[Marwood]

The only thing you can do with him at this stage is try him on the left. Simplify his game. Run onto balls and get some crosses and cut backs in.

His passing is nowhere near good enough to be in midfield.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Let's face it, he's a dud. It'll go down as another massive loss on the books. Best we can do (once Ratcliffe comes in) is accept the situation for what it is and promptly move him on. Same goes for a few others. Last thing we need is to keep hold of dross like this lad for 5 years simply because of the price tag

 

[No7UTD]

I Think he could be usefull at “CM” position. Just behind Bruno. Maybe he can be more unpredictable at that position.

 

[Alemar]

Both fees, 100m € for Antony and 75m € for Hojlund, are utterly absurd and unacceptable.

Do you mean that Mason Mount fee was acceptable?

 

[Sandikan]

The idea of us being interested at 25m and it ending up 3 or more times the amount is just plain bonkers even for us in the post Fergie era.

 

[The Oracle]

The only thing you can do with him at this stage is try him on the left. Simplify his game. Run onto balls and get some crosses and cut backs in.

His passing is nowhere near good enough to be in midfield.

I agree with this. After all Erik did recently say that he wanted other players to help Højlund.

So instead of playing with inverted wingers that are producing next to no service for him, why not put left-footed Antony on the left wing and right-footed Garnacho/Rashford on the right wing to cross balls into the box for Rasmus.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-challenge-five-players-28337314

 

[Unam333]

Maybe as a defense-minded central midfielder? He has ball control, can make a 5 meter pass, and he has defensive awareness and likes to work very hard … All those traits are essential for a defensive midfielder (or maybe a DLP)

I don't think that would work. Antony is very disciplined on the wings, hard worker, stretching the play, but it's quite difficult for a winger, who has an attacking mindset, to stay disciplined and stay focused on defending, protecting the back four, keeping the overview. It would be an interesting experiment for next season's preseason that's for sure.

I would rather see Martinez play that defensive role, looks a much better fit than Antony, but for some reason the manager doesn't like him playing that role. Also Martinez has already that defensive mindset.

I agree with this. After all Erik did recently say that he wanted other players to help Højlund.

So instead of playing with inverted wingers that are producing next to no service for him, why not put left-footed Antony on the left wing and right-footed Garnacho/Rashford on the right wing to cross balls into the box for Rasmus.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...hester-united-challenge-five-players-28337314

I like the idea of Antony playing on the left side. Ideally, I would like to see him, Rashford, Pellistri and Garnacho interchanging positions once in a while when on the counter attack.

 

[FortunaUtd]

Do you mean that Mason Mount fee was acceptable?

I find it difficult to group Mount with the other two.
Rewind a couple of years and you would consider Mount unattainable from Chelsea for anything but triple figure crazy money. He was brilliant already in Lampard's first season and properly immense when Tuchel took over, including being an integral performer in a CL winning campaign. Chelsea has been in turmoil since and he had just one contract year left, so the 60m might well have been too high (especially if, as could be read in the Athletic just now, 40m were our targeted price as well as our opening bid ). But the fact that this kind of player was cheaper than a complete nobody in Hojlund kind of makes it acceptable, if only in comparison.
A different discussion is whether Mount was the right type of player to target/right caliber of player to spend on with captain Bruno present in his position. But I would rather have that discussion once Mount has been fit to actually play a bit more.

 

[Fahad Jawaid]

Shit on stick player, the most useless winger in the history of Manutd, in terms of ability and price paid (Oberton and Bebe were cheap punts and even they had pace to burn). For me the litmus test for any upcoming manager is Antony, if he gets sold asap then I would believe this manager has the right approach and mindset to succeed at manutd, If not then he will have the same fate as ETH eventually.

