[RuudTom83]

His primary purpose should be to create goals, secondary purpose should be to score them.

This shoot on sight once he gets remotely close to goal needs to be coach out of him a little.

The goals he scored against Arsenal and Barcelona are far more impressive and came from positioning and team build up play.

 

[Bebestation]

I don't see that hapenning. His shooting doesn't look anything special and is very far off from being "clinical on his stronger foot". IMO that is just as likely as significantly improving on a weaker foot. Can this be done? Yes. Does it happen often? Not at all.

His best (attacking) attribute is the ability to cut inside and lose his marker - I assume this is where you came from with this comment. Because if he does improve on his shooting he will be a threat. However...

This discussion about how much players actually improve after the age of 20 is a very interesting one. Right now my standing is most improvement on actual skills is negligible. Most improvement comes from making the right decision, knowing when to shoot, when to pass, improved spatial awareness, knowing how to make space for yourself etc. That doesn't seem like something that will help Antony if you watch him play.

Passing is the issue with Antony. It's below acceptable level. Everything else is OK-ish overall. I am ignoring the fee obviously.

Im worried about his passing too - but he doesn’t have a striker to pass or cross to or neither a fullback to help him out on the other side with passes or dribbling

I can give him a season with an actual striker to see if he can improve with vital players around him.

Im doubtful, I can see more of chance in mr wood returning and possibly impressing Ten Hag but not yet exactly hopeless on Antony either.

 

[Rozay]

He’s a big problem in our team, and a big problem in our attack. There is no trio that looks threatening enough so long as he’s in it, and given that the other two are not settled - him being a fixture and not very good is a problem. He doesn’t score enough and creates even less. He struggles to go past anyone and is not a powerful runner who can even attack huge open space at speed. His mere existence in the front three means a lot of heavy lifting has to be done by any other two, and we don’t have that pairing right now.

Unless he gets a lot better very quickly, our attack will continue to struggle. He also has us caught between two stalls in terms of style. He is neither a Mo Salah type of forward who is penetrative in behind and scores a lot of goals, nor is he a facilitator. That means he is a problem if played with a more false 9/Firmino type as he cannot threaten and score himself - and also a problem even with a lesser goalscoring burden playing with a Haaland because he makes terrible decisions and execution in terms of creativity.

 

[sullydnl]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

 

[AjaxCunian]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

It is clear, but a lot of United supporters are so blinded by their strange hatred for him. Everyone can see he needs to improve a lot in terms of his decision making in the final stage.

But we play far better when he's on the pitch, the right side is completely unbalanced when he isn't.

 

[Olril18]

He’s a big problem in our team, and a big problem in our attack. There is no trio that looks threatening enough so long as he’s in it, and given that the other two are not settled - him being a fixture and not very good is a problem. He doesn’t score enough and creates even less. He struggles to go past anyone and is not a powerful runner who can even attack huge open space at speed. His mere existence in the front three means a lot of heavy lifting has to be done by any other two, and we don’t have that pairing right now.

Unless he gets a lot better very quickly, our attack will continue to struggle. He also has us caught between two stalls in terms of style. He is neither a Mo Salah type of forward who is penetrative in behind and scores a lot of goals, nor is he a facilitator. That means he is a problem if played with a more false 9/Firmino type as he cannot threaten and score himself - and also a problem even with a lesser goalscoring burden playing with a Haaland because he makes terrible decisions and execution in terms of creativity.

Strangely I think United do play better with him on the pitch.
so strange.

 

[andersj]

He’s a big problem in our team, and a big problem in our attack. There is no trio that looks threatening enough so long as he’s in it, and given that the other two are not settled - him being a fixture and not very good is a problem. He doesn’t score enough and creates even less. He struggles to go past anyone and is not a powerful runner who can even attack huge open space at speed. His mere existence in the front three means a lot of heavy lifting has to be done by any other two, and we don’t have that pairing right now.

