If Antony wants to be successful at Manchester United, Roy Keane has advised him to work harder off the ball.
Although the winger scored twice in cup matches before starting the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, he hasn’t scored in the league since October. Since the season’s start, the Brazilian has turned in a number of lackluster performances.
After an ineffective performance in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal, the 22-year-old was substituted with 20 minutes remaining. Erik ten Hag, though, has demonstrated his continued confidence in the attacker by starting him in eight of the 10 games since the World Cup.
Antony has total registered three goals and no assists in 20 appearances, but not everyone is yet impressed by him following his £85 million deadline move from Ajax. One of them is Keane, who prior to the match versus Forest gave Sky Sports his expectations for the summer recruit.
He said that playing for a major team like Manchester United has taught Anthony to work a little more off the ball. He needs to assist his teammates a little more, but that will come to him.
Michael Dawson, a former Forest defender, advised Antony to use Marcus Rashford’s performance as motivation to get his own game going after the latter scored after just six minutes for his 18th goal of the season.
He continued, “I believe you could say that [this is] his first year in English football. When Erik ten Hag was brought in at the beginning of the season, you can see how far Marcus Rashford has come.
“In my opinion, he has been outstanding, and Antony must be thinking, ‘I have to reach these levels where Marcus is,’ when he sees him. He needs to have greater objectives.
When he receives the ball, he should sometimes go for the defender and put him on his backside, but instead, he changes back or tries a trick. He needs to step up his game for Manchester United, but be patient with him; his tenure with the club is still young.