He is just a shit winger who at most is a 20 to 25M player, a winger, somebody who can't cross, can't dribble, does not have pace, finishing or any physicality to withhold challenges, how can we sign such a dud for 85M. Kudus is twice a player, has scored 9 in 11 matches and costed what 38M to Westham. We had our pants pulled down properly by Ajax, I think they would have laughed their way to the bank after his sale. It's our Andy Caroll type moment.

 

[MadMike]

There’s a decent left back in there somewhere. He could do an Antonio Valencia.

 

[Skills]

There’s a decent left back in there somewhere. He could do an Antonio Valencia.

Too weak and temperamental.

 

[mu4c_20le]

I don't think he has the positional sense to be a defender. He's a decent winger just not for a top league, especially one as intense as the PL. Give him time and space to shoot and he should be able to bag a half dozen.

 

[Dearg hÉireann]

He shouldn't be anywhere near the squad let alone the first 11 but here we are and I think his inclusion in the team is reason enough to dispense with ETH.

A nothing player, creates nothing, scores f**K all and gives up possession constantly, it's a crime that he's a Manchester United player and someone's head should roll because of his signing.

 

[MadMike]

Too weak and temperamental.

He’ll calm down. But yeah he’s a bit weak. Weaker the Reguilon? I’d like to see them arm wrestle…

 

[Danny]

Would prefer Elanga back in the squad least he offered some threat

 

[Rex Banner]

Said we wouldn't pay more than £60m for him only to spend £86m a month later. We are a joke.

He's a Championship level player.

 

[JohnnyKills]

I find it difficult to group Mount with the other two.
Rewind a couple of years and you would consider Mount unattainable from Chelsea for anything but triple figure crazy money. He was brilliant already in Lampard's first season and properly immense when Tuchel took over, including being an integral performer in a CL winning campaign. Chelsea has been in turmoil since and he had just one contract year left, so the 60m might well have been too high (especially if, as could be read in the Athletic just now, 40m were our targeted price as well as our opening bid ). But the fact that this kind of player was cheaper than a complete nobody in Hojlund kind of makes it acceptable, if only in comparison.
A different discussion is whether Mount was the right type of player to target/right caliber of player to spend on with captain Bruno present in his position. But I would rather have that discussion once Mount has been fit to actually play a bit more.

Agree 100%

 

[Betson]

The depressing reality is that - even if we ignore Pellistri’s non contribution - Antony offered more in attack than any of the other front three who started today. And that’s purely in attack, where he’s generally offered very little. I’m not going to argue he’s been a great signing, or even that he generally hits the level of performance we need. But he has been the best of a bad bunch, for basically the whole season. So he’s being picked on merit.

And that is the depressing thing , he is played on merit. He is a bang average or below average player that offers very little , but that little is still more than the alternatives in the squad have showed.

Our recruitment over the last few years(and before) has been criminal. Rarely has a such a big club got it so consistently wrong.

 

[Alemar]

I find it difficult to group Mount with the other two.
Rewind a couple of years and you would consider Mount unattainable from Chelsea for anything but triple figure crazy money. He was brilliant already in Lampard's first season and properly immense when Tuchel took over, including being an integral performer in a CL winning campaign. Chelsea has been in turmoil since and he had just one contract year left, so the 60m might well have been too high (especially if, as could be read in the Athletic just now, 40m were our targeted price as well as our opening bid ). But the fact that this kind of player was cheaper than a complete nobody in Hojlund kind of makes it acceptable, if only in comparison.
A different discussion is whether Mount was the right type of player to target/right caliber of player to spend on with captain Bruno present in his position. But I would rather have that discussion once Mount has been fit to actually play a bit more.

But if proven brilliant player, accustomed to the league, joins the team and suddenly looks an utter garbage, how to explain this? He couldn’t have lost his skills, he couldn’t have lost motivation (he’s just joined, motivation is going through the roof). Maybe it’s on the manager, maybe he doesn’t suit the game style (if this phrase can be attributed to ETH at all) or is being played out of position / instructed to play contrary to his abilities and traits?