Unless he gets a lot better very quickly, our attack will continue to struggle. He also has us caught between two stalls in terms of style. He is neither a Mo Salah type of forward who is penetrative in behind and scores a lot of goals, nor is he a facilitator. That means he is a problem if played with a more false 9/Firmino type as he cannot threaten and score himself - and also a problem even with a lesser goalscoring burden playing with a Haaland because he makes terrible decisions and execution in terms of creativity.

I think it is quite clear that he is an attacker in the same mould as Mahrez. Or even Bernardo Silva when he plays wide for City.

While I too hope/think he need to improve his output, I think he will. It was his first season in the PL. It is quite a gap in level from Eredivise (rememer how wasteful Suarez was the first year or so?). It is also a different type of football. While Ajax dominated games, Man Utd play more on transitions.

He is also quite young. de Bruyne was at Wolfsburg at that age. Bruno just arrived at Sporting Lisboa. Mahrez arrived at Leicester in Championship. Grealish just started looking good for Villa in the Championship. Mo Salah was on loan from Chelsea at Fiorentina.

Antony is a regular at Man Utd. And he looks like a big talent in my opinion.

 

[Bebestation]

It is clear, but a lot of United supporters are so blinded by their strange hatred for him. Everyone can see he needs to improve a lot in terms of his decision making in the final stage.

But we play far better when he's on the pitch, the right side is completely unbalanced when he isn't.

As an Ajax fan what do you think is his ceiling is?

Is it right that not playing with a striker is holding him back or even making him a bit more predictable?

 

[AjaxCunian]

As an Ajax fan what do you think is his ceiling is?

Is it right that not playing with a striker is holding him back or even making him a bit more predictable?

I think he's had a decent first season, I didnt think he would be as threatening and press resistent as he has been.

But I've also been very disappointed with his decision making and crossing, which was actually far better at Ajax. It has gone to crap, as everyone's set-pieces when they join United.

He will benefit with a proper striker in front of him. But he will need to make use of him.

For now, I'd say his ceiling should be around Saka's current level. That's when he improves his decision making, right foot and keeps that hunger and confidence.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

And that's exactly why ten Hag wanted him.

 

[UpWithRivers]

I think he's had a decent first season, I didnt think he would be as threatening and press resistent as he has been.

But I've also been very disappointed with his decision making and crossing, which was actually far better at Ajax. It has gone to crap, as everyone's set-pieces when they join United.

He will benefit with a proper striker in front of him. But he will need to make use of him.

For now, I'd say his ceiling should be around Saka's current level. That's when he improves his decision making, right foot and keeps that hunger and confidence.

If he reaches Saka level I'll eat my shoes and dress up as Barbie.

 

[simonhch]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

Im glad someone posted this. He’s such an underrated player already. He doesn’t grab the individual plaudits yet, although I do believe he had the quality to do so, but he’s a vital team player. We function so much better as a unit with him in the team, and that ultimately is what it’s all about.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

When he can bang in 15 goals and do the above, that’s when it’ll matter as a collective.

 

[Brightonian]

When he can bang in 15 goals and do the above, that’s when it’ll matter as a collective.

Harsh to ask him to do it when he's been playing without a striker ahead of him. How many times did he quite easily beat his man (and on several occasions two of them), break into space, find absolutely no-one running through centrally and therefore a CB coming across already to shut off his run, and have to effectively stop, let his defender get back goal side of him, and make a lateral pass to Bruno or whoever? Watch a highlight video of his season and you can see it over and over again.

Yes, he could have had more killer instinct and just gone it alone a bit more often in those situations - Rashford did, last season. But he's a young-ish player in a new country and a new league and he also doesn't have Rashford's insane pace to beat a chasing defender over a long distance while carrying the ball.

Then when it comes to taking on all the shots... with no #9 making the run across you, you simply don't have many other options. Add in a striker who knows how to run off the ball, and when Antony cuts in he'll be able to choose between the shot and the little reverse through-pass, making him less predictable and allowing him to take the shot on when it actually suits him to do it.

