Manchester United star Antony has been slammed for his irritating behaviour during the team’s narrow win over Wolves on Saturday.
United picked up a 1-0 victory at Molineux thanks to Marcus Rashford ’s solo effort in the second half. Rashford started the match on the substitutes’ bench after Erik ten Hag disciplined him for arriving late for a team meeting, but came up trumps in the 76th minute.
It was a tight game at Molineux, with the attack of Anthony Martial, Alejandro Garnacho, Bruno Fernandes and Antony unable to find a way through the Wolves defence. Antony was on the receiving end of a barrage of negative comments from Stuart Pearce, who was less than impressed with the Brazilian’s performance.
“Antony has got no intention of tracking back, Wolves can get a lot of joy down that side,” Pearce said on commentary for talkSPORT in the first half. Later on he added: “Antony has failed to make an impact – he’s given away the ball on far too many occasions.”
With the game goalless at half-time, Pearce went into more detail. “He irritates the life out of me. Every time he gets the ball he points to his teammates and tells them what they should do,” he said.
“I saw recently that Ten Hag and Fernandes said he would be a really good player if he listened. He’s certainly doing more talking than listening right now.”
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While Garnacho was substituted for Rashford at half-time, Antony stayed on until the 93rd minute, when Erik ten Hag opted to bring on Anthony Elanga. The Brazil international fired in five of United’s 16 shots, but could not beat Jose Sa.
Antony failed to complete a single dribble, lost possession twice and completed just 30 of his 42 passes. He has scored three goals in eight Premier League appearances this season, but has not netted in any competition since October 9.
The 22-year-old was signed for £81.3million from Ajax in August and the fee could rise to £85.5m with contract-related add-ons. He is therefore United’s second-most expensive player of all-time, behind only Paul Pogba, who cost £89m from Juventus in 2016.
Ten Hag signed Antony for Ajax from Sao Paolo in July 2020 and oversaw his development in the Netherlands. He contributed 24 goals and 22 assists in 82 appearances for Ajax, but is yet to truly find his feet in Manchester.
United could really do with an impact from Antony, given they are now a forward short following Cristiano Ronaldo ’s departure. Ronaldo has since joined Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr, but United might struggle to find a replacement in the January transfer window after Liverpool pipped them to the signing of Cody Gakpo.
