'Unfair' - Manchester United player has received scathing criticism after making his debut

"It's just f****d," said Matthijs de Ligt after his first appearance of the international break.

De Ligt's performance for the Netherlands against Bosnia and Herzegovina was highly scrutinised, but he took ownership of his mistakes in a refreshingly candid post-match interview.

"I should have done better at their second goal, and I know that. I don't really know what happened," he added. "I should have cleared the ball but I kept having doubts during the play."

Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman defended De Ligt and diplomatically said of his performance: "He himself realises that he was in the wrong position. This should not happen, but mistakes are part of football. I think it is unfair to make a big deal out of it."

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De Ligt retained his starting role in the Netherlands' Nation's League clash against Germany, however, he made a mistake in the first half - he played a poor pass and lost the ball - and was eventually hooked at the interval, suffering the same fate as Casemiro did against Liverpool.

De Ligt has fallen down the central defensive pecking order for his country in the last 18 months and Stefan de Vrij, Virgil van Dijk and Micky van de Ven are all now ahead of him.

Koeman spoke to Dutch broadcaster NOS after the game and was asked to explain his decision to remove De Ligt at half-time. "Of course, I would rather have kept Matthijs on the pitch," he said.

"It just looks like he is now in a period where all his mistakes are being punished. I gave him a new chance today, but eventually protected him by taking him off."

Koeman thought he was 'protecting' De Ligt by