 

[AjaxCunian]

If he reaches Saka level I'll eat my shoes and dress up as Barbie.

Okay.

 

[TwoSheds]

I think it is quite clear that he is an attacker in the same mould as Mahrez. Or even Bernardo Silva when he plays wide for City.

While I too hope/think he need to improve his output, I think he will. It was his first season in the PL. It is quite a gap in level from Eredivise (rememer how wasteful Suarez was the first year or so?). It is also a different type of football. While Ajax dominated games, Man Utd play more on transitions.

He is also quite young. de Bruyne was at Wolfsburg at that age. Bruno just arrived at Sporting Lisboa. Mahrez arrived at Leicester in Championship. Grealish just started looking good for Villa in the Championship. Mo Salah was on loan from Chelsea at Fiorentina.

Antony is a regular at Man Utd. And he looks like a big talent in my opinion.

Bonkers. Mahrez' passing and finishing are streets ahead of Antony's. He can improve for sure but for now there is no comparison.

 

[Red 142]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

I don't know what that chart is supposed to show really. He runs around with the ball a lot, but hardly ever actually beats his opposing full-back with it, or delivers any end product from it. Just seems like he's a ball hog. No surprise Grealish is up there as well.

Saka and Salah are better players than him any day of the week, despite being further down that chart. Who gives a crap that Antony keeps possession when he typically does nothing with it?

 

[El Jefe]

As a counterpoint to the criticism, this is quite a valuable quality.

Its basically the only two things he's good at offensively but it only tells half the story. Grealish would have been top of these charts also in 21/22 despite having a poor season.

Carries into open space are good but when you compare his take on % to the others in that group you start to see how he falls off a cliff compared to them.

The difference with the other players is this stat is the cherry on top for the others, while in Antony's case its his strongest offensive quality.

 

[Rozay]

Harsh to ask him to do it when he's been playing without a striker ahead of him. How many times did he quite easily beat his man (and on several occasions two of them), break into space, find absolutely no-one running through centrally and therefore a CB coming across already to shut off his run, and have to effectively stop, let his defender get back goal side of him, and make a lateral pass to Bruno or whoever? Watch a highlight video of his season and you can see it over and over again.

Yes, he could have had more killer instinct and just gone it alone a bit more often in those situations - Rashford did, last season. But he's a young-ish player in a new country and a new league and he also doesn't have Rashford's insane pace to beat a chasing defender over a long distance while carrying the ball.

Then when it comes to taking on all the shots... with no #9 making the run across you, you simply don't have many other options. Add in a striker who knows how to run off the ball, and when Antony cuts in he'll be able to choose between the shot and the little reverse through-pass, making him less predictable and allowing him to take the shot on when it actually suits him to do it.

Not many, from my recollection.

 

[Brightonian]

Not many, from my recollection.

They recommend sudoku and brain games for that, I think.

 

[Malone_Post]

The amount of excuses and comparisons this lad gets to far better players in order to somehow justify his performances is quite incredible. Mahrez? Bernardo?? Saka??? Come off it. He’s a Brazilian Nicolas Pepe.

He’s crap. We all know it. Some just don’t want to admit it.

 

[Rozay]

The amount of excuses and comparisons this lad gets to far better players in order to somehow justify his performances is quite incredible. Mahrez? Bernardo?? Saka??? Come off it. He’s a Brazilian Nicolas Pepe.

He’s crap. We all know it. Some just don’t want to admit it.

People prefer to go into their vault and present some numbers that they would like to stand behind, despite - I imagine, being generally underwhelmed like the rest of us. He’s a circus act with extremely little substance, certainly thus far anyway.

 

[Rozay]

They recommend sudoku and brain games for that, I think.

I imagine you think wrong, on this occasion, if they are supposed to cause me to remember Antony frequently going past opponents.

He did Big Dan Burn a few times, I’ll give him that. Generally he’ll turn around and reroute when faced with a full back and play a pass, or attempt some sort of Michael Jackson dance to get past his man which will invariably fail, causing him to kick out at the opponent who has dispossessed him.

