It can no longer be ignored that Manchester United and certainly Erik ten Hag may have a problem on their hands in Antony.
His first two performances of the 2023/24 Premier League season against Wolverhampton Wanderers and more recently Tottenham Hotspur are genuine causes for concern and the criticism directed towards him by fans is more than warranted.
In both games, Antony was named by Ten Hag in the starting XI and in both clashes, he failed to justify his selection.
Against Gary O’Neill’s men, the Brazilian – like many of his teammates – was poor and failed to give a good account of himself.
He has often been accused of being a one-trick pony courtesy of his over-reliance on his left foot, and this was on display at Old Trafford last Monday.
That he struggles to use his right foot has, for a prolonged time now, been a source of frustration for supporters.
Antony’s first instinct, it seems, is always to get the ball out onto his left side, sometimes at the expense of more obviously productive moves.
The result is that United’s attacking phases often break down with him.
Beyond this, his decision-making is poor and it mostly feels that he makes the wrong choice at crucial moments more often than not.
It’s not unusual to see the Brazilian elect to go for a shot when he could be best served by simply passing the ball to someone who is more open and in a better position to put the ball into the back of the net.
Similarly, it has become a common sight that when United are on the counter-attack, Antony has a tendency to slow that particular phase of play down in favour of a backward pass or even shifting the ball to his left foot, effectively putting his side on the back-burner.
The 23-year-old sometimes demonstrates either a reluctance to take his man on when there is a valuable opportunity to do so or does not succeed in going past a defender when he tries.
Some of these shortcomings were evident against Wolves and were carried into his game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when United where United suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of their Premier League rivals.
For the second time in a row this campaign, Antony started as part of an attacking trio also consisting of Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
His two counterparts were also far from good, but it was the Brazil international who especially caught the eye with just how below-par he was. The MEN rated him a 3, United’s joint worst player. The same weaknesses he had last season are the exact same ones holding him back so far this term.
His poor display versus Tottenham was perhaps highlighted by Facundo Pellistri’s productivity during the 15 or so minutes the Uruguayan was on the pitch.
Even worse from a United fan’s point of view is that it looks like Antony is a guaranteed starter, no matter how badly he plays – a recurring theme that has seemingly continued from last season.
One gets the impression that in Ten Hag’s thinking, the winger is undisputedly one of the first names on the team sheet, even though as it stands, he is offering very little on the pitch. Picking him for the next game would be counter-productive.
It is hard to think that Pellistri or Jadon Sancho would not be an improvement. They should at the bare minimum be afforded the chance to show what they can do if given the same chances as Antony.
Antony should be challenged for a starting berth. Competition brings growth, and Antony may ultimately benefit from it. At the moment, it looks like he lacks conviction in anything he does – a state of affairs that could have been brought about by just how comfortable he is in the knowledge that will start games no matter what.
Ten Hag has publicly stressed multiple times that everyone must earn their place at United. It is time to practice what he preaches and drop Antony as the team tries to get back to winning ways against Nottingham Forest in a week’s time. Let Antony, through hard work and merit, claw his way back into the side as opposed to being handed a spot on what would appear to be a silver platter.
