[Litch]

The problem with some in the fan base, they can be unforgiving. Often how a player starts can either often make or break fans view and will be what they are anchored too.

 

[Stadjer]

The problem with some in the fan base, they can be unforgiving. Often how a player starts can either often make or break fans view and will be what they are anchored too.

Even more unforgiving when it is a wide ''flair'' player. This fanbase didnt even like Nani most of the time.

 

[Litch]

Even more unforgiving when it is a wide ''flair'' player. This fanbase didnt even like Nani most of the time.

You are not wrong.….the vultures have already starting to circle.

 

[Spaghetti]

I’m a bit worried about him. Don’t rate him.

 

[CloneMC16]

Still very early, but I am worried about him. He doesn't play like I thought he would. He's far less direct than I was hoping for. His best play comes from when he's deep in our half. A ball is played into him, and the opposition RB gets tight. He flicks it past them and runs on. When it comes to taking on an fullback in the opposition half, he constantly goes backwards. I'm just hoping that he will settle and start to do better. We paid a lot and that fee is going to weigh heavily. Not just our fans, but rival fans won't let him forget it. Paying what we did for him was absolutely ridiculous.

The one thing he has in his favour is he's our only right winger. Even if he's shite, he's going to continuously get games. Might help him to keep playing to try and get some form going. He needs to do way better.

 

[Chairman Steve]

He’s been fine in my opinion and no cause for worry at the moment. Not everyone hits the ground running like Bruno. I don’t think it helps that injury and then a World Cup happened. He’s just bedding in and I personally believe that Dalot missing since coming back hasn’t helped.

Luckily we have a few people playing quite well to make up for it, otherwise the spotlight would be on him more and people asking why the £80m man is not pulling up trees.

 

[georgipep]

I’m not sure that’s true. Everyone always think of Evra and Vidic where that definitely happened (more so for Evra than Vidic, who only really had a handful of ropy games) but we signed them a very long time ago. Can you think of anyone we signed in the last 15 years who had a poor start and subsequently became a key players for us? Or anyone before Evra/Vidic who fits that description?

Depressingly, we’re much more likely to see new signings have a good start before ending up as not good enough than we are to see the opposite!

Fred (unfortunately can't think of others)

 

[El Jefe]

My main issue with him is he has so much to work on in his game from an attacking perspective. He looks less developed than Greenwood in his offensive game and he was nowhere near his full potential.

Antony's final ball, shooting, finishing, running with the ball and right foot quality is well below where it needs to be. He's show some signs with finishing and shooting but his shot power is incredibly weak other than the City goal which caught everyone by surprise.

Other than his ability to keep possession and offer balance to the team I don't see a part of his attacking game that stands out. No matter how young a player is, their standout qualities are clear to see from the start. Martial and Rashford have the same stregths they have now as they did when they broke through, and I'd expect Garnacho's strength to always be his dribbling at speed etc.

Antony's stregths aren't clear.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

He seems to be a one trick pony, cutting inside and shoot in the top corner, anyone knows how to defend that soon enough.
He doesn't use his right foot at all and for whatever reason I was under the impression he was pretty fast, but he isn't.

 

[Rossa]

Still very early, but I am worried about him. He doesn't play like I thought he would. He's far less direct than I was hoping for. His best play comes from when he's deep in our half. A ball is played into him, and the opposition RB gets tight. He flicks it past them and runs on. When it comes to taking on an fullback in the opposition half, he constantly goes backwards. I'm just hoping that he will settle and start to do better. We paid a lot and that fee is going to weigh heavily. Not just our fans, but rival fans won't let him forget it. Paying what we did for him was absolutely ridiculous.

The one thing he has in his favour is he's our only right winger. Even if he's shite, he's going to continuously get games. Might help him to keep playing to try and get some form going. He needs to do way better.

I don't think there are that many wingers that go past players anymore. There's Mbappe and Vinicius, but mostly everyone is cutting inside, linking up. Growing up, I was used to watching Giggs, then Ronaldo and Nani going past players for fun, but it also meant that they lost the ball a lot, especially Ronaldo and in particular Nani, but it was exciting. I'm not sure it was that much more efficient. What do you do when you go past the player on the outside? Do you go for the byline to cross, which many would argue isn't all that efficient, or do you rather prefer cutting inside, linking up, finding pockets of space and keeping the ball moving like City does. They don't really have players that goes past anyone unless it is without the ball into that pocket of space.

That being said, he definitely needs to do better.

 

[Rossa]

He seems to be a one trick pony, cutting inside and shoot in the top corner, anyone knows how to defend that soon enough.
He doesn't use his right foot at all and for whatever reason I was under the impression he was pretty fast, but he isn't.

