Antony has faced ridicule after attempting to pull off a spin move and then putting a pass out of play in Manchester United’s win over Sheriff in the Europa League on Thursday...CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has called on Antony to only deploy his tricks when it is “functional” to help his team win.
The Brazilian has been criticised by some for doing a spin with the ball before putting a pass straight out of play during the win over Sheriff on Thursday.
Antony arrived at Old Trafford from Ajax in the summer transfer window, with United paying around £80m to the Dutch side.
Ten Hag is well aware of the tricks that Antony has at his disposal, having been his manager at Ajax for two years. And he has now encouraged the winger to reign in the trickery for only when it will definitely held United to defeat their opponents.
“When it’s functional, I don’t have a problem with that. When you beat opponents with that, sometimes also football is, especially in the Theatre of Dreams, and you have to entertain the public,” he told Sky Sports.
“But we want to win football games and that is the main objective. So when it’s functional and it’s for winning the football match, I’m ok with it. I’ve seen his tricks and he likes to do it and as long as to also impress the opponent, it’s good.
“But also you don’t want to profligate the opponent in the wrong way. And finally it’s about this that his game has to effective.”
While his boss is happy for him to continue to show off his box of tricks, not everyone was impressed with the winger.
Former Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Robbie Savage slammed the Brazilian in his column for Mirror Football.
And the Welshman suggested that tougher characters in past United dressing rooms would have made it clear it was not acceptable. Savage labelled the trick “embarrassing” in commentary for BT Sport and reiterated his disdain.
“Antony’s spinning-top showboating against Sheriff Tiraspol went too far. I don’t know if it was his natural Brazilian flair coming out to play, or maybe he was simply too eager to impress United fans,” Savage wrote.
“I said it was “embarrassing” because Antony was under no pressure – there wasn’t a yellow shirt within 10 yards of him – and his attempted pass to team-mate Casemiro was overhit, rolling out harmlessly for a goal kick.
“I would also add that it was unsuitable in the moment. Sheriff may have been underdogs, but their 6-3-1 formation had smothered United up to that point and it was 0-0.
I do wonder if Antony would have attempted his party trick if he had been answerable to the likes of Roy Keane or Gary Neville, let alone Sir Alex Ferguson, in the Old Trafford dressing room.
“In my career, I was lucky enough to captain four Premier League teams, and if one of my team-mates had done what Antony did, I would have hammered him in the dressing room – not for the trick as such, but the lack of end product.”
