Is there a way to get more out of Antony?

The main problem is coaching and the managers tactics.

This season Rashford looks terrible, Bruno looks terrible and Hojlund can barely hit a barn door. The midfield gets ran through constantly and loses the ball so often. Dalot is so bad defensively that Antony has to help out.

How can Antony even get any assists when Rashford and Hojlund can't score, Bruno is lacking his usual creativity and the midfield is not holding onto the ball for long enough, and Dalot runs into no mans land. Antony has been truly awful but it doesn't help that the rest of the team is so disjointed and crap.

It definitely comes down to coaching and tactics, it is no coincidence that all of our attackers can barely score and the opponents cut through the midfield far too easily.
 
Antony was better last season, at least chipped in with some G+A so getting back to that level would be a good start

He's never going to justify his fee but could be a decent squad player if he find his better form
 
He's a decent player, playing in a team which is struggling everywhere. He might not be a world beater but he's plenty better than he's showing. ETH should force him to work on the right foot though. He has no ability to go outside. And then you've Rashford who's the opposite on the other side.

It's no wonder we're crap in attack... But both Antony and Rashford could improve massively.
 
Seriously , sell him .

So disappointed with this signing. Expected some Samba flair but got Poundland fidget spinner.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
The main problem is coaching and the managers tactics.

This season Rashford looks terrible, Bruno looks terrible and Hojlund can barely hit a barn door. The midfield gets ran through constantly and loses the ball so often. Dalot is so bad defensively that Antony has to help out.

How can Antony even get any assists when Rashford and Hojlund can't score, Bruno is lacking his usual creativity and the midfield is not holding onto the ball for long enough, and Dalot runs into no mans land. Antony has been truly awful but it doesn't help that the rest of the team is so disjointed and crap.

It definitely comes down to coaching and tactics, it is no coincidence that all of our attackers can barely score and the opponents cut through the midfield far too easily.
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And given that we're this far into ETH's stint, there is no reason to believe that either the coaching or the tactics are going to change.

Our off-ball movement is awful. As observed elsewhere, Antony seldom has anyone to dish the ball to when he drives down to the line. For as often as we get caught offside in the middle third, we don't seem to drive forward when the ball is ahead of the players. On the right, Dalot cuts in sometimes, AWB rarely does, McT hides behind defenders like a U14 instead of moving into space.
 
Too many excuses been made for him on here, the guy is a £85 million player and you expect the best of the best for that money, not be left trying to work out if he would be better on the opposite side he was bought to play on or as a left back, for the sole reason that he been so tragic in his strongest postion for us.

It'll take some doing, but he'll almost certainly be even worse if we play him anywhere else.
 
goalscholes said:
Eredivisie quality has nothing to do with some of the qualities he has shown before he joined us, such as perfect first time passes and crosses under pressure, other than the ability to gain confidence against worse opposition.

He can do difficult things easily, which he hasn’t shown for us.
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But did he really or you're judging him by highlights only? You could make most of our players look amazing in highlights, even in the prem.

It's crazy to me that people are suggesting we turn him into a full back. Or worse, loan him out?? If he isn't good enough, get rid asap. And then people wonder why our players have no resale value. Our scouting targets are shit, we overpay and then we hold on to them for far too long even though it's obvious to anyone they are nowhere close to good enough. Us hoping he will come good would be classic United incompetence.
 
Borys said:
Don't see many suitors for his right leg
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It's not heavily used so it should be in good shape.


I keep seeing and hearing commentators and other pundits talk about his pace. What pace? I remember last season playing Newcastle and they were trying to isolate him on Dan Burn, with the thought that Antony should easily run past him. Never happened. Burn ran him down every time. If you're relatively small and not that strong physically, you'd better be able to run past people...but he can't do that either. He goes entire games without crossing the ball or making a pass into the striker. His shot isn't particularly good. He does absolutely nothing well. I think this will go down as one of the biggest bust signings ever...but they need to move on. Almost think the INEOS group needs to tell ETH that if he wants to stay, Antony (amongst others) will be moved.
 
MackRobinson said:
Ashley Young and Valencia.
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Good shouts, I cant believe I remembered Juanfran but not those from my on team :lol: . Still Valencia and Young changed position when they were washed out and mostly they had speed. Antony I dont think can offer anything at defense besides high workrate.
 
Try to play him in different position. Like Left Winger to utilise his left foot to simplify his game more. Opposition players know he can't use his right foot so they block him for cutting inside, which makes him so ineffective on the right.
 
Is there a way to get more out of Anthony? I'd have him stand against the wall and let the under 21s take shots at him. At least provide some entertainment.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
The main problem is coaching and the managers tactics.

This season Rashford looks terrible, Bruno looks terrible and Hojlund can barely hit a barn door. The midfield gets ran through constantly and loses the ball so often. Dalot is so bad defensively that Antony has to help out.

How can Antony even get any assists when Rashford and Hojlund can't score, Bruno is lacking his usual creativity and the midfield is not holding onto the ball for long enough, and Dalot runs into no mans land. Antony has been truly awful but it doesn't help that the rest of the team is so disjointed and crap.

