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Antony ignored Erik ten Hag instructions during Manchester United’s defeat to Man City

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2022

Antony marked his Manchester United debut with a well-taken goal against Arsenal on Sunday, becoming the first Brazilian to score on his Premier League bow for the club. The winger, who arrived from Ajax in an £81.3million (€95m) deal, latched onto Marcus Rashford’s well-timed pass to slot home after 35 minutes, handing the Red Devils a 1-0 lead at Old Trafford. Antony became the ninth Brazilian player to appear for United in the Premier League. At the age of 22 years and 192 days, Antony’s goal made him the youngest Brazilian to score on his Premier League debut for any team. Casemiro became the eighth Brazilian to appear for United in the competition last month after joining from Real Madrid, but the midfielder is still awaiting his first start for the club. Antony was United’s most costly addition in a busy transfer window, having joined the likes of Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia, Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Martin Dubravka in making the switch to Old Trafford.

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Antony ignored defensive instructions from Erik ten Hag during Manchester United’s 6-3 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, according to reports.

United’s £85 million summer signing started on the right flank for the Manchester derby and was part of a woeful first half which saw Ten Hag’s men concede four goals.

United showed signs of improvement in the second half and Antony’s impressive strike came before Anthony Martial score twice off the bench.

But the Brazil international faced criticism after the game for his inability to help Diogo Dalot with defending United’s right side.

According to The Sun, Ten Hag has constantly reminded Antony about his need to defend during United’s training sessions.

And the report claims that Ten Hag stressed the same point to Antony in the build up to United’s game against City last weekend, however, the 22-year-old did not appear to carry out his manager’s orders on the pitch.

Jadon Sancho was similar criticized as he offered little help to Tyrell Malacia on United’s left flank.

After the game, former United midfielder Paul Scholes aimed a clear dig at Antony and Sancho as he posted a picture of Ryan Giggs and David Beckham on his Instagram account along with the caption: ‘Anyone remember when wingers used to help their full-backs?’

Paul Scholes’ post was clearly criticising Antony and Jadon Sancho

Meanwhile, it’s also been reported that Bruno Fernandes and Lisandro Martinez led a fiery dressing room inquest at half time during the heavy loss to the Premier League champions.

It’s understood that shouts from United’s dressing room could be heard by City staff along the corridor at the Etihad Stadium.

‘The attitude and the belief from the beginning was not the best and that caused us many problems and made us concede early goals,’ Fernandes said after the game.

‘After, we have to run back the result and the second half was much better.

‘We keep control more, we control the game more. Whenever we have the ball we are more brave.’