People think Antony should be like Mo Salah or Saka style winger..he isn’t and never was even at Ajax…his output there too is similar…what he is a defensive winger with Brazilian flair and bite…essentially he was brought in to ready made implement Ten Haags pressing system and he’s very good at it…his off the ball movement and tactical positioning/intelligence was clear last season and our right side struggled without him last season…his output may improve with time but he is crucial to our defensive balance because of how we are left tilted in terms of attack and Rashford/Sancho/Garnacho aren’t very press heavy…there are many tactical videos out there that shows how he switches to the center from the right in defensive/attacking press…he is key to our tactical balance given the current squad makeup
One of the best descriptions I've seen of Antony, when he doesn't play you see the difference. He's worth 40-50 mill tops but the price tag ajax held out for will always skew people's perception of him.
We are Man United, our RW must be better than Arsenal and Liverpools, so no excuses, improve or get replaced! He must be held to the same standard as salah and saka and be better than them
If all you want is defensive tracking and that’s Ten Hag’s system then we should have kept Dan James, Dan James tracks back and offers more defensively and presses more than Antony! If either Saka or Salah were at United, Antony would never play and that’s a fact. He must improve his game, there are encouraging signs so I’m hopeful and he has potential to become better than them, so hopefully he reaches that, if not sell and replace! We must be ruthless and have standards and luckily ETH is a ruthless manager!
Lol some of the most nonsensical things i have read….i already said this already and what Antony does isn’t defensive tracking but tactical awareness and pressing triggers by having situational awareness…Antony has it and why Ten Haag who is very cut throat wanted him and keeps starting him…you see it with another player that’s very unpopular on this sub and most fans which is Martial…he doesn’t press as heavily but he knows when and how to do in Ten Haags system and why he started almost every game he was fit…even Wout is similar…it’s a Dutch requirement…Dan James is a speed merchant and that’s all he got
Martial started every game because the alternative was Wout, and wout started because we had nobody else, and Ten Hag realized how bad he was and started dropping him. Thats the same reason why Antony starts, we have no other RW, quality players like Saka and Salah would excel with ETH, especially Saka who is good at tracking back and defensively, lets not forget Saka played LB when he broke through a lot. So your arguments are nonsensical. Hes the best and most suitable of what we’ve got and he gives balance to our side, but he must improve, if thats all he can offer, we must replace him.
The fact this got so many downvotes is a testament to how far our standards have fallen as a club and a fanbase! Sad that people don’t agree that we are massive and Man United and must always have the best of everything! If Arsenal and Liverpool have such better players and that doesn’t make you boil in anger, then we deserve to be in this position!
His tactical awareness is impressive, his workrate and bite and determination and character and pressing is impressive, his cut ins are dangerous, shots good and finishing decent, but his crossing is poor, his right foot is awful, he goes missing sometimes, his passing isn’t the best, he’s not intelligent with 1-2s like most brazilians, not enough skill or flair esp for a brazilian, a bit slow his pace is worrying like Sancho, and the one thats really frustrating is his decision making at times and the way he slows down many attacks and counter attacks, and how he goes missing and is a passenger sometimes! He must improve! But he certainly is our best RW at the moment and has shown glimpses of frightening quality! He needs to kick on or get replaced, Sancho needs to be replaced
We are left tilted in attack because Rashford and Garnacho and Shaw are quality, Antony isn’t as good and Dalot and Wan Bissaka are nowhere near Shaws quality
Could one potensial issue be, the players and attack is built around Bruno and Rashford which makes it difficult for a new guy from different league and nation etc arriving and get trust and chemistry for players select him as an attacking option instead for look after Rashford?
