He's completely out of form that's one thing, but it seems it can only end with a 15m transfer to Brazilian or Dutch league
21
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 2
- Yellow cards
- 6
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
I'm generally not one for conspiracy theories but I wonder if ETH did his old mates at Ajax a favour here. That transfer fee is so unbelievably inflated, no one in their right mind is paying over 20 for this guy and yet here's the clubs ex manager forking out near on 100 for him.
He's just not good enough and although we were desperate, we should never have sanctioned that kind of money for him. He's not likeable, either, from what I've seen. With Hojlund he seems passionate and you can see it might click with the right service and a month or two. With Antony, he looks stuck in the mud and has an ego that doesn't justify anything he's done since joining. And that stuff that came out about him being a womaniser. Guilty til proven, but he has that sulky Ronaldo pout that makes me think he's a douchebag off the field. Little man syndrome.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they make a Netflix docuseries about this transfer in a few years when he’s playing in Brazil’s second division, similar to Anna Sorokin.
Bebe was a better player than this guy
I would not want to waste my post on explaining how shit he was yesterday and how big of a cock up he has been throughout this time and an embarrassment for ETH.
My question for those who watch the academy and under 23s, do we not have anybody with raw pace and crossing coming through who we can deploy in place of him, because even that is enough, forget about dribbling, close control, progressive play and goal scoring from wingers that is for elite teams, We just need these small things, that is the magnitude of how shit he is and has been for us. Amad is not coming back soon enough.
My question for those who watch the academy and under 23s, do we not have anybody with raw pace and crossing coming through who we can deploy in place of him, because even that is enough, forget about dribbling, close control, progressive play and goal scoring from wingers that is for elite teams, We just need these small things, that is the magnitude of how shit he is and has been for us. Amad is not coming back soon enough.
Pep: I need a winger, good at 1 vs 1
Txiki: No problem. Signed Doku
Pep: He is better than I expected!
ETH: I need Antony
Murtough: No Problem. Signed Antony for 80M.
ETH: He is a fighter, he will become good.
I don't know who is worse, Antony the player, ETH who coached and demanded this player, or Murtough who signed the player.
Txiki: No problem. Signed Doku
Pep: He is better than I expected!
ETH: I need Antony
Murtough: No Problem. Signed Antony for 80M.
ETH: He is a fighter, he will become good.
I don't know who is worse, Antony the player, ETH who coached and demanded this player, or Murtough who signed the player.
BTW, he won't finish the season with more yellow than g+a, right?
The Mirror linking us with a swap deal with Gabriel Barbosa. It's the Mirror, but I'm clinging on to any hope that he goes in the near future.
Yeah, he's shite
Been trying to convince myself he was going to come good, but I'v lost confidence
Been trying to convince myself he was going to come good, but I'v lost confidence
We should try to cut losses and move him on but knowing us we won't. The search for that RW continues.
£ for £, gotta be our worst signing EVER
He gives us balance.
I'd blame Murtough, he is utterly incompetent for the role.
EtH more seem clueless and stunned his anemic Eredivisie players can't cope the EPL, he will learn. He need to let go of the past and his comforter Ajax and quickly develop a winners mentality.
80 million player on 200k/week? He’ll be here 3 managers later
Other than Suarez and Eriksen, how many have actually successfully taken the step up from Eredivisie to the EPL?
*edit: Forgot many others, lack of coffee. Ruud, Bergkamp, RVP ect.
Maybe Antony is just extra shit.
They produce nice ballplayers for sure, and many of their deficits I think get masked in their great system and weak opponents, so it's hard to judge. That said some of them have been immense for us over the years. Didn't watch Antony at Ajax so can't say if he was this bad then too or not, but he was sure a proper noname option. We got skinned.
This guy is not a united player. He’s useless! Another year goes by and we’re still struggling for a RW.
Because the club dithered and dallied like it always does, wasted the entire summer chasing a player with zero interest in coming here instead of focusing on serious targets, and as a result left Ajax in a position to demand anything they liked because it was the end of the transfer window. And, of course, since there's nobody at the club with two brain cells to rub together, instead of walking away or switching to another, far cheaper target like Gakpo (who seems to be roughly eleventy billion times the player Antony is), they simply coughed up the money rather than say no to the new manager.
Ten Hag has to take his share of the blame for rating this chump, but the club was also an absolute embarrassment and got bent over a barrel as per usual.
If the rumours in the mirror are true, do the swap deal for Barbosa in January.
Knowing us we probably gave him stupid wages so we have to pay him to leave
Knowing us we probably gave him stupid wages so we have to pay him to leave
Did anyone watch him regularly at Ajax? I assume he offered more there?
Robben too but that was an age ago with him so in recent years not so many ultra successful ones.
De Jong is and was the best talent from that league since Suarez if you ask me and he wouldn’t come here sadly.
Was completely embarrassing yesterday.
How he lasted 60 minutes on the pitch I don’t know.
How he lasted 60 minutes on the pitch I don’t know.
Ajax were such a functionally far more coherent team that no average wide player from the premier league would look out of place there. Go look at the football reference pages of Steven Bergwijn and Antony and you have your answer.
What about Maguire?
Let's not exaggerate things. Antony does win more matches when he is playing.
I blame Ten Hag for this situation. The problem is his pig-headed insistence on using inverted wingers - can you imagine Fergie continually starting Giggs on the right and Beckham on the left? That’s also the reason for the lack of service to Hojlund, who needs wingers who go past their man and put in a cross.
