He showed plenty of glimpses last season. Whether he has a good game or not he is always asking questions of opposition defenders, like Garnacho he is always running up and down the line and it keeps their backline stretched. He fell short because he had no out ball and would turn into blind alleys. Now he's going to have multiple attackers to link up with we will see improved end product.
21
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 6
- Status
The simple fact is when he’s not playing then we miss him. That was apparent on many occasions last year so he must be doing something right.
I think that is more applicable to De Gea and he is gone.
Many are convinced he's not good enough amd never would be.
I wonder, for what minimum fee would you sell him and get a replacement in? And who would you sign as a new RW (apart from obvious Olise).
I wonder, for what minimum fee would you sell him and get a replacement in? And who would you sign as a new RW (apart from obvious Olise).
We would not need to sign anyone for us to strengthen that position
The problem is going to be FFP with selling him.
He cost £80m on a 6 year deal.
He's got 5 years left which means he's got £66m of his book value left. If we sell him for anything less than that this season, the loss on his book value adversely affects our FFP position.
Next season that's 53m. We're a bit screwed with this one - which is why you're £50m+ transfers you have to nail. Or else you end up in a mess for a long time.
There’s people that would honestly sell him now? Absolutely mental at this stage. He wasn’t even poor last season.
In an ideal world, Pellistri continues on his current trajectory and becomes first choice RW within a year or two. I think Amad still has to prove himself in the Premier League, which is a big step up from Sunderland in the Championship. Only one of them, at most, will make it at United, I feel.
Antony would still be a useful back-up as a more defensive/possession-based option in that position.
The criticism he gets genuinely baffles me. But then, it shouldn't. The vocal minority here generally slaughters players like Antony, but only when they play for us.
He had a good first season for us. Could it have been better? Of course. But he wasn't poor by any means.
United fans have a weird thing with wingers, where we like them very direct, running down the wing, dribbling and crossing, like it’s 2002.
We may or may not like it, but the wing play Ten Hag is trying to install is akin to the way City play their wingers. Keep possession to play the overlap or a switch of play to create imbalance in the opposition defense. And at that game, Antony is very, very good.
His stats don’t show for it yet, and it’s normal because he’s a 23 year old who had his first season for Manchester United, after playing in the Eredivise.
Even Mahrez and Grealish took time to produce for City, and Grealish had a not so different season to Antony in terms of output
We may or may not like it, but the wing play Ten Hag is trying to install is akin to the way City play their wingers. Keep possession to play the overlap or a switch of play to create imbalance in the opposition defense. And at that game, Antony is very, very good.
His stats don’t show for it yet, and it’s normal because he’s a 23 year old who had his first season for Manchester United, after playing in the Eredivise.
Even Mahrez and Grealish took time to produce for City, and Grealish had a not so different season to Antony in terms of output
He didn't have a good season but it wasn't poor it was a bit hit and miss. But when you buy a player for 75m or 85m like Sancho and Antony you expect them to be starter quality and neither has really shown that. The criticism for Antony is deserved but most of it comes due to his price.
Ground hog day for Anthony discussion.
Half think he is shite and the other half think we are a better team when he plays
Half think he is shite and the other half think we are a better team when he plays
I'd say it was poor. 6 goals/assists is a shocking return.
Along with the lack of a striker, he was easily the second biggest reason for why we only scored 58 goals last season.
I'd say it's significantly the other way round. He didn't get as many goals or assists as he might have because we didn't have a striker.
Genuinely creative players don't struggle to create chances even if there's nobody at the end of them. See Bruno Fernandes last season. All of Antony's underlying numbers also tell you that he's a vacuum for creativity.
Friendly £20 bet he doesn't manage double figures for PL goals+assists even this season?
I suspect you may be right but it does assume he'll completely change his game with a striker on the pitch. His current approach of not taking men on and cutting in with inaccurate shooting won't magically improve.
Combined? I'd happily take that bet.
Bit sad that you'd actually bet against your own player.