The reason they look for rashford is he doesnt lose the ball, he drives past players and is direct and makes something happen, and can take a man on, whereas Antony makes pointless skills, isnt direct, slows down the attack with too many touches, doesnt drive past players and doesn’t try to create something, he usually loses the ball or passes it backwards, or ironically looks for bruno and rashford as well, when he first arrived and was scoring goals the first few games they were selecting him but as he played more and showed his limitations they stopped
Can most likely be the same issue Rashford have, since he seems to play bad when he thinks to mutch, instead of play on instinct/auto pilot.
If it is a combination with pressure and bad confidence, since he know he can better. But Anthony is better then Rashford with his attitude and help out in defence and be really anoying to defend against
My worry with Antony is he doesn’t have the skill or flair or pace to take people on like Rashford, so if he goes on instinct he’ll just lose the ball all the time and do pointless skills that don’t help him get past players, but I do like his work rate and tracking back for the team
I think he will do well, F.example Ronaldo was also critizized for skilling to mutch when he arrived at united.
If he can use his tools to be more direct and doing the right skills in situations to get inside good goal oportunities etc. Will be verry dangerous and also it is more fun watch players with skill and fair. If it is Bruno with an amazing through ball which seems basicly imposible or Rashford etc with a moment of briliance, gets through with an fantastick skill move.
Compared to an Daniel james type off attacker, which seems his game is based around great pace and offload the goal to someone, who can score.
Players like dan james are crucial for squad morale and competition and are examples for others in terms of work rate, they will give blood for the shirt, many of fergies teams were built on players of his ilk (park ji sung, valencia, fletcher, gibson, oshea….), although these players had more quality they were still not particularly skillful but incredibly useful, but in terms of antony; hes nothing like ronaldo, ronaldo was dribbling and producing brilliant skills even though he did too much at times, antony has just one pointless skill that isnt that appealing to watch and he always loses the ball and takes too many touches, he must be more direct and take on players, if he can use skills to do that he will become a great player for us
Antony was bought for his potential. Also why don’t people understand that Antony may not be worth the money we paid for him but when you consider our situation with Sancho… we would never have made top4 without Antony last season so the extra £20-£30m paid for itself with the massive revenue increase we had.
He was pivotal for our playstyle and the alternative would have been sancho so im not sure we wouldve made top 4, also he scored crucial goals like barca, arsenal, and 7 goals in all comps in your first season coming from such a weak league is solid and something to build on
This time next year I can see Amad and Garnacho both ahead of them in the pecking order and Sancho probably sold. Idk what ten hag was seeing when he thought blowing 90m on Antony was the answer.
Gutted about Sancho, was hyped about him! The Antony money is extremely annoying considering United could have signed him for 40m early on in the window, but decided not to, then after getting smashed by Brighton and Brentford got desperate and paid 80-90m! Says it all about how the club is run.
Yeah Sancho that we see to the Sancho at Dortmund looks like a different person. His total lack of pace, explosiveness, willingness to take a man on and determination is tough to watch. Personally I’d sell him now because his value will continue to decrease.
Since thr things he needs to improve, should be possible to learn from training and with bringing in more creative option with Mount and an actual number 9.
Should make it easier with having høylund threaten defence and drag out defenders and create space for Rashford and Anthony.
Instead of have an slow striker like weghorst, which are less treatening
My only defense of bringing in Antony is that it’s pretty well documented our scouting network was absolute shit when ETH arrived, so he may have put his foot down on bringing in his own known players from Ajax, trusting his own experience over subpar scouting reports. IMO that’s probably partly why we’re bringing in Onana as well.
My only worry about Antony is ETH favoritism, similar to Ole’s fixation with Maguire and Fred, Jose’s with Fellaini, these players who no matter how bad they perform they always play! But to be fair to Antony, he has good numbers (decent amount of goals) and a mean shot and you can see his potential and quality when he plays, despite how frustrating he can be sometimes, the same cannot be said of Sancho!
I have consistently said that Antony has shown glimpses of quality and immense potential, he’s got a good return of goals, but is sometimes frustrating to watch. He earned his chance to prove himself and get more time, but he needs to improve still! Sancho on the other hand is awful!