He's rapid. Where does that even come from? Is that a knee-jerk reaction to last game where the ball stopped in the soggy wet grass and he nearly fumbled on the ball? Watching him play against Burnley, he had a 40 yard run that left everyone for dead, and had he been a little more accurate with his pass, he would have completed a great counter attack with an assist, but his pass was too sloppy. Nothing wrong with his speed - very quick off the mark and plenty of top speed.

 

[Desert Eagle]

My main issue with him is he has so much to work on in his game from an attacking perspective. He looks less developed than Greenwood in his offensive game and he was nowhere near his full potential.

Antony's final ball, shooting, finishing, running with the ball and left foot quality is well below where it needs to be. He's show some signs with finishing and shooting but his shot power is incredibly weak other than the City goal which caught everyone by surprise.

Other than his ability to keep possession and offer balance to the team I don't see a part of his attacking game that stands out. No matter how young a player is, their standout qualities are clear to see from the start. Martial and Rashford have the same stregths they have now as they did when they broke through, and I'd expect Garnacho's strength to always be his dribbling at speed etc.

Antony's stregths aren't clear.

I'd say his strength is his skills and unpredictable ways he can shift direction. Your post is a good summary of the concerns some people have though.

 

[Skills]

My main issue with him is he has so much to work on in his game from an attacking perspective. He looks less developed than Greenwood in his offensive game and he was nowhere near his full potential.

Antony's final ball, shooting, finishing, running with the ball and right foot quality is well below where it needs to be. He's show some signs with finishing and shooting but his shot power is incredibly weak other than the City goal which caught everyone by surprise.

Other than his ability to keep possession and offer balance to the team I don't see a part of his attacking game that stands out. No matter how young a player is, their standout qualities are clear to see from the start. Martial and Rashford have the same stregths they have now as they did when they broke through, and I'd expect Garnacho's strength to always be his dribbling at speed etc.

Antony's stregths aren't clear.

This is a brilliant post. I'd go even further than you and say, any player occupying a position in the front 3 needs a clear and obvious weapon to hurt the opposition. You can not carry someone in your attack who doesn't have any form of direct threat to the opposition.

It's part of the same concern with Sancho, but his productivity at Dortmund shows he's actually got a direct threat to the opposition goal. Antony's never displayed that even in a free scoring Ajax team in a much weaker league.

 

[Stacks]

This is the first time in the past decade that we have a good coach with a set system who knows what he wants out of this player.

Antony is young, new league, huge pressure with the fee. It takes time. Might take him a few years to truly feel comfortable. It is what it is. Look at Ousmane Dembele. Took a full contract span by it finally looking world class for Barca.

injuries was his main issue but always had talent. People still wanted him here even a few seasons ago with the injuries because of his pace and skills

Still very early, but I am worried about him. He doesn't play like I thought he would. He's far less direct than I was hoping for. His best play comes from when he's deep in our half. A ball is played into him, and the opposition RB gets tight. He flicks it past them and runs on. When it comes to taking on an fullback in the opposition half, he constantly goes backwards. I'm just hoping that he will settle and start to do better. We paid a lot and that fee is going to weigh heavily. Not just our fans, but rival fans won't let him forget it. Paying what we did for him was absolutely ridiculous.

The one thing he has in his favour is he's our only right winger. Even if he's shite, he's going to continuously get games. Might help him to keep playing to try and get some form going. He needs to do way better.

I agree. he is pretty good and transition and starting the attack but pretty soft in the final 3rd. If I was a FB I would have little worry about him as my opponent based on what he has shown so far.

My main issue with him is he has so much to work on in his game from an attacking perspective. He looks less developed than Greenwood in his offensive game and he was nowhere near his full potential.

Antony's final ball, shooting, finishing, running with the ball and left foot quality is well below where it needs to be. He's show some signs with finishing and shooting but his shot power is incredibly weak other than the City goal which caught everyone by surprise.

Other than his ability to keep possession and offer balance to the team I don't see a part of his attacking game that stands out. No matter how young a player is, their standout qualities are clear to see from the start. Martial and Rashford have the same stregths they have now as they did when they broke through, and I'd expect Garnacho's strength to always be his dribbling at speed etc.

Antony's stregths aren't clear.