 

[sullydnl]

Its basically the only two things he's good at offensively but it only tells half the story. Grealish would have been top of these charts also in 21/22 despite having a poor season.

Carries into open space are good but when you compare his take on % to the others in that group you start to see how he falls off a cliff compared to them.

The difference with the other players is this stat is the cherry on top for the others, while in Antony's case its his strongest offensive quality.

Yep, that's fair. Think we all agree he needs to improve.

It's just worth bearing in mind in the meantime that for all his faults he does already offer something to our team that nobody else really does. Add in the fact that he's good defensively and the team is noticably better with him in it.

 

[Brightonian]

Yep, that's fair. Think we all agree he needs to improve.

It's just worth bearing in mind in the meantime that for all his faults he does already offer something to our team that nobody else really does. Add in the fact that he's good defensively and the team is noticably better with him in it.

And the point is not that this graph proves that he was great last season. No one is arguing that. It proves that he has the right tools to be great. It's pretty unarguable that most of the best wingers in the league are up in that top right quadrant. The stats being used are clearly a meaningful correlation with quality.

And the eye test backs it up. He does carry the ball a lot - more than any other United player, quite obviously. And he is noticeably bloody hard to dispossess.

 

[Brightonian]

I imagine you think wrong, on this occasion, if they are supposed to cause me to remember Antony frequently going past opponents.

He did Big Dan Burn a few times, I’ll give him that. Generally he’ll turn around and reroute when faced with a full back and play a pass, or attempt some sort of Michael Jackson dance to get past his man which will invariably fail, causing him to kick out at the opponent who has dispossessed him.

Happy to agree to disagree. Time will tell. Meanwhile I get to be on the side of it where I think the United player is good and I like watching him, which is always where I prefer to be as a United fan.

 

[Snow]

And that's exactly why ten Hag wanted him.

He's also very good when the opposition has the ball. If we want to be more like City, Liverpool and even Arsenal last season and be a team that doesn't sit back against an opponent but rather presses to win the ball then you need players like Antony.

We have Rashford who's bad at that. We can't afford another one that isn't pressing well, pressing intelligently and is always on his toes.

 

[Witchking]

Decent season. But has to build on it. Cannot be this one footed and be a success as a winger at United playing on the right wing with his left foot.

Has to do better. Now with a proper striker. He has the mentality and the right manager behind him. Just needs to apply himself.

 

[Rozay]

Happy to agree to disagree. Time will tell. Meanwhile I get to be on the side of it where I think the United player is good and I like watching him, which is always where I prefer to be as a United fan.

Well we’d all love to be on that side, with every player, always - however, the reality is that our players are not always good enough. And when they are not, I want them out, not because I am not a proper fan, but because I romantically wish for no flaws at all and would prefer that player is quickly replaced by someone good enough.

Of course, nothing personal against Antony, and yea - he’s a United player, but so would the hypothetical more useful right winger I want to replace him be. I’m not wishing Mo Salah scores more goals for Liverpool due to my frustrations. We can say what we want, but the fact is, the one we have is not as useful as Salah, Saka, Silva etc, so I don’t see the point of defending the position of our less good player when the idea should be to improve upon him.

Of course, if you think he’s simply good enough and happy with what he’s producing then fair enough, I agree to disagree. But if you don’t, I see no point in any sort of spin. We all support the club the same, and in fact, I see the championing of below standard players as being less supportive of the club than wanting them out anyway. It may appear to prove fan loyalty, but it doesn’t serve us that our player isn’t as good as Saka, Salah, Silva.

 

[sullydnl]

I don't know what that chart is supposed to show really. He runs around with the ball a lot, but hardly ever actually beats his opposing full-back with it, or delivers any end product from it. Just seems like he's a ball hog. No surprise Grealish is up there as well.

Saka and Salah are better players than him any day of the week, despite being further down that chart. Who gives a crap that Antony keeps possession when he typically does nothing with it?