 

[aeh1991]

Crazy to think Alejandro Grimaldo (free), Pau Torres (€33m) Kim Min Jae (€40m), Mohammed Kudus (€42m) and Marcus Thuram (free) all together cost only a bit more than Antony alone. Our scouts and recuriting team...

 

[Fortitude]

Because the transfer fee ended up so high, the agent's fees were enormous (£20m). Three different parties demanded a slice, including Junior Pedrosa (Antony’s agent) and SEG, who are the agency run by Kees Voss, who also happens to be Ten Haag’s agent.

Not quite sure how they can say there’s no conflict of interest, when the more Ten Haag pushes United to sign a player, (as with Antony) the more the eventual transfer fee goes up and hence the slice that SEG get increases exponentially

of course SEG also brokered the massive deal for Hoijlund as well

Both fees, 100m € for Antony and 75m € for Hojlund, are utterly absurd and unacceptable. It is the kind of stuff that will get them all, DoF, manager, CEO, sacked, and rightly so.

More should be made of this.

I'm not sure there's a club in the league who would take him over who they have at RW. We've paid an astronomical amount of money for a player who is rivalling the likes of Bebe and Obertan. In fact, given the amount of games he's had, those two would have done more on the offensive end. Debatably. The big difference of course being Bebe was a (dodgy financial wrangle) punt, and so too was Obertan (a punt) not a marquee signing closer to 9-figures than breaking from 7 to 8.

If you run through United wide-men of the past 25 years, he's contesting with the likes of Chris Eagles in whatever bracket that would end up being, the difference being that Eagles was not allowed to play game after game and Antony wouldn't have been in Eagles' time either. It would be nice to state this is an exaggeration, but Antony is only praised for his defensive work, heart and running for the cause by now. The amount of offensive quality he actually puts in is reminiscent of the players mentioned.

He's categorically the worst buy for the money paid in the club's history. The likes of Sancho were world-beaters on an upward trajectory who warranted the outlay and still have the ability to come good. Antony, by contrast, doesn't look like a PL player.

Feel my posts about him have gone through the mill - whilst acknowledging what he needs to be optimised, there's no way he should be the main man even if some exceptional full-back is bought as he doesn't offer anything like enough in his own right. It's all the more sickening seeing what Kudus is doing in the league coming from the very same club under the very same tutor.

 

[Mmm-Qatarian]

Strong contender for worst signing of all time...

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

There was a moment in the first half where he was in the middle and tried to play a pass to Mctominay who was on the right from 5 yards and the ball missed him by about 3 yards. That might be the single worst pass I have seen a United player ever make

 

[Isotope]

My disgusting stream shown both teams on the tunnel before entering the pitch. You could see Antony came to their lines, and were high-fiving, laughing and joking around with West Ham players. It somehow irritates me a lot seeing his action. Maybe that's not what he intended to, but to my eyes, it seems like he took the game as just a game; oblivious to his team's League position.

In my heart, I want all players see the game as a war that need to be won. But perhaps it's asking too much and doesn't really matter to some of these high-paid young footballers who are in long-term contracts.

 

[Bondi77]

There’s a decent left back in there somewhere. He could do an Antonio Valencia.

Well to be a defensive player you have to know how to tackle and all Antony does is run with his marker and then goes to ground nowhere near the ball and he is as weak as piss to boot.
He is not Premier League standard and he will get Erik the sack if he continues picking him.

 

[ElCuddlos]

My disgusting stream shown both teams on the tunnel before entering the pitch. You could see Antony came to their lines, and were high-fiving, laughing and joking around with West Ham players. It somehow irritates me a lot seeing his action. Maybe that's not what he intended to, but to my eyes, it seems like he took the game as just a game; oblivious to his team's League position.

In my heart, I want all players see the game as a war that need to be won. But perhaps it's asking too much and doesn't really matter to some of these high-paid young footballers who are in long-term contracts.

He was doing it during the game too. He seems to want to ingratiate himself with the other players. It's clear from his body language during games that he is a very insecure person.

