in the way that we are going through a really important phase now, with the FA Cup and Europa League coming up, and obviously the Premier League also.

“I think this is a really good start to getting to that phase, but, as I say, we are still in two really important tournaments alongside the Premier League, so I see it as the beginning of the most important phase of the season.

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Manchester United’s Matthijs de Ligt celebrates scoring against Ipswich (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

“It’s a really big club. To be fair, I’ve never been used to playing for… like we’re now 14th in the standings, I think. In my career the worst I’ve been is fourth, so that’s quite new for me.

“But also you learn a lot from it and today was a really important win and hopefully we can build on that and give the players more confidence to do it better.”

United certainly had to dig deep to win Wednesday’s battle against Ipswich, including playing the second half with 10 men.

“If you see us play against Liverpool, who is most likely champions of this season, against City, Arsenal with 10 men, then you see that we have a lot of quality,” De Ligt said. “And if the spirit and willpower is good, then we can make it difficult for everybody.

“The only thing is sometimes in games we’re a little bit off and we make it so much more difficult for ourselves in this amazing league where you cannot have a day off. Hopefully we can build on this and get more results.”

United will look to kick on in this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Fulham, when Patrick Dorgu begins a domestic ban that also includes the Premier League matches against Arsenal and Leicester.

The 20-year-old was sent off for a high tackle on Omari Hutchinson and De Ligt defended the left wing-back after his red card compounded his mix-up with goalkeeper Andre Onana for the opener.

“Yeah (difficult evening), but I think everybody has had these evenings before and I think the first goal was a little bit unlucky,” the scorer of United’s second goal said. “It’s a miscommunication and this can happen.

“He’s just new and it’s not easy then. I’ve had in the past several of these moments, so I think he shouldn’t worry about that and the red card is also a little bit unlucky.

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“But for the rest, he played a good first half, really energetic and had some good runs in behind, so he will learn from this.”

As for Ipswich, they will attempt to lift themselves for Monday’s FA Cup trip to Nottingham Forest and a tough-looking league game at Crystal Palace on March 8.

Kieran McKenna’s promoted side have failed to win a league match in 2025 and are five points adrift of safety following their Old Trafford defeat.

“There’s so much that a young group, in terms of experience and age, can learn from that, and we have to use it to make us stronger,” he said. “We have to use the lessons in the game coming up.

“We’re frustrated but I know when we get back to the training ground we’ll all turn our focus towards Nottingham Forest in the cup, and then really importantly take the lessons and be ready for Selhurst Park.”