I agree and with the stand out qualities I have always said this. Players don't start with a mediocre baseline of their attributes and then become excellent at all of them later on, otherwise every young player would have "great potential" which of course they dont. Typically the younger talents already possess some excellent attributes and then improve on 2 or 3 things to a pretty good standard to become great. It is usually clear what their stand out qualities are initially. Dribbling is usually the one people notice for attackers/wide forward. My slight concern is I have yet to see a single attribute he excels at. If you are not going to be a dribbling merchant then you better ensure your final ball is immaculate. If not that, maybe work on your movement/finishing and become a Ljungberg type player which is possible but then he may not suit the system as much

 

[Steve 007]

We need to give him a chance, he’s had a few decent games, he’s scored a few, he’ll score more and slowly get more consistent. Greenwood I believe could have been that once in a generation talent, but he blew it. We overpaid for Anthony, but that’s not his fault and I’d rather overpay than see it go to the Glazers anyway. He has been ok/ decent. He had a rubbish game the other night, he’ll score vs wolves (I hope) to make up for it.

 

[Vapor trail]

Too many here have no patience with players. Not every signing hits the ground running. The good thing about Antony is he has showed promise in the little time he's been here what he needs to do is replicate his consistency to that he's not a moment's player. If he does this successfully he will be a quality addition in the long run.

 

[lex talionis]

I’m not worried about Antony, but I would like to see him take on defenders to his right more often.

 

[NLunited]

So many already writing him off, as you did with Rashford.

Ten Hag worked with him at Ajax and had to have him. That makes me confident he will improve and hit a very high level.

 

[tenpoless]

The more people on caf that doubt him the better.

 

[glasgow 21]

What this panic about antony ? He is new to the club and needs time to settle. Yes this is ajax manager but it ain't Ajax whole squad. He is young and in the world cup showed in the croatia game that he was miles ahead of raphinha. Take a breath and give the lad time.

 

[jem]

Still very early, but I am worried about him. He doesn't play like I thought he would. He's far less direct than I was hoping for. His best play comes from when he's deep in our half. A ball is played into him, and the opposition RB gets tight. He flicks it past them and runs on. When it comes to taking on an fullback in the opposition half, he constantly goes backwards. I'm just hoping that he will settle and start to do better. We paid a lot and that fee is going to weigh heavily. Not just our fans, but rival fans won't let him forget it. Paying what we did for him was absolutely ridiculous.

The one thing he has in his favour is he's our only right winger. Even if he's shite, he's going to continuously get games. Might help him to keep playing to try and get some form going. He needs to do way better.

Surely an on-form Jadon Sancho would merit consideration there, no?

 

[jem]

My main issue with him is he has so much to work on in his game from an attacking perspective. He looks less developed than Greenwood in his offensive game and he was nowhere near his full potential.

Antony's final ball, shooting, finishing, running with the ball and right foot quality is well below where it needs to be. He's show some signs with finishing and shooting but his shot power is incredibly weak other than the City goal which caught everyone by surprise.

Other than his ability to keep possession and offer balance to the team I don't see a part of his attacking game that stands out. No matter how young a player is, their standout qualities are clear to see from the start. Martial and Rashford have the same stregths they have now as they did when they broke through, and I'd expect Garnacho's strength to always be his dribbling at speed etc.

Antony's stregths aren't clear.

I'm still hopeful about Antony but watching him recently makes me realize what a gem (on the pitch) we had in Greenwood. He was doing everything I was (and still am) hoping Antony would do. Such a shame he's such a cretin off the pitch.

 

[Big Ray]

What this panic about antony ? He is new to the club and needs time to settle. Yes this is ajax manager but it ain't Ajax whole squad. He is young and in the world cup showed in the croatia game that he was miles ahead of raphinha. Take a breath and give the lad time.

Some common sense. The lad just needs people to be patient, to let him settle in and the confidence to use his palette of talents will come. We’ll see the player we seen at the World Cup v Croatia on a consistent basis before too long. Don’t forget, Ten Hag wanted Antony. He has shown so far that his judgement when it comes to picking players is spot on.

 

[AltiUn]

No. It's just that some of us have actually seen good young players at this club, and he's a level below them.

The teenage versions of Rashford and Martial piss all over Antony for instance.

I think including players who were teenagers when they broke through/joined like Dalot or Rashford is cheating anyway. A 22 year old player is not comparable to an 18 year old one, they're expected to be inconsistent, at 22 you really should have ironed out a lot of the flaws in your game and be taking matches by the scruff of their necks.

 

[Drizzle]

I think including players who were teenagers when they broke through/joined like Dalot or Rashford is cheating anyway. A 22 year old player is not comparable to an 18 year old one, they're expected to be inconsistent, at 22 you really should have ironed out a lot of the flaws in your game and be taking matches by the scruff of their necks.

While that's true, he's barely 20 games into his United career. It's perfectly possible he will get significantly better with coaching, better players around him and generally acclimatising to a new league. While I don't think he's the new Robben or even Saka, he looks to me like a very good player in the making. Let's give him a season and start judging then.

