Manchester United legend Gary Neville has urged Antony to emulate Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez... and stop himself from being "predictable".
Antony, 22, joined the Red Devils in August for £86million from Dutch giants Ajax, at the request of Erik ten Hag. The Brazilian winger made a bright start to life with a goal on his debut, but a series of poor performances recently have seen his on-field output questioned.
His latest sub-par display came during United's 3-0 victory away to Nottingham Forest in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg. Even though Antony set up a goal for Wout Weghorst, he mostly flattered to deceive. That led Neville to propose that the 22-year-old look at how City winger Mahrez mixes up his game, given the similar styles of the two.
"I've been thinking a lot about Antony in the last few days," the former Red Devils defender began on commentary for Sky Sports. "He needs to develop that Mahrez side of things to be able to go both ways.
"At the moment he's still a little bit predictable in trying to always force it onto his left foot."
Mahrez, 31, will go down as one of the finest Premier League wingers of his generation after firing Leicester City to miraculous title triumph in 2016 and claiming a further three winners medals with City. Although the Algerian still likes to cut inside, he has routinely shown great variety to his play in order to terrorise defenders, while also becoming a reliable goalscorer and creator for Pep Guardiola's men.
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Another United icon, Roy Keane, also discussed Antony's slump before kick-off.
"He's got to learn from playing for a big club like Manchester United is, off the ball, working a bit harder," the ex-Red Devils captain declared. "He needs to help his team-mates a little bit more, but that will come to him."
Keane and Neville's comments come off the back of criticism from their old team-mate, Rio Ferdinand. After failing to make an impact during Sunday's gutting 3-2 defeat to Arsenal, Ferdinand took aim at the former Ajax prodigy and questioned why he doesn't appear to be the same kind of player from his days in Amsterdam.
"He just doesn't beat anyone," the ex-United centre-back bemoaned on his YouTube channel, FIVE. "I'm sitting there thinking, 'Was that always the way?' I've seen clips of him when he was at Ajax and he was somebody who used to beat people."
When asked about Antony's form this week, manager Ten Hag echoed an aspect of Ferdinand's criticism but also defended his big-money signing.
"When he is playing, the team is winning and that already gives a message I think how well he is performing," the Red Devils boss declared ahead of the trip to Nottingham. "He can do better, I see space for improvement and, for instance - and I think you notice - we want him to be more direct, more involved.
"But the team is performing better if he is on the pitch and that is a good thing, a good base to build further on.
"I think he already makes improvement, he scored some goals, he scored in his first three games, now he scores against Everton and Charlton, so he has an impact.
"But I think with his capabilities, with his talents he can do even more. He has a good contribution in the team."