It definitely comes down to coaching and tactics, it is no coincidence that all of our attackers can barely score and the opponents cut through the midfield far too easily.
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Except last season that was not true, and most of us still had problems with Antony. Nothing changed apart from the fact that he isn't scoring that curler anymore.

This is my criticism of Antony in March of last season
Antony's short passing in tight areas is mostly to work the ball around. It's usually always with a defender up behind him, where he then passes to a midfielder like fred, and then the ball goes out wide, to a midfielder next to him, or something like that. It's never with the intent to create or cause the opposition defense a headache. It's very toothless.

But yeah, Anthony's good qualities are his tracking back compared to other attackers, his ability to bring the ball up from the lower middle third to the edge of the final third, and staying wide to receive an outlet pass. That's pretty much all he does. He can occasionally score a goal if the chance falls to him with not much defenders around.

He just offers no threat though. He's just another midfielder whose job is to help with controlling games. For an attacker though, it's really nothing to write home about.

What's going to happen when we actually do control matches better because we have a better midfield than we currently do? He can offer nothing at that point because an attacker's main job should not be what he currently brings.
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Antony's problem is that he has never looked threatening apart from his go to move (the curler). Now he has some qualities in the middle third of the pitch, and if you were to develop him maybe we could see those skills transferred to the final third where he has more intent to create for others. That's a big if though. It's not only directing him to try new things, but then you're also asking him to become better at providing that new thing. For example, Pellistri has more creative intent than Antony. And the hope is that you develop him in a way where his skills that are currently not good enough for United, end up being good enough for United. You're basically hoping Antony becomes similar to Pellistri in attack, and then also transforming that new Antony into a better version of that new Antony.

Why would we believe in Antony over a newer signing or Amad or maybe Shea Lacey in a few years? It's asking a lot.
 
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Sell him to the Saudis for a stupid amount of money. As much or more than we paid him.

Or even half of that. A half stupid amount.
 


Put the shock collar on his left leg and shock him every time he: cuts inside rather than trying to beat his man, spins in circles, unnecessarily slows the game down, gets irrationally angry at a defender for touching him, etc.
 
Fine two weeks wages for poor performances every time he plays. That will spur him on.
 
I would ship him out at the next available opportunity, but if we REALLY need to keep him around because we can't, might as well as stick him as an emergency backup LB. We're not getting that transfer fee back anyways.
 
Get him to take on AWB in 1-1 dribbling sessions without being able to stop and pass it backward or sideways. He only gets to start games if he beats AWB at least 70% of the time else he can continue to sit on the bench.
 
He would be okay as a backup wingback.

Not good enough to start , but a third choice wingback would see plenty of minutes considering the injuries which are part and parcel of the game.

Either RWB or LWB.

Still a mighty waste considering the amount we paid but if we can't shift him , atleast let him put in a shift as a substitute/backup wingback.
 
Lee565 said:
Remember how di maria was used fo real madrid on the left of a midfield 3 when out of possession and would drift to the left wing and ronaldo would push into central striker role when they were on the attack, maybe we could try something similar with antony
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Di Maria was exceptionally fast in top speed and acceleration, and he was a very good dribbler and excellent at getting past players with the ball, that's how he was able to do that. Antony has none of those features.
 
His shooting is comical. Like really one of the worse shooters I have ever seen playing for the club. For a start, I would let him work on his shooting technique and then we'll talk.
 
Cloud7 said:
Di Maria was exceptionally fast in top speed and acceleration, and he was a very good dribbler and excellent at getting past players with the ball, that's how he was able to do that. Antony has none of those features.
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Exactly. Funny how people are comparing Antony with DiMaria
 
RedBanker said:
Exactly. Funny how people are comparing Antony with DiMaria
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The worst I saw were the comparisons that were made saying Antony could become a player like Robben :lol: One of the best attacking players of the last generation, one of the most explosive players I've ever seen, a superb dribbler with amazing shooting technique. Yeah, Antony could become that.

Just because a player signs for United does not mean we need to start seeing more in them than is actually there.
 
I don't see any potential in him.

He's brainless. I've never seen him do anything clever, no cute diagonal passes. His crossing and passing isn't great.

He's not slow but lacks pace to trouble defenders. No right foot so can't go wide.

I don't trust ETH's judgement based on this signing. He coached him for years.
 
I'd rather we just get rid of players who aren't good enough, rather than doing the same song and dance of trying to come up with new positions for them, or saying they need this or that player next to them to succeed.
 
next_number_seven said:
I don't see any potential in him.

He's brainless. I've never seen him do anything clever, no cute diagonal passes. His crossing and passing isn't great.

He's not slow but lacks pace to trouble defenders. No right foot so can't go wide.

I don't trust ETH's judgement based on this signing. He coached him for years.
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The last piece is really the most worrything for me and why I am in the ETH out camp. His awareness is awful. He has not a single stand out attribute. And also physicality.
 
AndySmith1990 said:
I'd rather we just get rid of players who aren't good enough, rather than doing the same song and dance of trying to come up with new positions for them, or saying they need this or that player next to them to succeed.
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Id rather offload players who don’t work hard enough or give up easily first. Then we offload players who aren’t good enough.