 

[Stacks]

I think including players who were teenagers when they broke through/joined like Dalot or Rashford is cheating anyway. A 22 year old player is not comparable to an 18 year old one, they're expected to be inconsistent, at 22 you really should have ironed out a lot of the flaws in your game and be taking matches by the scruff of their necks.

I don't agree with this. Its not your age, it is the experience you have that counts

 

[OrcaFat]

De Gea‘s been up and down for his whole United career. Thankfully seems to having one of his ups this season. And Varane was getting good reviews from his first few games and has been superb in recent weeks. You certainly wouldn’t say his United career has followed Antony’s trajectory so far.

I’ll give you Dalot. That’s a good example.

I don’t think there’s enough career even to form a trajectory for Anthony yet.

He has played in fits and starts, sure.

Not fit when he arrived, then factor in the settling in period for a young lad in a tough league at a club where expectations are as high as they get, then the WC starts looming.

There’s just not enough reliable data to properly assess his performances so far.

 

[Escobar]

I’m a bit worried about him. Don’t rate him.

Sure you dont, like others havent rated Ronaldo (young, normal version), DDG, Shaw, Rashy, ffs even Casemiro… list is endless. Sometimes, time and patience is all that is needed

 

[mu4c_20le]

Sure you dont, like others havent rated Ronaldo (young, normal version), DDG, Shaw, Rashy, ffs even Casemiro… list is endless. Sometimes, time and patience is all that is needed

Who didn't rate young Ronaldo? The kid was electric the moment he stepped on the pitch, and was ghosting people for fun. Shaw and Rashy had good debuts, the latter especially, he was breaking records left and right under LVG.

 

[Threesus]

Who didn't rate young Ronaldo? The kid was electric the moment he stepped on the pitch, and was ghosting people for fun. Shaw and Rashy had good debuts, the latter especially, he was breaking records left and right under LVG.

Yeah, you could see the talent in rashford when he broke through,. I think he actually showed more straight from the academy than what Antony is showing right now.

 

[vanrooney]

he has 3 g in 7 games for united, in a rebuild team finding its way esp in offense. just give him time

 

[CM]

I’m not sure that’s true. Everyone always think of Evra and Vidic where that definitely happened (more so for Evra than Vidic, who only really had a handful of ropy games) but we signed them a very long time ago. Can you think of anyone we signed in the last 15 years who had a poor start and subsequently became a key players for us? Or anyone before Evra/Vidic who fits that description?

Depressingly, we’re much more likely to see new signings have a good start before ending up as not good enough than we are to see the opposite!

Has Antony really had that bad of a start for us anyway? He scored in each of his first three league starts.

Obviously the goals have dried up since and he's had some poor moments too, but that's par for the course with most young players coming to a new league. I don't think it compares to some of the disasters we've had down the years.

 

[Leftback99]

Ignoring the ridiculous fee we paid, I expected inconsistency, one game looking a big threat, the next being useless. Instead he's been consistently average so far which is more worrying.

 

[Escobar]

Who didn't rate young Ronaldo? The kid was electric the moment he stepped on the pitch, and was ghosting people for fun. Shaw and Rashy had good debuts, the latter especially, he was breaking records left and right under LVG.

I take it you were not on Redcafe at the time. One trick pony was one of the nicer names he got. Many wrote him off in season 2 as too selfish, no end product, pointless dribblings etc

 

[Pronewbie]

I take it you were not on Redcafe at the time. One trick pony was one of the nicer names he got. Many wrote him off in season 2 as too selfish, no end product, pointless dribblings etc

They were in the minority.

 

[mu4c_20le]

I take it you were not on Redcafe at the time. One trick pony was one of the nicer names he got. Many wrote him off in season 2 as too selfish, no end product, pointless dribblings etc

I was lurking, and the criticism was when he overdid it with the tricks. The ones writing him off were in the minority and mostly those who frowned on flair in general.

 

[Escobar]

I was lurking, and the criticism was when he overdid it with the tricks. The ones writing him off were in the minority and mostly those who frowned on flair in general.

Quite a few actually, like with Antony

 

[Escobar]

They were in the minority.

Like with Antony

 

[foolsgold]

It's perception, a large part of the problem is that we badly overpaid for him. He doesn't look anything close to a 80m+ player.

That's not his fault though.

He's effectively only played 3 seasons of first team football, 1 in Brazil and 2 in Holland. Manchester United is a huge step up, the talent is there but it needs careful management from the club and a lot of hard work and learning from the player if he is to justify the fee.

 

[Isotope]

The more people on caf that doubt him the better.

It's not like any of our posts here in the Caf would make him a worse player. Otherwise, we all could just "abuse" Haaland in his thread and make him play like Heskey.

Anyway, this is his performance thread where people commenting his last game performance (mostly). Otherwise, might as well just open Player's performance thread at the end of season.