Think he's just a shit talent scout, same way Tuchel is. Mount for 60m ffs. Which is why it makes it more baffling the club aren't handling recruitment
21
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 36
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 6
Part of me wants to think ETH saw that Antony was good against defenders in the Dutch league but just hasn't been able to make the step up. But that goes out the window when you remember that Ajax fans were aghast at us spending so much on him, and were very frank about his limitations.
But again, this is not scouting! It was his own player. He had him train with him everyday. He had him play for him. It was his own player! For years!
If ETH doesn't really understand how good or bad his own players are, then you can't expect him to understand how good or bad players in other teams are. If he can't even understand if his own players are good or bad, then he is a shit manager!
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Let's face it, it was a desperate punt, that the Glazers were happy to ok as the funding doesn't come from them.
Why desperate? ETH was our new manager, he was given 100 million, he could buy almost everyone in the world with that money. And he thought "hey, I want my boy Antony, he is world class! He is going to win me trophies!"
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I feel like there's a player in there somewhere but he was diabolical last night. Best I can say for him is at least he kept trying.
With his one footed-ness you have to wonder if playing him more central might be worthwhile. Sick of seeing every single attack down the right wither as he soon as he has to turn back.
With his one footed-ness you have to wonder if playing him more central might be worthwhile. Sick of seeing every single attack down the right wither as he soon as he has to turn back.
In what aspect has he actually improved since being here? What adjustments has the manager made to get the best out of him?
Feels like he's just been told to play right wing and he's left to fail over and over. I don't think he's good enough but when a manager knows a player well and still has no idea how to better them then it's a major concern.
Feels like he's just been told to play right wing and he's left to fail over and over. I don't think he's good enough but when a manager knows a player well and still has no idea how to better them then it's a major concern.
He’s facing 2-3 players thats his own doing he doesn’t take the ball forward straight away and try beat a guy with close controll he is doing what you do on a 5 a side pitch.
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Our record is atrocious, but I meant Lukaku to Chelsea tbf.
He's a bad player at the best of times, right now his confidence is shot, his performance levels right now are as bad as they get. If he was a young player breaking into first team, you'd be "he's not going to make it", and we paid 80 mill or whatever for him. He's not the only one, but as poor as Rash and Bruno are, and they've been bad, you're hoping they snap out of it and show some form. With Antony, there's nothing for him to fall back on. He can't beat a player, he can't score, he doesn't create chances, at best he tries.
It still blows my mind how much money we spunked on this guy off the back of a couple of good seasons in what isn't even a top 5 league in Europe. I cannot get over what an appallingly bad decision it was and probably never will.
The most annoying thing about him is because he wants to play as an inverted winger (albeit a terrible one who simply cannot cross and doesn't have Robben's eye for goal), when he routinely runs in behind and gets the ball behind the oppoistion back line, he at some point ALWAYS cuts back and puts four or five opposition players between him and the goal, when an orthodox winger would just break towards the touchline and look to cross, or an inside forward would make a diagonal run towards the goal. It's as if he is completely lost on a football field where there is no horizontal channel between the opposition's defence and midfield for him to run down.
See 1:19 here.
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I actually think someone needs to put him out of his misery and just take him in January. And Martial. It's painful watching them. It's a poor reflection of Man Utd.
(BTW doesn't ETH realise Martial is rubbish and doesn't care about Manchester Utd??. He could play a team without a No 9, if he really wants to ease Rasmus in and sometimes rest him. Man City won two, possibly three titles without a No 9. Liverpool with Firminho, hardly a Benzema there.. so it is possible..If, if, the manager has the talent to get his team to play this way..)
(BTW doesn't ETH realise Martial is rubbish and doesn't care about Manchester Utd??. He could play a team without a No 9, if he really wants to ease Rasmus in and sometimes rest him. Man City won two, possibly three titles without a No 9. Liverpool with Firminho, hardly a Benzema there.. so it is possible..If, if, the manager has the talent to get his team to play this way..)
Lets not forget ETH knew this player well. Our scouts had already said no. Yet ETH was allowed to sign him AND pay £80m
I think he severely underestimated the gulf between the Eredivisie and the PL.
He probably has but Steve McLaren could have set him straight on that
Both Antony and EtH can’t survive the season.
Surly one will have to go. But I fear Antony being his man will probably mean they both end up packing their bags by the summer.
Surly one will have to go. But I fear Antony being his man will probably mean they both end up packing their bags by the summer.