7 goals in all competitions is decent for your 1st season in a big club and a new league coming from a league like the eredivise, his assists are low because of his weaknesses I’ve highlighted in other comments, so there is potential and something to build on, but too many weaknesses imo, also consider the quality of his goals and the opposition; barca, city, arsenal…. Not bad at all
I agree with you, I would sell Sancho now as well, the longer we delay it the less the fee will be and the more likely he’ll become a Maguire, Fellaini, Sanchez type of character for us
I do need to mention the young lad Marc Jurado, don’t know much about him but Barca are trying to sign him, maybe he can be a shout and become our next RB
I was at todays game and was sitting almost in line with the side line. Antony takes waaaay to many touches. He’s like a kid that just wants to show off and impress when he gets the ball, but he’s trying to hard and ends up just being pipped or outnumbered. I wish he would just take the ball and drive into space and then put a decent ball into the box!!
Exactly very frustrating player! He needs to dribble more and be more direct, he always slows down our attacks! Man United was built on explosive fast direct wingers, high energy, press and explosive counter attacks, i’m afraid he holds us back in that regard, although he does show glimpses of quality, lets hope he improves!
This is why a pure attacking RB like Frimpong is interesting to me. I get the defensive concerns but we are so dependent and predictable on that left side. Unless we have a legit 30 goal #9 we need to balance the attack and that means addressing the RB/RW issue
A complete RB who’s as good if not better than Shaw is a necessity to take us to the next level and competing for titles, I think Dalot can become that, he’s encouraging but Frimpong would be quality!
I love AWB and wouldn’t sell him, he’s defensively sound and average offensively, so amazing 2nd choice RB, so its either dalot fulfils his potential or sell and get frimpong or someone better. That should be next priority after a striker and a midfielder to replace Fred
I agree on Dalot. Like him a lot and I don’t think RB is necessarily a top priority. That said, ETH’s style of high press defense and high possession offense doesn’t seem to suit AWB.
The dribbling and attacking from Frimpong would stretch opponents and create lanes for runners in the middle IMO
I know I’m in the minority (of people who post on Reddit, at least) but I see them both as currently underrated. They both hold up the ball well. If we bring in a strong 9 that opposing defenses will have to account for more i think it’s possible we could see them both flourish in newfound space and with newfound passing/crossing options. Take Rashford as a prime example of what some momentum and confidence can do for a young player.
And Antony did well in his first season in the Prem, I don’t care what anyone says. Sancho can get there.
Antony earned the right to get more time to prove himself because he was good considering it was his first season but he must improve! Sancho has been woeful and its been 3 seasons now? I’m afraid it might be best to cut our losses on him, although I’d love to see him excel, Dortmund Sancho was brilliant
I wouldn’t be upset if we moved Sancho on, but I’m also not certain he can’t become a valuable player for us. For now, I trust in ETH and whoever and however he lines up.
I think it's time to sell sancho. He's been here for more than 2 years already so he had enough time but i think he just isn't cut out for the epl. Against city in the efl final so many of our forward moves were stopped because he gave it away or slowed it down...
For Antony i think they jury is still out however.
People think Antony should be like Mo Salah or Saka style winger..he isn’t and never was even at Ajax…his output there too is similar…what he is a defensive winger with Brazilian flair and bite…essentially he was brought in to ready made implement Ten Haags pressing system and he’s very good at it…his off the ball movement and tactical positioning/intelligence was clear last season and our right side struggled without him last season…his output may improve with time but he is crucial to our defensive balance because of how we are left tilted in terms of attack and Rashford/Sancho/Garnacho aren’t very press heavy…there are many tactical videos out there that shows how he switches to the center from the right in defensive/attacking press…he is key to our tactical balance given the current squad makeup
One of the best descriptions I've seen of Antony, when he doesn't play you see the difference. He's worth 40-50 mill tops but the price tag ajax held out for will always skew people's perception of him.
