In the aftermath of Manchester United's humiliating 6-3 loss to Manchester City in the derby last week, new Manchester United signing Antony was accused of neglecting his defensive responsibilities.
Reports claim that the £86 million forward disregarded instructions given to him at the Etihad Stadium, particularly those that required him to contribute to the team while he did not have possession of the ball. Despite the fact that the Brazilian had previously worked with Erik ten Hag at Ajax, it was reported that he ignored pre-match orders from his manager to assist right-back Diogo Dalot defensively. This occurred despite the fact that the two had previously worked together.
Although Antony scored a goal for his team with a spectacular strike after United had already fallen behind 4-0 in the heavy loss, Dalot, Antony's teammate, had an extremely difficult afternoon and was harassed by players such as Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva. Dalot's performance was a major factor in United's defeat.
The 22-year-old put in his best performance since joining the club on Sunday, when United won 2-1 away at Everton. He became the first United player to score in their first three Premier League appearances by scoring in that game.
United kept their cool and kept their composure despite the fact that the home team took the lead early on thanks to an excellent goal scored by Alex Iwobi. They quickly took control of the proceedings and applied a lot of pressure to Frank Lampard's side.
This pressure paid off for the Red Devils shortly after the first 15 minutes of the match when Antony scored to equalize the score. Shortly before halftime, Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to replace the injured Anthony Martial and scored his 700th goal for his career.
"We need to have higher expectations of him because he thrives on competition and one of the reasons he came to the Premier League is because he knows he will find it there. He wants to compete against the best players under the most intense conditions, alongside the best players, and believes that this will propel him to the next level.
"That is what you see: in the first few weeks, he scored goals and did good stuff, but I also saw a lot of room for improvement in his game, and the reason I was happy with the goal he made now was because it came out of the moment when he got in behind the defense. Ten Hag elaborated, "He needs to do that more, he needs to use his space, he has a good dribble, but he needs more variation."
"In the first game, he did not always do that great of a job defending, but today he was really good and really disciplined. " Because he was anticipatory and had good positioning, he was able to make a significant contribution to the success of this team.
Ten Hag also confirmed that he believes Antony still has room for improvement from an offensive standpoint as well, particularly when it comes to making more frequent use of his right foot. According to Fbref, Antony uses his left foot for 89 percent of his actions while the ball is in play; however, the manager for United believes that with further development, the player will be able to add more variety to his game when it comes to the final third.
"He can, it's preferred, and he had to go both ways; you have to work on that point, and we already did in Amsterdam with him; working on that, and he can also cross with his right foot," said the coach. "It's preferable, and he had to go both ways." However, he is still a young player who requires our development, as well as his own development.
Igetei Preye 2 yrs
Nice goal