[Dr. Dwayne]

Shut up, Erik.

 

[Bondi77]

Give it up Erik...We overpaid for a lemon and he should be nowhere near a matchday squad.

 

[Tony247]

Oh Erik oh Erik. That's your shit and you got to flush it.

 

[Alemar]

It’s Antony’s birthday today. Hopefully it wouldn’t mean a start as a gift

 

[Sandikan]

Imagine buying a player for 80m, who is fully fit, but you decide to start and sub in 2 rookie kids instead of him.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Imagine buying a player for 80m, who is fully fit, but you decide to start and sub in 2 rookie kids instead of him.

Honestly I'd rather that than continuing to persist with him

 

[Based Adnan]

Got subbed on in the dying seconds to get the appearance bonus on his birthday. Our £80m signing.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Hope we bin him off along with Rashford and Sancho. Give those wings the overhaul they need

 

[mu4c_20le]

Imagine buying a player for 80m, who is fully fit, but you decide to start and sub in 2 rookie kids instead of him.

On his birthday!

 

[Sandikan]

On his birthday!

Good to give him a little run-out. 150k well spent for this week. 80m fee a bargain.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Imagine buying a player for 80m, who is fully fit, but you decide to start and sub in 2 rookie kids instead of him.

The damage done to the squad with this transfer can't be overstated. He should arguably be our most important forward given the price we've paid.

 

[Sandikan]

The damage done to the squad with this transfer can't be overstated. He should arguably be our most important forward given the price we've paid.

When leaks came out that we'd initially been interested at 20m it's just grossly upsetting.

Between Sancho and him we've banged £150m!!

On two fairly average at best players. How much are game changers going to be?

 

[E-mal]

Waste of money, as useful as a spoilt milk. Another ETH decision. People get jailed for such misappropriation of funds

 

[Oranges038]

On his birthday!

And Yaya complained about not getting a cake.



I know I've seen suggestions to play him at left back, it might not be the most ridiculous idea. Kieran Richardson was played at left back under SAF when Heinze was injured, Ashley Young / Valencia went from wingers to a full back. It could be worth a shot, even if it's only to keep some balance to that left side of the team.

 

[UnitedSofa]

 

[Lash]

Guess we can now stop saying he rates Antony over x player? Probably not.

 

[doomy20]

What I hate most about the business is that it’s such a no go to admit mistakes. Why can’t he just say something like After 2 seasons it is clear that the club and Antony are not a match and we will find a friendly solution for all parties in the summer to transfer him. Point.

 

[Unam333]

Guess we can now stop saying he rates Antony over x player? Probably not.

Nah, people will still complain. People like to complain.

Let's see if Antony will publicly criticize ETH. I'm guessing he won't.

What I hate most about the business is that it’s such a no go to admit mistakes. Why can’t he just say something like After 2 seasons it is clear that the club and Antony are not a match and we will find a friendly solution for all parties in the summer to transfer him. Point.

Why should he speak out to the toxic media and admit mistakes, I don't understand?

 

[honirelandboy]

Curious to know if there is any other winger in the league that has 0 goals 0 assists in 20 appearances this season?

 

[Lee565]

It is nuts to think that we actually would be better off of with a Fulham back up player in traore for our right wing than 85 million Antony.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Guess we can now stop saying he rates Antony over x player? Probably not.

Who's still saying that? Most people have given him credit for finally coming to his senses regarding Antony.

 

[TwoSheds]

What I hate most about the business is that it’s such a no go to admit mistakes. Why can’t he just say something like After 2 seasons it is clear that the club and Antony are not a match and we will find a friendly solution for all parties in the summer to transfer him. Point.

You probably shouldn't ever go into sales or start your own business.

 

[criticalanalysis]

@Zehner @stefan92

Interested to know what you think of this? He's probably justified now to post a Twitter accusing the manager of lying about his training I suppose.

He's 'unprecedentedly', 'publicly humiliated' a player who's had very public personal issues this year that has also seen him removed from the national squad.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Given he knew him so well before he bought him, then It seems a bit harsh for Ten Hag to now be trying to throw him under a bus, when the truth is that Antony was never and can never be good enough to play for us.

 

[Lash]

Who's still saying that? Most people have given him credit for finally coming to his senses regarding Antony.

It's been used a lot in the Amad thread, but I think it's finally going to die a death.

 

[redcucumber]

Given he knew him so well before he bought him, then It seems a bit harsh for Ten Hag to now be trying to throw him under a bus, when the truth is that Antony was never and can never be good enough to play for us.

How is that throwing him under the bus? It's a normal answer to a question.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

How is that throwing him under the bus? It's a normal answer to a question.

I beg to differ.

 

[redcucumber]

I beg to differ.

All he said was that Antony's form hasn't been good enough and that others deserve to play. I know football is soft nowadays, but c'mon. That isn't throwing him under the bus.

 

[TwoSheds]

All he said was that Antony's form hasn't been good enough and that others deserve to play. I know football is soft nowadays, but c'mon. That isn't throwing him under the bus.

A bajillion percent this. The fecking drama of fans these days.