Fans expect MOTM performances every game, which will never happen so player performances threads are just full of negativity.
No. But I'd really like to see a 7/10 performance week in week out with the odd 8/10 here and there. I'm not expecting vintage Ronaldo but the odd Nani performance wouldn't go amiss.
Mostly I'd like to see him play without fear like Garnacho on the other wing.
Read that over again and tell me you don't see what I see. An assist by its very definition needs someone to score the goal. You can't make an assist without a goalscorer.
Look at all those times he was accused of being one dimensional because when he cuts inside he always ends up shooting. What is the other classic action you take from that position? It's a reverse through-ball to a striker making a short diagonal run, taking advantage of the spaces created by defenders trying to block your shot. But we simply didn't have a striker making that run, ever. Even with WW or Martial on the pitch, neither ever makes those runs. Hojlund will, if he plays how he plays for Denmark at least.
Yes, fun. I'm not interested in the faff of trying to do money online but I'll absolutely make a bet with you on this. How about: if he does make 10 PL G/A, you never post in his thread again. If he doesn't, I never post in his thread again. And maybe we set a minimum of 25 PL appearances (what he managed last season with two significant injury lay-offs)?
He was slaughtered by loads last weekend despite grabbing a goal and assist.
Why do you think he has to shoot every time? Just gonna quote myself to save retyping:
This a pantomime on here, 3 quiet days and we are back to Antony is crap ……..Oh yes he is ………….Oh no he isn't .
Yeah, but look how much Bruno creates and how little is converted. It is actually a huge issue. Bruno's assists could be so much higher with a proper frontline who actually takes their chances
Really hoping for an injury free season and starting him consistently regardless of form to see how he learns and improves. He deserves like all new young players 2 seasons before any real judgements can be made but to me looks to have a ton of potential for improvement.
His lack of assists would be easier to ignore if the underlying numbers suggested he's a creative player. He's 36th percentile for xAG. He took lots of shots at Ajax as well relative to the amount of goal someone like him scores. I think he's just inherently a very selfish player.
Bruno on the other hand was 99th percentile for xAG - it's why I'm genuinely excited to see what he could do this season with a striker in front of him.
But sure, I'll take that bet. 25 PL games minimum, for 10 goals+assists.
Good luck, I hope you win this one.
I'm kind of in the middle here. He's not poor at all, but he's not what I hoped so either. At least he hasn't shown that yet, good thing he's still young.
His playstyle is really frustrating. Due to the fact that he has no right foot at all, he can't really use his speed. Ever when he get's ahead of the fullback, he has to wait for him to cut inside. Makes him so predictable too. More often than not those situations end in a backwards pass.
His dribbling is more like a showboating, mostly when he's not in danger and by himself, rarely to pass a defender. His shot is good though, he also got an eye for his teammates.
His best asset so far has been work rate and defensive play. Covers that right side pretty well and can read plays to intercept. I think that's the reason people miss him or we're worse when he's out.
Summary: Good work rate and defense, the offense has been very average, I expect him to gain some confidence and produce significantly more this season.
His playstyle is really frustrating. Due to the fact that he has no right foot at all, he can't really use his speed. Ever when he get's ahead of the fullback, he has to wait for him to cut inside. Makes him so predictable too. More often than not those situations end in a backwards pass.
His dribbling is more like a showboating, mostly when he's not in danger and by himself, rarely to pass a defender. His shot is good though, he also got an eye for his teammates.
His best asset so far has been work rate and defensive play. Covers that right side pretty well and can read plays to intercept. I think that's the reason people miss him or we're worse when he's out.
Summary: Good work rate and defense, the offense has been very average, I expect him to gain some confidence and produce significantly more this season.
Yup, this is where I'm at too. He needs to up his game this year, be more confident and be a little less selfish.
Out of all the excuses for Antony, this just might be the worst one.
If you're a creative player, you create chances, whether other players miss them or not is irrelevant but you create goal scoring opportunities. That's what Bruno did last season, he created a so many chances and while they got squandered nobody will accuse Bruno of not getting more assists because he clearly created enough chances.