 

[CasaStreets]

He was doing it during the game too. He seems to want to ingratiate himself with the other players. It's clear from his body language during games that he is a very insecure person.

I normally agree but funny enough the best player in the entire NFL in the US does something like this. Constantly speaks with and compliments his opponents right during the middle of play.

 

[Cnaiür urs Skiötha]

Would prefer Elanga back in the squad least he offered some threat

Yeah I don’t think we would be worse with Elanga or James as wingers. If it was not for the insane contracts I would play Garnacho and Pellistri and try to get rid of Rashford, Antony and Sancho in exchange for 2 new wingers.

 

[simonhch]

86m pound Lingard.

 

[Isotope]

He was doing it during the game too. He seems to want to ingratiate himself with the other players. It's clear from his body language during games that he is a very insecure person.

Yeah I don't know if it's a sign of insecure person or not. Probably there's not much to it.

 

[united for life]

Think back to today’s game. Pellistri replaced Antony. Do you remember him doing anything positive? Anything at all? If we’re going to drop regular starters to be replaced by kids shouldn’t the first step be some cameo appearances where the kid puts some pressure on the manager to pick them by making some kind of impact on the game? When did Pellistri last do this?

pellistri is obviously not the long term solution for our right wing issues. You are right, he has done nothing special to indicate he is one. But we do have serious issues on that side. Antony runs back to help in defense, other than that, I really do not see anything special about him. He is weak in take ons, he struggles to get past his defender, he doesn’t score, doesn’t assist, doesn’t put in a decent cross. Very average player we bought for 80 million.

maybe amad? Could he be the one? I remember this place going crazy for signing him a couple of year back. He was in the team of the season last year, championship team of the season , but maybe there is potential there. The last think I want is us paying another 80 million for the next flop. But who knows..

 

[united for life]

My disgusting stream shown both teams on the tunnel before entering the pitch. You could see Antony came to their lines, and were high-fiving, laughing and joking around with West Ham players. It somehow irritates me a lot seeing his action. Maybe that's not what he intended to, but to my eyes, it seems like he took the game as just a game; oblivious to his team's League position.

In my heart, I want all players see the game as a war that need to be won. But perhaps it's asking too much and doesn't really matter to some of these high-paid young footballers who are in long-term contracts.

it’s not like that anymore… players lose a derby and go have chats with the opponents whole leaving the pitch. It’s too casual now, annoying.

 

[sglowrider]

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rejected Antony transfer despite cut-price Man Utd valuation

Brazil international Antony became Manchester United's most expensive signing of the Erik ten Hag era when he joined from Ajax, but the club could have signed him for much less

According to The Athletic, United's scouts had looked at Antony before Solskjaer's dismissal in November 2021. Based on their findings, the club are said to have valued the winger at around £25m, though they did not opt to move for him while the Norwegian was in charge.

 

[THE ZOL]

Think back to today’s game. Pellistri replaced Antony. Do you remember him doing anything positive? Anything at all? If we’re going to drop regular starters to be replaced by kids shouldn’t the first step be some cameo appearances where the kid puts some pressure on the manager to pick them by making some kind of impact on the game? When did Pellistri last do this?

With only Antony and Pellistri as viable options amid Sancho’s exile, our right-wing is very underwhelming. I suggest we support the Hojlund 2024 campaign to Make United Great Again #MUGA

 

[TheGame]

 

[Kostov]

Because the transfer fee ended up so high, the agent's fees were enormous (£20m). Three different parties demanded a slice, including Junior Pedrosa (Antony’s agent) and SEG, who are the agency run by Kees Voss, who also happens to be Ten Haag’s agent.

Not quite sure how they can say there’s no conflict of interest, when the more Ten Haag pushes United to sign a player, (as with Antony) the more the eventual transfer fee goes up and hence the slice that SEG get increases exponentially

of course SEG also brokered the massive deal for Hoijlund as well

Yet according to brainless apologists of ETH on here will tell you the fees have nothing to do with him.