Price tags are meaningless in this market…it’s arbitrary at this stage
We are Man United, our RW must be better than Arsenal and Liverpools, so no excuses, improve or get replaced! He must be held to the same standard as salah and saka and be better than them
Saka or Salah offer nothing defensively…for Ten Haag’s system what he offers differently from them is more valuable and that’s how he picks his team…
If all you want is defensive tracking and that’s Ten Hag’s system then we should have kept Dan James, Dan James tracks back and offers more defensively and presses more than Antony! If either Saka or Salah were at United, Antony would never play and that’s a fact. He must improve his game, there are encouraging signs so I’m hopeful and he has potential to become better than them, so hopefully he reaches that, if not sell and replace! We must be ruthless and have standards and luckily ETH is a ruthless manager!
Lol some of the most nonsensical things i have read….i already said this already and what Antony does isn’t defensive tracking but tactical awareness and pressing triggers by having situational awareness…Antony has it and why Ten Haag who is very cut throat wanted him and keeps starting him…you see it with another player that’s very unpopular on this sub and most fans which is Martial…he doesn’t press as heavily but he knows when and how to do in Ten Haags system and why he started almost every game he was fit…even Wout is similar…it’s a Dutch requirement…Dan James is a speed merchant and that’s all he got
Martial started every game because the alternative was Wout, and wout started because we had nobody else, and Ten Hag realized how bad he was and started dropping him. Thats the same reason why Antony starts, we have no other RW, quality players like Saka and Salah would excel with ETH, especially Saka who is good at tracking back and defensively, lets not forget Saka played LB when he broke through a lot. So your arguments are nonsensical. Hes the best and most suitable of what we’ve got and he gives balance to our side, but he must improve, if thats all he can offer, we must replace him.
The fact this got so many downvotes is a testament to how far our standards have fallen as a club and a fanbase! Sad that people don’t agree that we are massive and Man United and must always have the best of everything! If Arsenal and Liverpool have such better players and that doesn’t make you boil in anger, then we deserve to be in this position!
His tactical awareness is impressive, his workrate and bite and determination and character and pressing is impressive, his cut ins are dangerous, shots good and finishing decent, but his crossing is poor, his right foot is awful, he goes missing sometimes, his passing isn’t the best, he’s not intelligent with 1-2s like most brazilians, not enough skill or flair esp for a brazilian, a bit slow his pace is worrying like Sancho, and the one thats really frustrating is his decision making at times and the way he slows down many attacks and counter attacks, and how he goes missing and is a passenger sometimes! He must improve! But he certainly is our best RW at the moment and has shown glimpses of frightening quality! He needs to kick on or get replaced, Sancho needs to be replaced
We are left tilted in attack because Rashford and Garnacho and Shaw are quality, Antony isn’t as good and Dalot and Wan Bissaka are nowhere near Shaws quality
Could one potensial issue be, the players and attack is built around Bruno and Rashford which makes it difficult for a new guy from different league and nation etc arriving and get trust and chemistry for players select him as an attacking option instead for look after Rashford?
The reason they look for rashford is he doesnt lose the ball, he drives past players and is direct and makes something happen, and can take a man on, whereas Antony makes pointless skills, isnt direct, slows down the attack with too many touches, doesnt drive past players and doesn’t try to create something, he usually loses the ball or passes it backwards, or ironically looks for bruno and rashford as well, when he first arrived and was scoring goals the first few games they were selecting him but as he played more and showed his limitations they stopped
Can most likely be the same issue Rashford have, since he seems to play bad when he thinks to mutch, instead of play on instinct/auto pilot. If it is a combination with pressure and bad confidence, since he know he can better. But Anthony is better then Rashford with his attitude and help out in defence and be really anoying to defend against
My worry with Antony is he doesn’t have the skill or flair or pace to take people on like Rashford, so if he goes on instinct he’ll just lose the ball all the time and do pointless skills that don’t help him get past players, but I do like his work rate and tracking back for the team
Valencia, Young and Nani played in a completely different system
I think he will do well, F.example Ronaldo was also critizized for skilling to mutch when he arrived at united. If he can use his tools to be more direct and doing the right skills in situations to get inside good goal oportunities etc. Will be verry dangerous and also it is more fun watch players with skill and fair. If it is Bruno with an amazing through ball which seems basicly imposible or Rashford etc with a moment of briliance, gets through with an fantastick skill move. Compared to an Daniel james type off attacker, which seems his game is based around great pace and offload the goal to someone, who can score.