Ten Hag said the players can’t play the Ajax way but he’s not allowing them to play the Utd way. He seems to be stuck in his thinking and can’t see - or won’t accept - what he needs to do to free up the players. McClaren knows the Utd way, why is he not getting involved?
Ten Hag said the players can’t play the Ajax way but he’s not allowing them to play the Utd way. He seems to be stuck in his thinking and can’t see - or won’t accept - what he needs to do to free up the players. McClaren knows the Utd way, why is he not getting involved?
This is the biggest problem with Antony in terms of playing against Premier League defences. He simply isn't a threat in a 1v1 situation.
Antony kills our transitions, not simply because he's slow but because he's easy to fend off. Bernardo Silva, for example, isn't exactly Usain Bolt. However, like many 'slow' wide players, Bernardo is good at drawing defenders in, getting them on their heels and then going past them. Antony has shown no ability to do that and, as you say, if you're going to succeed in the Premier League you need to be able to.
I recognise that it can take a lot to adapt from Dutch football to English football. Nonetheless, the drop off in Antony's take on stats has been shocking. I can remember we used to joke about how Memphis found it easier in the Europa League than in the Premier League. However, I don't see any real difference between Antony's performances in Europe and domestically. Its a proper head scratcher. Sometimes it really is like watching a boy against men.
We have too many sulking players including Rashford and the sulkiest of them all, one Martial.
Where is the character.
Can you imagine a Roy Keane in the dressing room with these.
That is what we are lacking. Character and leadership.
He's only 23, they must have thought there was potential there. He probably looked good in Dutch league where lack of pace wasn't such a liability
I remember when we were first linked with him. Had never heard of him. Looked up some youtube clips of his goals and his trademark turn and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the price in quote. He was hardly worth 30 million yet we ended up paying 80, and I still can't quite believe that.
He's been terrible lately, might be out of form with all the private stuff going on, but he wasn't much better before that either. Plus, he's extremely unlikeable, and even more so after the game against City. Never felt like this about a United player before.
He's been terrible lately, might be out of form with all the private stuff going on, but he wasn't much better before that either. Plus, he's extremely unlikeable, and even more so after the game against City. Never felt like this about a United player before.
He is apparently on 200k per week. Just for comparison:
- Luis Diaz 60k
- Alvarez 100k
- Gakpo 120k
- Nunez 140k
- Son 190k
- Saka 195k (lots of bonuses, so he earns way more and rightfully so, but his basic salary is less); his new contract was also signed this summer after it became clear he is one of the best wingers/players in the league
Antony earned 19k per week in Ajax, so someone needs to explain why the feck he (without even kicking a ball for us and proving anything) got 10 times higher in United. Obviously ten Hag has to share a lot of blame for the transfer itself, but it is clearly a complete feck up from everyone higher up as well. 100 - 120k was absolute ceiling in his case.
But he didn't look exceptional which should be the bar used for judging players coming from there. His numbers were very ordinary for a team that scored as much as Ajax. I think he had 4 assists before his move when Ajax scored over 100 goals in the league.
When Højlund slid him through thats when he should of shown he was a good dribbler but what he showed was that he can’t dribble an oppenent. It’s one thing being able to do freestyle tricks but another thing being a good dribbler with ball at feet.
I’ve honestly seen much better dribbling from AWB than I have from Anthony.
Such a terrible signing and why ETH should and I suspect will be sacked. Incredibly limited yet somehow ETH who knew him inside out felt he could compete in Premier League. EMbarrassing all round
There is championship wingers genuinely better and more productive.
Dan James has 3 goals and 4 assists in 13 games so far this season. Perhaps he could replace Antony...
Worst player on pitch yesterday. Kept running into defenders and giving the ball away. I would start Pellistri and bring Antony on for last 20-30 minutes.
He was shaking his head last week when he was kept on the bench, then starts a game and produces that stinker?
I can't recall another wide-man in the PL who cannot beat FB's 1on1; even Mata at his slowest could get by FB's. Granted, he had no pace or strength, but enough sleight of foot to send a man the wrong way and buy enough time and space to do something else with the ball. Mata also bought extra time by simply passing the ball off if the FB got too aggressive, so he was always respected in anything but straight up physical contests.
As I said in my post, dredging up the worst wide-men we've had, beating a man wasn't an issue - even when people were questioning if Bebe was a footballer, he could beat a man, before punting his cross into the stands etc.
As you've said, it doesn't matter what type of wide-man you are, there's means and ways to get by your FB if you're savvy enough. Bernado constantly lures with his touch before bouncing a give and go or whatever trap he sets and he's on his way. I find Antony constantly messes up the initial pass, then tries to 'power' past the FB who simply stands his ground, at which point Antony looks quite baffled as to what he can try next.
I would think his form has been affected by external stuff, but it really feels like the word's out and PL FB's just have contempt for his game now. They don't even try to tackle him relying on brute force to usher him off instead. They also don't care if he slips them because he doesn't have any pace to stay ahead, which is emboldening that initial approach, I think. If you can't dribble them, you become extremely predictable, too.
It feels to me like your last sentence is what has been exacerbated by the way he is being man-handled, like he isn't physically capable at PL level. It's a big concern, especially when the rest of the skillset is so mediocre.