This would be the same Grealish who was absolutely essential in City's triple season with 50 appearances across all competitions? The value Pep places in his skillset beyond end product should be a pretty good indication that those qualities are very valuable. As should the fact that City's fans regarded him as one of their best players last season. If you think comparing Antony to Grealish is criticism then you're a bit clueless.

As for our team, it really shouldn't need explanation why the ability to carry the ball up the pitch under pressure while not giving it away is a key skill given how much our team as a whole has struggled to do exactly that. But if you've missed it you could re-watch our games and pay attention to the amount of times we used Antony as an outball to drag us up the pitch.

 

[Newtonius]

With his exceptional end product and collective qualities in mind might make an interesting experiment at RB, still able to carry the ball and less likely to be in position to shoot at least.

 

[andersj]

finishing are streets ahead of Antony's

I dont agree. Maybe his decision making on when to finish, but not his technique.

I imagine you think wrong, on this occasion, if they are supposed to cause me to remember Antony frequently going past opponents.

He did Big Dan Burn a few times, I’ll give him that. Generally he’ll turn around and reroute when faced with a full back and play a pass, or attempt some sort of Michael Jackson dance to get past his man which will invariably fail, causing him to kick out at the opponent who has dispossessed him.

The only player at Man Utd to carry the ball
more often into the penalty area was Rashford. Marginally per 90 min. Antony was in the 74 percentile in the PL. Quite good considering how rarely he lose the ball.

 

[11101]

I don't know what that chart is supposed to show really. He runs around with the ball a lot, but hardly ever actually beats his opposing full-back with it, or delivers any end product from it. Just seems like he's a ball hog. No surprise Grealish is up there as well.

Saka and Salah are better players than him any day of the week, despite being further down that chart. Who gives a crap that Antony keeps possession when he typically does nothing with it?

It shows he gives us a functioning right side. He has a lot to improve on but those are two key qualities we have lacked for years. I'll let him off the lack of end product because he didn't have anybody to link up with last season, all our attackers were the same. This season expectations will be higher.

And let's see what Saka does this season now the focus is on him.

 

[sillwuka]

I forgot that we signed Antony for £84m Inc add ons. Astonishing amount of money.

I do like his ball carrying ability because we don't have many in the squad who can without losing the ball. He's still young so my hope is he can work on his end product and ability to drive to the byline and cross on his weak foot.

 

[zenith]

He'll be better this season for sure. A full pre season behind him, an year to adapt to life in the UK, getting adapted to a new style of play - all of these will help immensely and besides he quite young. Even rashford was very up and down a couple of years ago and he was a local lad from the academy.

It'll happen for him, I'm quite sure. Our right wing will be our strength this season with amad, Sancho and antony all pushing each other

 

[Shake Jism]

I forgot that we signed Antony for £84m Inc add ons. Astonishing amount of money.

That is shocking, even in today's crazy market.

Gonnna need to see leaps and bounds from CAntony this season.

 

[Scottynaldinho]

Sometimes you can sense the hatred seeping through the posts for certain players.

 

[Escobar]

Sometimes you can sense the hatred seeping through the posts for certain players.

It is really strange, and even leads to booing particular players in the stadium

 

[TwoSheds]

I dont agree. Maybe his decision making on when to finish, but not his technique.



The only player at Man Utd to carry the ball
more often into the penalty area was Rashford. Marginally per 90 min. Antony was in the 74 percentile in the PL. Quite good considering how rarely he lose the ball.

Well you haven't watched Mahrez then. He's a better finisher on his wrong foot than Antony is on his best one.

 

[Cassidy]

I dont agree. Maybe his decision making on when to finish, but not his technique.



The only player at Man Utd to carry the ball
more often into the penalty area was Rashford. Marginally per 90 min. Antony was in the 74 percentile in the PL. Quite good considering how rarely he lose the ball.

You’re seriously arguing Antony is a better finisher than Mahrez? Are you serious? He literally has one type of finish (curl with his left foot) his technique is severly limited. Lets not even talk about his weaker foot.