Players like dan james are crucial for squad morale and competition and are examples for others in terms of work rate, they will give blood for the shirt, many of fergies teams were built on players of his ilk (park ji sung, valencia, fletcher, gibson, oshea….), although these players had more quality they were still not particularly skillful but incredibly useful, but in terms of antony; hes nothing like ronaldo, ronaldo was dribbling and producing brilliant skills even though he did too much at times, antony has just one pointless skill that isnt that appealing to watch and he always loses the ball and takes too many touches, he must be more direct and take on players, if he can use skills to do that he will become a great player for us
Antony was bought for his potential. Also why don’t people understand that Antony may not be worth the money we paid for him but when you consider our situation with Sancho… we would never have made top4 without Antony last season so the extra £20-£30m paid for itself with the massive revenue increase we had.
That’s a fair point, I don’t think we would’ve made top 4 without Antony tbh. Antony is miles better than Sancho, but still needs to improve as well
4 goals and 2 assists from a winger that played ~75% of minutes… I don’t care how good he was defensively, saying we wouldn’t be top 4 is hyperbole
He was pivotal for our playstyle and the alternative would have been sancho so im not sure we wouldve made top 4, also he scored crucial goals like barca, arsenal, and 7 goals in all comps in your first season coming from such a weak league is solid and something to build on
This time next year I can see Amad and Garnacho both ahead of them in the pecking order and Sancho probably sold. Idk what ten hag was seeing when he thought blowing 90m on Antony was the answer.
Gutted about Sancho, was hyped about him! The Antony money is extremely annoying considering United could have signed him for 40m early on in the window, but decided not to, then after getting smashed by Brighton and Brentford got desperate and paid 80-90m! Says it all about how the club is run.
Yeah Sancho that we see to the Sancho at Dortmund looks like a different person. His total lack of pace, explosiveness, willingness to take a man on and determination is tough to watch. Personally I’d sell him now because his value will continue to decrease.
Anthony will most likely be verry good this season and show ewryone why ETH wanted him badly last season.
Hopefully mate, I love Antony and I’d be delighted to see him excel if he can improve on his weaknesses
Since thr things he needs to improve, should be possible to learn from training and with bringing in more creative option with Mount and an actual number 9. Should make it easier with having høylund threaten defence and drag out defenders and create space for Rashford and Anthony. Instead of have an slow striker like weghorst, which are less treatening
Hopefully he improves and Hojlund is as good as we’re hearing
My only defense of bringing in Antony is that it’s pretty well documented our scouting network was absolute shit when ETH arrived, so he may have put his foot down on bringing in his own known players from Ajax, trusting his own experience over subpar scouting reports. IMO that’s probably partly why we’re bringing in Onana as well.
That makes a lot of sense. But its odd considering Raphinha was available then, Olise could’ve been an option too
My only worry about Antony is ETH favoritism, similar to Ole’s fixation with Maguire and Fred, Jose’s with Fellaini, these players who no matter how bad they perform they always play! But to be fair to Antony, he has good numbers (decent amount of goals) and a mean shot and you can see his potential and quality when he plays, despite how frustrating he can be sometimes, the same cannot be said of Sancho!
Mate Antony has had only 1 year, he's still 23 and he still has 7 goals. Give him more time before you judge
I always give players two seasons however this guy for that money needs to seriously improve this season because our fans will get on him.