My mate was wearing his United top on holiday in Ibiza just after he signed for us, two Ajax fans approached him in a bar and asked him what he thought of the signing. He obviously like most of us knew next to nothing about the player but he always says he was shocked at how much they laughed when discussing the transfer fee. He said they told him he wasn't worth 30 million!!
I think he's destined to go down as one of the worst value signings in premier league history. Apart from being a dislikeable little t**t, he's just not very good at football and as a previous poster said, it looks like Ten Hag has underestimated the gulf in class between Eredevise and EPL.
He would be a flop even if the club signed him for £20m
I think Ajax would have him and ETH back in a heartbeat, we should charge them £40m for Antony and throw in ETH as well.
Is that the forward line combined or just this guy? Cos they all have 1 between them
The alarming thing with Antony is that he already has very little resale value, even if a club was interested (highly unlikely after form and behaviour).
Another turd at the club which we'll never be able to flush away for years to come.
Another turd at the club which we'll never be able to flush away for years to come.
Agree. He's a 20M player at best. I rather have Dan James that him, at least Dan cares and he gave his 100%.
You can see (and saw last night) where he's good. He links things up, plays nice balls through to the FB, little give and go's and one touch passes but the end product just doesn't exist. His flaws are heightened by how we play but the basics - and this to be honest runs right though our team - of crossing past the first man for example let him down time and time again.
It is the the one signing that has shaken my confidence in ETH more than anything else.
He is slow , one sided and physically weak. Yes he tries hard but you need more than that to succeed at the top level or any level.
ETH worked him him and knew all about his attributes and lack of them and still demanded we break the bank for him, either a very flawed understanding of the player's abilities or the of the premier league.
ETH still thinks the player will come good , he said as much in one of his post match interviews last night , but I think that is more in hope than expectation as he has shown nothing to suggest he is anything other than an average or below average winger.
He is slow , one sided and physically weak. Yes he tries hard but you need more than that to succeed at the top level or any level.
ETH worked him him and knew all about his attributes and lack of them and still demanded we break the bank for him, either a very flawed understanding of the player's abilities or the of the premier league.
ETH still thinks the player will come good , he said as much in one of his post match interviews last night , but I think that is more in hope than expectation as he has shown nothing to suggest he is anything other than an average or below average winger.
Has to be the easiest winger to defend against. Close him down nicely, he is so one-footed and all he does is turn and pass back. Multiple times per game, thats just not a Man United winger.
I'll try!
Footballer are not robots. It's not like someone has skill 92/100 at dribblings and 87/100 at speed but what to do with his level 82/100 crossings. There are so many huge factors, the biggest of them being confidence.
His confidence level must be around 0 right now, his off-pitch issues are factoring in as well, that's for sure.
I'm in no way defending his play and even less his antics, but it's way too easy just to agree now that he's shite and always was and always will be.
Look at Rashford, same desaster show week in week out. That guy is capable of being a game changer. He has the tools but he can't activate them right now.
Next example: Bruno off form is not only terrible and frustrating to watch, but can turn a whole squad into a circus since he's the driver. It was the same with Pogba.
What I want to say, is that this whole situation right now is not because all our players are terrible footballers. We play like a pub team I agree, but it won't get the job done to sign 11 new faces.
We have a lot of talent in that squad, believe it or not, and I truly believe that complementary players like Mount, Amrabat or even Antony, could flourish in a functional team, in a good environment. Suddenly 8 out of 10 crosses will find a man in the middle instead of 2, coming from the same player with the same skillset.
Antony was fine at Ajax and could've been fine here, perhaps still can be. If we somehow turn this ship around, some of the players will look like reborn, simply because they have fun down there, they begin to believe in their abilities and their team.
It's the managers job to make this work, and if he's not able to, someone else has to.
Man, how wrong I wasIs that the forward line combined or just this guy? Cos they all have 1 between them
Thought the criticism he received last season was harsh. He's been fecking shit this this season though.
He's so painfully one-footed that it's that much easier to defend against him - most of the times he's lost the ball he tried to cut inside and predictably gives up possession.
After a year at the club you would think someone would have a word with him about crossing it earlier.
A senior player (who wasn't also shit) on the pitch to tell him to cross it first time would also help.
A no.9 barking orders at him to play is earlier would also help.
Then Antony himself trying something other than his usual cut inside, nice and slow so the CB's can get themselves set, then the shot into the stands he has trademarked.
None of this will happen so why bother getting annoyed anymore, just keep doing the same thing Antony! it's working wonders
A senior player (who wasn't also shit) on the pitch to tell him to cross it first time would also help.
A no.9 barking orders at him to play is earlier would also help.