As shite as Wout was, he was being found in the box, same with Martial and all of our other players, it just wasn't Antony finding them so I don't buy that the lack of striker is the main excuse.
He had so many opportunities last season to square the ball or play a ball in behind which he either ignored and decided to shoot or played the pass but it was over or underhit.
Rashford played many games up front last season and wasn't found witb those runs that you speak of. If he made passes like he did vs Lens more regularly criticism of his creativity wouldn't exist but its quite clear that he lacks in that department and its been more of his fault than anyone else. Same thing with his crossing, he can barely get it above knee height, so what difference will having a proper striker make if he cannot cross.
You can say he needs more time to develop his creativity but I'm not buying the striker excuse as his main reason for a lack of creativity.
Yeah 100% last game should be hard to criticise his performance...but still you get posts saying he was terrible.
Not that I mind fans saying he needs to work on his right foot etc...but from reading this thread you'd think he was the new Bebe!
Truth is Antony has had some great performances in a United shirt and was genuinely missed last season when he wasn't in the team.
The problem with Antony isn't that he's at the club selling him is not a solution. The problem is that at this period in his development he shouldn't be a regular for the first team.
The wide areas last season are a massive contribution as to why this team doesn't score enough goals. There were teams that finished below United in the table that still amassed more goals over the season. It's not just solvable by signing a striker it's a collective of the attacking positions.
I know City aren't a good example because of their resources, but Grealish didn't have a great breakout season however it didn't impact the team because they had other options in that position to nurture him there overtime. United need depth in quality down the right hand side, even the right backs aren't exactly world class so it puts even more emphasis on the winger to produce on that side of the attack.
The wide areas last season are a massive contribution as to why this team doesn't score enough goals. There were teams that finished below United in the table that still amassed more goals over the season. It's not just solvable by signing a striker it's a collective of the attacking positions.
I know City aren't a good example because of their resources, but Grealish didn't have a great breakout season however it didn't impact the team because they had other options in that position to nurture him there overtime. United need depth in quality down the right hand side, even the right backs aren't exactly world class so it puts even more emphasis on the winger to produce on that side of the attack.
I think we can all agree having a right winger is better than not having a right winger.
The truth is he is the least likely from all our senior attacking players (+ Garnacho) to produce an assist or a goal. Another truth is he's also very good at other stuff that normally you praise midfielders for (keeping possession, defensive contribution, carrying the ball). I'd say that's the description of Antony that also matches his Ajax days.
I'm glad he had a full pre-season and will play with a striker since I'm a bit tired to hear all the excuses, you watch him play a few games and his strengths and weaknesses are clear to see so I know what to expect from him next season (pretty much the same what I saw last season). Hopefully he surpasses my expectations but I think he should get 10 G+A contributions and I'd consider this to be an OK second season, just like 6G+A was a decent first season for this type of player.
He does not have the ability of Alejandro
Antony needs to stop with the showboating and be a bit more direct. He isn't the flair player he thinks he is but he can be a very effective player as I feel he has the potential to be a workhorse for this club.
Hopefully we see him be more more direct and less predictable and choose take on players more this season , he has shown flashes of what he can do , it would be a great boost to the team if we can see his better performances on a more consistent basis.
Same here but EtH knew what he was getting and a lot of fans see Brazilian and assume flair and creativity is a given.
With a striker in place I think Antony's offensive abilities will improve vastly, his defensive qualities last season were far better than I was expecting, he's aggressive and annoying to the opposition, just what fans should want from one of their players
He’s going to be better this season. I love him, he’s a pest. Horrible to play against, like a little jack russell snapping at your heels. We just need to see him run at players more direct and work on his right foot and we’ll have one hell of a player. His right foot is what mainly lets him down, the lack of whipping on crosses doesn’t favour him.. and now we have a striker who will poach in the box, he’s got to do better in that area.
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