Matthijs de Ligt sent the perfect message after Manchester United’s win over West Ham which speaks volumes about the pre-season so far.
Manchester United began their Premier League Summer Series with a 2-1 victory over West Ham at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
United started the match with real intensity and looked far sharper than their opponents from the outset.
Their early dominance paid off when Ayden Heaven reacted quickly to a goalkeeper’s error and won a penalty, which Bruno Fernandes confidently dispatched.
Ruben Amorim will have been impressed with his team’s energy and control during the first half, as they created several promising opportunities.
That same level of intensity continued into the second half, leading to a second goal. Kobbie Mainoo won possession high up the pitch and found Fernandes, who calmly lifted the ball over the goalkeeper for his second of the match.
West Ham managed to pull one back through Jarrod Bowen on the break, but United held firm to secure a deserved win in their first pre-season outing in the United States.
De Ligt sends perfect message after West Ham
One of the standout performers in the game was Matthijs de Ligt, who started as the central centre-back and provided some key defensive moments throughout.
The Dutchman spoke to MUTV after the game and was asked if there’s been any standout players throughout pre-season so far.
He explained that everyone has been working hard in a perfect response, although he did then highlight Fernandes and Matheus Cunha for their efforts against the Hammers.
“No, not particularly,” he responded. “Because I think everyone has been training hard, everybody has been fit, I think today if you look at the team there was no one who was worse than the others.
“Everybody was on a good level, of course Bruno scored the two goals, I think it was really nice to see Matheus who came from another club.
“But I think in general we did quite good today and we had a good performance.”
United’s entire squad look very fit
You can’t really argue with De Ligt’s comments as the entire team looked great against West Ham, especially in terms of their intensity.
It is clear that United’s squad have entered pre-season at a good fitness level after working on individual programmes over the summer.
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West Ham were overran and that was how it felt for United in many games last season. They couldn’t match the physicality of many Premier League opposition.
That changing is very important, while there are also plenty of other improvements we need to see from the team, but it has been a positive start.
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