Then Antony himself trying something other than his usual cut inside, nice and slow so the CB's can get themselves set, then the shot into the stands he has trademarked.
None of this will happen so why bother getting annoyed anymore, just keep doing the same thing Antony! it's working wonders
We don't currently have any of those playing do we?After a year at the club you would think someone would have a word with him about crossing it earlier.
A senior player (who wasn't also shit) on the pitch to tell him to cross it first time would also help.
A no.9 barking orders at him to play is earlier would also help.
Then Antony himself trying something other than his usual cut inside, nice and slow so the CB's can get themselves set, then the shot into the stands he has trademarked.
None of this will happen so why bother getting annoyed anymore, just keep doing the same thing Antony! it's working wonders
If the next manager has any sense they'll transfer list this idiot next summer, before he becomes another Martial or Bailly and loses all value
i think it's fair to say that what you see is what you get with Antony now, which isn't remotely good enough.
Weak, one footed, limited skill, not quick, can only score one type of goal, etc, there is just nothing to work with.
I am not for sacking Ten Hag, but if he does go then I'd expect Antony to be not far behind as I doubt any new manager will play him.
It's mad when you think about it. This is a guy who had two decent seasons in the Eredivisie and we thought it would be a good idea to spunk £86m on him.
Even if he'd been tearing it up and banging in 20 a season then it still would have been a gamble considering how hit and miss players from the Dutch league are.
Even if he'd been tearing it up and banging in 20 a season then it still would have been a gamble considering how hit and miss players from the Dutch league are.
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Get Big Sam in and he will stick him on the left and get him to cross the fecking ball. The state of this clown.
Why not try him on the left where he can dribble down the line with his only foot and have a semblance of unpredictability? So far he’s one of the most useless attacking players I’ve ever seen in my time watching the Premier League.
If he wasnt wildly inconsistent with his shooting so we could actually count on him getting them on target and trying to get rebounds when he doesnt smash one in the top corner I think he could still be a good player. But he's not what most people were expecting thats for sure.
And I admit on this one I was like the rest and got caught up in the hype with not enough of my own individual research on the player. When we signed him I talked about how okay thats huge money for a player to come in from where he did, but if thats what it takes to get a Brazilian talent like a Ronaldinho etc and we believe in him that much then I guess its okay.
Well, turns out not only is he not in the Ronaldinho class he isnt anything like that type of player either. The thing that has surprised me most about him is his lack of confidence taking players on. I thought he was going to be one of those many players who want the ball so they can run at a defender with confidence that they will beat them and may even take on the next player after that. Instead what we see with Antony is he tends to cut back inside which isnt beating an opponent, or he will try to go quickly on the outside and then keep the ball in - which he will do from deep, but not around the box because he doesnt want to use his right foot. When you do see him finally go on the outside like that and beat a player he looks like hes struggling to keep the ball under control at pace and that hes almost surprised and relieved that he still has the ball, trying to scamper away like hes got away with something he shouldnt have. And if he then makes a move to take on the next player you can guarantee he's lost the ball the moment the defender moves for it. I think he can see a pass and make a cross, but lets be honest the only attacking qualities that stand out above average right now are him quickly shifting the ball left and right and the occasional great shot that goes in. And yes he does press and track back a little bit, but I dont think its more than a lot of others at other teams.
And I admit on this one I was like the rest and got caught up in the hype with not enough of my own individual research on the player. When we signed him I talked about how okay thats huge money for a player to come in from where he did, but if thats what it takes to get a Brazilian talent like a Ronaldinho etc and we believe in him that much then I guess its okay.
Well, turns out not only is he not in the Ronaldinho class he isnt anything like that type of player either. The thing that has surprised me most about him is his lack of confidence taking players on. I thought he was going to be one of those many players who want the ball so they can run at a defender with confidence that they will beat them and may even take on the next player after that. Instead what we see with Antony is he tends to cut back inside which isnt beating an opponent, or he will try to go quickly on the outside and then keep the ball in - which he will do from deep, but not around the box because he doesnt want to use his right foot. When you do see him finally go on the outside like that and beat a player he looks like hes struggling to keep the ball under control at pace and that hes almost surprised and relieved that he still has the ball, trying to scamper away like hes got away with something he shouldnt have. And if he then makes a move to take on the next player you can guarantee he's lost the ball the moment the defender moves for it. I think he can see a pass and make a cross, but lets be honest the only attacking qualities that stand out above average right now are him quickly shifting the ball left and right and the occasional great shot that goes in. And yes he does press and track back a little bit, but I dont think its more than a lot of others at other teams.