 

[Isotope]

it’s not like that anymore… players lose a derby and go have chats with the opponents whole leaving the pitch. It’s too casual now, annoying.

They'd probably sleep well too, even if the team was on relegation battle.

 

[Bondi77]

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rejected Antony transfer despite cut-price Man Utd valuation

Brazil international Antony became Manchester United's most expensive signing of the Erik ten Hag era when he joined from Ajax, but the club could have signed him for much less

Ole was a top quality striker and probably thought he would have got feck all service from this clown if he was still playing and made the call that anyone with a brain would have done.

I do not mean to be derogatory to Erik but I reckon there must have been other things going on with this fee as many other transfers that go on because it really made no sense that a player that is so limited could command such a fee.

 

[statpadder]

86m pound Lingard.

He shouldn't be anywhere near the squad let alone the first 11 but here we are and I think his inclusion in the team is reason enough to dispense with ETH.

He's a Championship level player.

We've paid an astronomical amount of money for a player who is rivalling the likes of Bebe and Obertan.

That might be the single worst pass I have seen a United player ever make

And we have to read all this nonsense after he’s had a good game in which he created a chance on a plate. This place just keeps on giving.

He’s a regular brazilian national team player guys. It’s okay if you hate him for whatever weird fecking reasons you have but he is not the problem with this team.

He is not a traditional winger who can beat players and the fact the manager keeps using him that way just shows our manager might be equally stupid as all of you lot.

Yes the fee paid for him is extravagant but anyone with a pair of working eyes can see that he is technically very good, has an excellent shot, touch, vision, close control and is very hardworking defensively as well.

Why does this place need to serve such shit to certain players? Why do we have to find scapegoats?

 

[Jeffthered]

And we have to read all this nonsense after he’s had a good game in which he created a chance on a plate. This place just keeps on giving.

He’s a regular brazilian national team player guys. It’s okay if you hate him for whatever weird fecking reasons you have but he is not the problem with this team.

He is not a traditional winger who can beat players and the fact the manager keeps using him that way just shows our manager might be equally stupid as all of you lot.

Yes the fee paid for him is extravagant but anyone with a pair of working eyes can see that he is technically very good, has an excellent shot, touch, vision, close control and is very hardworking defensively as well.

Why does this place need to serve such shit to certain players? Why do we have to find scapegoats?

And this is the nonsense, such opinions, which seems to be dragging our standards and expectations, as fans, down. Antony was not good yesterday. If you think that is the performnce of a good player, then that's up to you. Watch Son. Watch Saka. Watch Watkins. Watch Doku. Watch Martinelli. Watch Kulesevski. Watch Maddison. Watch Kudus. Christ's sake, watch Dwight McNeil at Everton right now..

The chance he 'created' was the most basic, straightforward pass that any player, even non-league player could make. Under no pressure and it was an obvious pass. And the whole situation arised from a mistake by a West Ham player.

The rest of his game was his normal, pointless self. How many crosses did he provide yesterday? (Or make that over the last ten games? )

Please don't quote international football: Fred played many games for Brazil, and Antony doesn't play ahead of Raphina, Rodrygo, Vinicious, Neymar, and there are some others who are miles better than him.

Antony would not look out of place in Division I. I don't even see him as a Championship player. He's one of the worst signings in the history of this great, great club.

But you think he is 'technically very good'. What does that actually mean? His vision, decision-making and contribution as an attacker, has been and continues to be consistently poor. He carries absolutely no goal threat, either as a goal scorer or as a creator. That is a fact.

I'm sure Antony can do many taps, tricks etc and you always, always have players who are great at futsal, five-a-side etc and are dreadful in a proper, 90/100min football game situation. I suspect he may be one of those players. Because this is one s*** football player. Hopeless and dramatic. A terrible reflection of where the club is.