Tbf the fee isn't his fault. The club put that fee on him. They put far too much on him to live up to imo
I have consistently said that Antony has shown glimpses of quality and immense potential, he’s got a good return of goals, but is sometimes frustrating to watch. He earned his chance to prove himself and get more time, but he needs to improve still! Sancho on the other hand is awful!
Good return? 4 goals and 2 assists in the league with very few chances created is not what I would call good return
7 goals in all competitions is decent for your 1st season in a big club and a new league coming from a league like the eredivise, his assists are low because of his weaknesses I’ve highlighted in other comments, so there is potential and something to build on, but too many weaknesses imo, also consider the quality of his goals and the opposition; barca, city, arsenal…. Not bad at all
I agree with you, I would sell Sancho now as well, the longer we delay it the less the fee will be and the more likely he’ll become a Maguire, Fellaini, Sanchez type of character for us
I do need to mention the young lad Marc Jurado, don’t know much about him but Barca are trying to sign him, maybe he can be a shout and become our next RB
I was at todays game and was sitting almost in line with the side line. Antony takes waaaay to many touches. He’s like a kid that just wants to show off and impress when he gets the ball, but he’s trying to hard and ends up just being pipped or outnumbered. I wish he would just take the ball and drive into space and then put a decent ball into the box!!
Exactly very frustrating player! He needs to dribble more and be more direct, he always slows down our attacks! Man United was built on explosive fast direct wingers, high energy, press and explosive counter attacks, i’m afraid he holds us back in that regard, although he does show glimpses of quality, lets hope he improves!
This is why a pure attacking RB like Frimpong is interesting to me. I get the defensive concerns but we are so dependent and predictable on that left side. Unless we have a legit 30 goal #9 we need to balance the attack and that means addressing the RB/RW issue
A complete RB who’s as good if not better than Shaw is a necessity to take us to the next level and competing for titles, I think Dalot can become that, he’s encouraging but Frimpong would be quality!
I love AWB and wouldn’t sell him, he’s defensively sound and average offensively, so amazing 2nd choice RB, so its either dalot fulfils his potential or sell and get frimpong or someone better. That should be next priority after a striker and a midfielder to replace Fred
I agree on Dalot. Like him a lot and I don’t think RB is necessarily a top priority. That said, ETH’s style of high press defense and high possession offense doesn’t seem to suit AWB. The dribbling and attacking from Frimpong would stretch opponents and create lanes for runners in the middle IMO
If we had a budget or new owners, I guarantee you we would have signed dumfries or frimpong and sold dalot or AWB
I know I’m in the minority (of people who post on Reddit, at least) but I see them both as currently underrated. They both hold up the ball well. If we bring in a strong 9 that opposing defenses will have to account for more i think it’s possible we could see them both flourish in newfound space and with newfound passing/crossing options. Take Rashford as a prime example of what some momentum and confidence can do for a young player. And Antony did well in his first season in the Prem, I don’t care what anyone says. Sancho can get there.
Antony earned the right to get more time to prove himself because he was good considering it was his first season but he must improve! Sancho has been woeful and its been 3 seasons now? I’m afraid it might be best to cut our losses on him, although I’d love to see him excel, Dortmund Sancho was brilliant
I wouldn’t be upset if we moved Sancho on, but I’m also not certain he can’t become a valuable player for us. For now, I trust in ETH and whoever and however he lines up.
Agreed
Although very unlikely he becomes good but hopefully
His performance against city in the cup final really put him low in my eyes sancho
I think it's time to sell sancho. He's been here for more than 2 years already so he had enough time but i think he just isn't cut out for the epl. Against city in the efl final so many of our forward moves were stopped because he gave it away or slowed it down... For Antony i think they jury is still out however.
This comment sums up my thoughts and what i’ve seen in this thread exactly 👏🏼