Manchester United remain without a win in the Europa League this season after only managing a 1-1 draw at Fenerbahce.
The Europa League hasn’t exactly been a joyous experience for Manchester United fans this season.
United went 1-0 up at home to FC Twente but could only draw 1-1 with the Eredivisie side.
United then went 2-0 up at Porto but needed a late Harry Maguire goal to rescue a 3-3 draw.
Erik ten Hag took his United side to Turkiye in the hope of better fortunes and took the lead once again through Christian Eriksen.
There was a real sense of deja vu though as Youssef En-Nesyri levelled it up, handing Fenerbahce a share of the spoils.
Erik ten Hag on Antony
United had some threat on the counter attack but just couldn’t find the big chance to reclaim the lead.
This will feel like another missed opportunity for United though and one Ten Hag substitution left fans baffled.
Marcus Rashford was substituted with 17 minutes of normal time to play and Ten Hag turned to Antony rather than Amad Diallo.
Antony ended up picking up an injury and was substituted for Amad in the end, but that decision left many fans confused.
The Brazilian has struggled for minutes this season and most would suggest that Amad has more of a long-term future at United.
Ten Hag has now explained his thinking whilst speaking to Manchester World after the final whistle in Turkiye.
Ten Hag claims that Antony is looking like a real ‘threat’ in training and deserved a chance to shine.
The United boss noted that Amad is ‘doing well’ right now but he simply wanted to reward Antony for shining in training.
“Amad, he is doing well,” said Ten Hag.
“But I must also reward to reward the performances of Antony in training, he is a threat almost every training, so I felt in that moment to bring him, to decide the game,” he added.
Ten Hag on Antony injury
Sadly for Antony, this chance to shine ended on a sour note.
The winger was stretchered off the pitch with an injury and left the stadium in a protective boot.
Ten Hag has now commented on Antony’s injury, telling United’s official website that this blow is ‘really unlucky’ for him.
The Dutchman reiterated his point about Antony’s training displays and just hopes that the injury isn’t too bad in the end.
“It’s really unlucky for him,” he stated. “I feel real compassion for him, when he worked so hard in training,” said Ten Hag.
“His training performances are that good that he deserved to come on. When you have to come off so quickly, that is really sad to see. Hopefully, it’s not too bad, we have to wait 24 hours for what the assessment is.”
United are back in action against West Ham United this weekend but we would not expect Antony to be involved in East London.
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