 

[JB08]

Thought he was good when he came on. Encouraging signs.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

All he said was that Antony's form hasn't been good enough and that others deserve to play. I know football is soft nowadays, but c'mon. That isn't throwing him under the bus.

I don't disagree with what Ten Hag said, it's more that Antony has never been good enough, and it seems Ten Hag has only just accepted that this is the case, so I don't really think it's fair to suddenly start saying his training is bad, or we have better options, as anyone with eyes has known for months that Antony needed dropping, not for bad form, but because he is a bad player.

Seems a bit of blame shifting for such a poor purchase to me.

 

[soapythecat]

Antony, Fernandes, Rashford and Sancho sold this summer would make my year. Over paid, over hyped and utter shite.

 

[stefan92]

@Zehner @stefan92

Interested to know what you think of this? He's probably justified now to post a Twitter accusing the manager of lying about his training I suppose.

He's 'unprecedentedly', 'publicly humiliated' a player who's had very public personal issues this year that has also seen him removed from the national squad.

I think it's pretty straightforward. Everybody saw Antony being in shit form because he played. Which kind of actually reinforces the question I always asked in the Sancho thread (and it really was just a question or trying to understand Sancho's reasoning): If someone who is this shit is playing, did Sancho really perform worse in training than this abysmal performances that even EtH now acknowledged?

Considering that Sancho plays badly for Dortmund currently it's well possible that EtH was right, but I simply can't judge because I didn't see those training sessions.

 

[criticalanalysis]

I think it's pretty straightforward. Everybody saw Antony being in shit form because he played. Which kind of actually reinforces the question I always asked in the Sancho thread (and it really was just a question or trying to understand Sancho's reasoning): If someone who is this shit is playing, did Sancho really perform worse in training than this abysmal performances that even EtH now acknowledged?

Considering that Sancho plays badly for Dortmund currently it's well possible that EtH was right, but I simply can't judge because I didn't see those training sessions.

To be fair Antony's most recent brutal form has been post Sancho. Whilst he was still there, Antony was at least doing somewhat of a job defensively and providing some kind right wing ball outlet. The truth though is that all players are playing shite under ETH so ultimately it's on the manager and I still attribute the biggest blame on him for that. However, what Sancho did was wholly unprofessional and he simply didn't want the fight, which for all intents and purposes I don't really have an issue with. So whilst the end goal is fine by me i.e moving to another club/environment, his response was in no way justified and the way several posters tried to defend Sancho bending over backwards and using all kinds of daft comparisons to slam ETH was delusion.

As for the bolded bit, I'm not sure why that's important; we've seen years of Sancho's performances. Personally, I feel he wasn't given more of a chance and the platform to succeed but then I think that of ALL the players because of our poor coaching but his Twitter post and response afterwards was very representative of his entire time here i.e all talk and no walk.

 

[stefan92]

As for the bolded bit, I'm not sure why that's important; we've seen years of Sancho's performances.

Yes, and I don't think he performed worse than Antony when he played. So I really (still) have a hard time believing that it was justified to start one of those two underperformers and leaving the other one completely out of the squad. That all just felt weird. In general I just don't get what has happened to Sancho after moving to United. How could he turn so so shit after his time in Dortmund is (sadly) amazing for me. Which is why I tended to belive Sancho that there has to be something else as the reason than just training performances.

But now seeing him play to me just indicates that he actually turned even worse than I expected...

 

[criticalanalysis]

Yes, and I don't think he performed worse than Antony when he played. So I really (still) have a hard time believing that it was justified to start one of those two underperformers and leaving the other one completely out of the squad. That all just felt weird. In general I just don't get what has happened to Sancho after moving to United. How could he turn so so shit after his time in Dortmund is (sadly) amazing for me. Which is why I tended to belive Sancho that there has to be something else as the reason than just training performances.

But now seeing him play to me just indicates that he actually turned even worse than I expected...

Sancho (on paper at least) has more of the right attributes and the 'right' player profile to be inductive for better football but this is something that's not really true, at least not for ETH. He wasn't outperforming Rashford on the left wing and whilst I wouldn't call Antony a pivotal player, he certainly more than played his part on the right wing for our 'success' last season in our league and cup competitions form.

To be fair to Sancho, nobody is playing at their potential so I don't really 'blame' him entirely for his form. My whole issue was simply his response and the way some defended him.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I'm just laughing at the thought of Antony having to defend Saka or Salah 1v1 near our box.

You never know though. One of the best opposition performances versus Cristiano Ronaldo when he was here was Nobby Solano, filling in at RB, for Newcastle. Not very fast, not strong but a tenacious little fecker.

 

[Woziak]

All he said was that Antony's form hasn't been good enough and that others deserve to play. I know football is soft nowadays, but c'mon. That isn't throwing him under the bus.

Reading between the lines, Sir Jim and sir David have said we are selling him in the summer so if you want a chance to stay I suggest you don’t select him unless it’s an emergency!

 

[Pronewbie]

So far VDS has sanctioned 2 absolute duds to us. It's clear his heart lies with Ajax.

 

[RedRocket9908]

Antony is such an under-rated player, he has been well off form this season (as have most of the other players) but once he finds it he could be a real asset.