Anthony’s fee has been a huge problem. He’s clearly not worth anywhere near what we paid but it’s not his fault. One thing he does is work hard which is more that can be said for sancho, I feel we’ve not gotten much less from Anthony and yet Sancho never got the same abuse.

Sancho got the year off , hasn’t played this season and nobody gave him sh*t. Anthony was involved in a high profile court case and came straight back to play with us when it was over. Wish Sancho had that work ethic.

Same with Rashford getting an easy ride from many. It’s no coincidence they are English players, they seem to get a much easier ride by the English media.

Things like Alan shearer kicking Neil Lennon in the face always stick out. If that was Cantona he’d get at least a 10 game ban. But I digress.
 
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Chumpsbechumps said:
Id rather offload players who don’t work hard enough or give up easily first. Then we offload players who aren’t good enough.

Anthony’s fee has been a huge problem. He’s clearly not worth anywhere near what we paid but it’s not his fault. One thing he does is work hard which is more that can be said for sancho, I feel we’ve not gotten much less from Anthony and yet Sancho never got the same abuse.

Sancho got the year off , hasn’t played this season and nobody gave him sh*t. Anthony was involved in a high profile court case and came straight back to play with us when it was over. Wish Sancho had that work ethic.

Same with Rashford getting an easy ride from many. It’s no coincidence they are English players, they seem to get a much easier ride by the English media.

Things like Alan shearer kicking Neil Lennon in the face always stick out. If that was Cantona he’d get at least a 10 game ban. But I digress.
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If it were up to me I'd get rid of Sancho, Antony and Rashford. Along with Martial leaving that'd give the attack a completely clean slate and pave the way for the overhaul it desperately needs
 
Ye send him back to Ajax. Easier league. That will get more out of him
 
AndySmith1990 said:
If it were up to me I'd get rid of Sancho, Antony and Rashford. Along with Martial leaving that'd give the attack a completely clean slate and pave the way for the overhaul it desperately needs
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I’d love an absolute carnage Clear out this year, if nothing else just to see a rocket under the squad. But that’s the fan in me, prob not very wise thing to do in one summer.
 
Gordon Godot said:
The last piece is really the most worrything for me and why I am in the ETH out camp. His awareness is awful. He has not a single stand out attribute. And also physicality.
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Definitely give ETH til the end of the season, then reassess. I think we'll improve with a full squad. Our lack of creativity is worrying though.

I think he didn't anticipate the jump in standards and pace to the PL.
Although I saw Jaap Stam say Antony wasn't even that great in Holland and Ajax dominate every game.

Maybe we can put it down to a panic purchase after the bad start.

But Mount and Højlund are looking like bad signings also.
 
next_number_seven said:
Definitely give ETH til the end of the season, then reassess. I think we'll improve with a full squad. Our lack of creativity is worrying though.

I think he didn't anticipate the jump in standards and pace to the PL.
Although I saw Jaap Stam say Antony wasn't even that great in Holland and Ajax dominate every game.

Maybe we can put it down to a panic purchase after the bad start.

But Mount and Højlund are looking like bad signings also.
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Imagine a fit starting team of:

Onana
Shaw - Varane, Martinez, Dalot
Mainoo - Casemerio
Garnacho - Bruno - Rashford/Anthony
Hoijland

If after a good few games together our football is still poor, I would find it very difficult to find reasons to defend ETH.

So giving him till end of season would make it categorically clear if ETH really wasnt gonna work out.

I still feel like Mount was more a player the club could get (and ETH thought why not) as opposed to him being a player that would of been on the managers radar. Has such a feel of Mata off it.
 
I've said it before. This signing and potentially others needs an investigation from Scotland Yard. There is absolutely no way Ten Haag could have worked with him and thought he was an 80 mill plus player. Someone took a back hander. Even those in the Netherlands Stam etc thought it was an odd signing as they never saw anything in him. We mock Ole signing and some of the other managers signings but this takes the biscuit. You can see why Maguire was bought, why Sanchez was bought, why Pogba was bought, why Sancho was bought, heck even Lukaku. This guy one of our most expensive signings? Why! My 11 year old spotted he was sht so I'm not having it that professionals that worked with him thought he was the next Robben.
 
Show him videos of Sharpe, Giggs, Kancheskis, Beckham, Nani and Ronaldo. Ask him to confirm just one thing they do that he can do. When he says "Nothing" tell him to pack his bags and get ready for a January transfer.
 
AngeloHenriquez said:
I'd genuinely convert him to a RB, he reminds me of Valencia with his work rate, strength & the time he needs on the ball I think he would be an option there for certain games if we are set on him staying.
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You realise the problem with playing him on the right is he has nothing to offer other than cutting back and passing backwards because he is VERY LEFT footed so right back would be an even bigger shambles ?

SAFMUTD said:
I've seen good fullbacks becoming wingers, but besides Juanfran I can't remember a winger that became a good fullback. Antony offers effort and that's it, he doesn't have any defending qualities for the position. Awful idea.
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Dani Alves went on to have a decent career after switching from a winger to a full back.
 
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